Sponsored by Shea Stadium Remembered
I attended this Saturday afternoon game and was surprised to see the left fielder was Joe McEwing, acquired from St. Louis for Jesse Orosco at the end of spring training. Super Joe had been brought up from the minors overnight and was the leadoff hitter. From our seats in left, we could see Rickey Henderson in the doghouse in the dugout. The night before he’d led off the game with a long fly and went into his home run trot, only to have the ball hit the wall. The best base stealer in history wound up stuck on first and the Mets lost to the Marlins, one of three teams ahead of the Mets in the NL East standings.
In a game where Bobby Valentine went through the whole bench, Henderson only came in for the ninth to play left field after McEwing moved to shortstop. Valentine had to send up pitcher Mike Hampton to pinch-hit in the ninth. Representing the winning run, he nearly won the game, but his liner just missed the foul pole. Hampton then struck out and the Mets lost, 7-6. By the time I got back to the car, Rickey Henderson had been released. As has been the case every time the Mets have won the pennant, this club looked kind of dead in May.