Will Anyone Remember This?

Friday night, Aaron Nola went on an historic roll in the first game of the Phillies doubleheader with the Mets. After putting the first two batters on in the bottom of the 1st inning, Nola began getting out of trouble by striking out Michael Conforto. He then got Pete Alonso and Dom Smith out, to snuff out the threat and end the inning.

Nola's mastery continued, as he struck the side in the 2nd and 3rd innings. Leading off the bottom of the 4th, he put up his 10th consecutive "K," tying the record set in April 1970 at Shea Stadium by Mets legend Tom Seaver. Ten consecutive strikouts.

But the story then began to change. Alonso snapped Nola's streak by doubling to right field. Nola, not being economical, left with one out in the 6th after reaching 99 pitches. Then in the 7th, the Phillies' inept bullpen let the lead -- and Nola's credit for the victory -- get away. An inning later, things got worse. Dominic Smith singled home Alonso for a Mets walk-off victory. 

Seaver's memorable afternoon played out as he struck out the final 10 batters of the game -- in a game the Mets won. Just months after their stunning World Series championship, it was another joyous moment for Mets fans to savor.

But there would be no such joy for Nola. Yes, he tied a record that stood for 51 years; and not only did he not get a W, his team lost. That streak of 10 straight strikeouts wasn't the fuel for a Philadelphia victory. Instead, it was an afternote for another disappointing loss.

So while Seaver shares the record, the statistic, the joy will only reside in Flushing. Due to circumstances beyond his control, Aaron Nola's achievement will be very hard for Phillies fans to enjoy.

Comments

Lois Simmons said…
It's deja vu for an opposing pitcher to tie or break a strikeout record and lose the game. In the heat of the 1969 pennant race when everything the Mets touched turned to gold, Steve Carlton set a record by striking out 19 Mets, including Ron Swoboda twice. But the other two at bats for Swoboda, he hit a pair of two run homers and the Mets won another game, 4-3. His second homer in the 8th inning turned defeat into victory. On this day, September 15, 1969, the Cubs lost to the expansion Expos, so the Mets increased their lead to 4½ games in the first year of the NL East and reduced their magic number to 11.
One difference between Carlton's performance and Nola's performance is that Carlton's game was played in St. Louis, not New York. Nine days later when the same two teams were playing at Shea, the Mets clinched their first title in their short and previously inept team history.
June 29, 2021 at 1:16 PM
Mike McCann said…
The problem is that until someone joins them or breaks the record, the results of the Seaver game and the Nola game will be compared.

Seaver lifted his team to victory with a splash -- as he so often did. Nola's teammates let him down and dulled the impact of a remarkable stretch of pitching.
June 29, 2021 at 2:41 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rare Remnant of a Lost Ballpark

Image
When the subject of baseball in Brooklyn comes up, the discussion centers around Ebbets Field, the Flatbush venue most famously home to The Boys of Summer.  Those legendary 1940s and '50s teams that featured such historic and beloved players as Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges. Ebbets Field hosted its last major league game in 1957 and was torn down during the winter of 1960. But decades earlier, just before World War One, the Dodgers were based in the Park Slope area and played at Washington Park.  Once they moved out, the land was occupied by another stadium, which housed a different franchise.  The upstart Federal League, which played in the 1914 and '15 seasons, had a Brooklyn team called the TipTops.  Owned by a local baking magnate Robert Ward, whose company produced TipTop bread, the club took over the abandoned lot along 3rd Street and built a new brick and steel venue. The only no-hitter in the Federal League's two-year r
Read more

Another Yankee Trade

Image
Yankee fans: here's a last look at shortstop Trey Sweeney .  The 2021 first round draft choice was part of the three player trade with the Dodgers that brings reliever Victor Gonzalez and infield prospect Jorbit Vivas to New York. Now seeking to rebuild their pitching depth after dealing for Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo, the Yanks deemed Sweeney expendable.  While the Louisville native showed promising power in his three seasons with the organization -- he batted only .248 to go with his 36 career homers -- Brian Cashman has committed to Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza as his young middle infielders.  So Sweeney became a trade chip. ( My images of Trey Sweeney are from the Somerset/Binghamton AA games on July 15th and September 19th, 2023. )
Read more

Will He Wear Zero in the Bronx?

Image
The Yankees bolstered their starting rotation with Thursday's signing of Marcus Stroman .  The Long Island native, who spent 2019 and '21 with the Mets before moving onto the Cubs, brings a 77-76 career record to the Bronx, along with a recent loyalty to uniform number (?) zero.  If he requests that, he'd become the third Yank to wear it, following the path of Adam Ottavino and Domingo German.  Of course, neither of their Yankee tenures ended all that well -- Ottavino struggled badly in 2020, before reviving his career with the Red Sox and Mets; German's alcohol and domestic violence issues sabotaged such Yankee highlights as last year's perfect game. Can a number truly be lucky? You can understand kids in little league or high school ball wanting to wear 2 in honor of Derek Jeter or 7 for Mickey Mantle.  But is there an heroic ballplayer associated with 0?  The closest I recall comes from pro football, where the Oakland Raiders Hall of Fame center Jim Otto wore 00
Read more