Saturday, April 19, 2014

Game of the Day (4/18/84)

Mets 5, Expos 4. Charlie Lea, who was on his way to an excellent season that would result in an injury that would knock him out for almost three years, started for Montreal; the Mets began the game with Walt Terrell, just starting out in a fairly long career that would never result in a seasonal ERA+ above 110.

Terrell allowed a first-inning single to Bryan Little, who was immediately picked off and run down 1-3-4-3. Wally Backman led off the bottom of the inning with a double, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on a single by Keith Hernandez, who was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double.

Montreal came back to tie in the second on singles by Andre Dawson, Gary Carter, and Tim Wallach. Terry Francona also singled, loading the bases with nobody out, but Angel Salazar lined out and Lea hit into a double play, keeping the score tied. New York threatened briefly in the second when Hubie Brooks singled and John Gibbons was hit by a pitch, but Terrell struck out to strand them.

The Expos jumped ahead in the third when Tim Raines doubled and Dawson singled him home. Backman scored his second run of the day in the bottom of the inning, reaching on a Salazar error, stealing second, and coming around on a George Foster double. Wallach led off the fourth by reaching on an Oquendo double, but Francona lined into a double play to douse the spark of the potential rally, and Brooks put the Mets back in the lead with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning.

Pete Rose and Little started the fifth with singles; one out later, Dawson singled as well, but Rose was thrown out trying to score the tying run. Lea was perfect in the bottom of the fifth, as was Terrell in the top of the sixth; the bottom of the inning saw Mookie Wilson single but get thrown out stealing.

The scoring resumed in the seventh. Rose drew a one-out walk, and was forced at second by Little. That brought Raines to the plate, and the fleet-footed center fielder launched his second home run of the year to put Montreal in the lead once more, 4-3. That homer ended Terrell's day; Doug Sisk struck out Dawson to end the inning.

Jeff Reardon relieved in the bottom of the seventh, which is interesting because he was the Expos' closer. He retired New York in order in that inning, and cancelled out a Danny Heep single with a double play from Foster in the eighth after Ed Lynch managed a scoreless eighth. Lynch walked Derrel Thomas in the ninth, but saw him caught stealing and held Montreal scoreless again, partly thanks to Reardon hitting for himself and striking out.

Reardon returned to the mound for a third inning in the ninth. Darryl Strawberry led off with a single, but Reardon retired the next two hitters. Strawberry stole second, and Gibbons walked. Ron Hodges pinch hit for Lynch and walked as well to load the bases, and Reardon was pulled for Gary Lucas. Backman greeted the new pitcher with a walkoff two-run double.

Every run that scored in this game was either the tying or go-ahead run; that's pretty much the limit of how close a game can stay, which is of course a good sign for its quality. For the Mets, four of their five runs (two tying and two go-ahead) were either scored or driven in by Wally Backman, including the last two. That gave Backman a WPA of +.845 for the game, which is his career high by a colossal margin; it's the only time in his 1102-game MLB career that he posted a WPA of +.5 or better.

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