No two games are the same, but many are alike. They all come back to the final out. Strike three. Game over.

But what happens when a game goes on and on and on … with no apparent end in sight? Then, when the moment seemingly arrives, hope is dashed by improbability.

There was a major league game like this. It was played on July 4 (and July 5), 1985. This is the story, as told by those who played, reported, broadcast, watched and witnessed it.

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Extra innings changes everything. The game of baseball is redefined. To score is to win. To err is to lose. Strategy is discarded. Position players become relief pitchers and relief pitchers are pinch runners, and occasionally hit home runs.

On Independence Day 1985 at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium, the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves played 19 innings, the equivalent of two baseball games (plus one inning) including two rain delays totaling two hours, five minutes, 29 runs, 14 pitchers and 43 players, 155 official at bats, 115 outs, 615 pitches, 46 hits, 23 walks, 22 strikeouts, five errors, 37 stranded base runners, six lead changes, a cycle, two players were ejected and 25 years later the most memorable moment was recorded by the losing pitcher Rick Camp.

Camp signed with the Atlanta Braves in 1982. He grew up on a farm in Georgia, went to school and played ball in Georgia, drove a pickup truck and the team agreed to give him a tractor as part of his deal. now he was going to pitch for his hometown team. Camp was close to living his dream.

“To hit a home run in the big leagues — that was my dream,” said Camp. Prior to signing with the Braves he hit a lot of home runs, all of them as a designated hitter at West Georgia University where he attended college.

By July 1985, the odds of Camp seeing his dream come true seemed gone. He had 10 hits and a career batting average of .060. “He couldn’t hit his way out of the cage when he’d take BP,” said former teammate Paul Zuvella.

Camp had been moved to Atlanta’s bullpen. The chances of him even getting an opportunity to bat would take, I don’t know, maybe a couple rain delays, a lot of pitching changes and extra innings. Good luck with that.

The Mets arrived in Atlanta on July 4th weekend, grumpy. The team was slumping, winning three of their previous 11 games when rookie Len Dykstra dug in to lead off the game after an 84-minute relay delay. Most of the sellout crowd was still in the ballpark.

Sporting a golf ball size wad of tobacco in his left cheek, Dykstra choked his pine tar covered bat about six inches from the handle. He weighed 155 pounds according to the Mets 1985 media guide. He was 30 at-bats into his major league career.

Back in New York, Mookie Wilson, the Mets regular center fielder in 1985 was watching from a bed in Roosevelt Hospital, one day removed from arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder to repair torn cartilage.

Dykstra dropped a bunt past Rick Mahler. Glenn Hubbard charged from second and bare-handed the ball to Bob Horner at first. Dykstra, in typical hard-nosed style, stumbled over the base, nearly colliding with umpire Jerry Crawford before being called out.

After Wally Backman legged out an infield dribbler, Keith Hernandez stepped to the plate. Mahler fired to first. Backman slid back safely. Mahler persisted, trying again … and again … and again …

Pete Van Wieren doesn’t own a Ouija board. He has no psychic powers. He has never been to a tarot card reading, but he does have an amazing sensory perception on matters related to the diamond. “At the rate this game is going the big 5th of July fireworks show will be presented right after the contest,” he said as the pickoff attempts continued like a broken record.

Mahler finally caught Backman leaning too far. As Crawford signaled Backman out, the Met second baseman slowly climbed to his knees and stared out at Crawford from underneath his helmet. The long give-and-take seemed to last longer than the 84-minute rain delay.

After Hernandez lifted the next pitch into left-center field for a double, Gary Carter grounded a single into centerfield. The ball took two hops and stopped dead in the rain-soaked outfield grass. Braves centerfielder Dale Murphy raced through puddle, scooped up the ball and fired it back to the infield. After a Darryl Strawberry single, advancing Carter to second base, and a George Foster walk to load the bases, Mahler struck out Ray Knight to end the inning.

A tall, thin, 20-year old Dwight Gooden was on the mound for the Mets. He was pitching on three days rest for the first time during the 1985 season. He would go on to win 24 games with a 1.53 ERA in 276 innings pitched. In 35 starts, Gooden pitched 16 complete games. His season performance cinched the Cy Young Award, claiming 120 votes, almost twice as many as John Tudor of the St. Louis Cardinals, who finished second (21-8).

Claudell Washington led off the Braves first inning with a triple. The 44,947 in attendance were on their feet. One pitch later, Rafael Ramirez grounded out to shortstop, scoring Washington. It took the Braves four pitches to tie the game.

Gooden followed by walking Dale Murphy on four straight pitches, prompting Mets catcher Gary Carter to zip halfway out between home plate and the mound to settle Gooden down.

Gooden walked Bob Horner on four pitches; eight straight balls.

Terry Harper dug in and Gooden shoved a fastball on the inside corner at the knees for strike one. He sent Harper back to the bench on three pitches. It was as if Gooden pushed some internal on/off button.

“Just three years ago he was pitching to high school kids,” said the late Skip Caray. “My goodness, just think what that must have been like?”

Rick Cerone had missed three weeks due to a sore shoulder. He was activated two days earlier, but hadn’t played in a game since his return. His first at-bat came after a long rain delay against Gooden. Could the cards be any more stacked against the 31-year old Cerone?

“He probably said, ‘Thanks a lot!’ when he saw Gooden out there,” said Caray sarcastically. “He hasn’t played in a month.”

Cerone slashed the first pitch from Gooden to Mets first baseman Hernandez. The ball caromed off his midsection and he bare-handed a sidearm throw to Gooden covering first to end the inning.

“Back in the ‘70s, Atlanta had one of the worst infields in baseball – but there were a lot of bad infields in the old days,” said Hernandez. “I never liked fielding in Atlanta because it was so hot and everything baked. I always had to do a lot of gardening there, but by the ‘80’s, it was a very good infield.”

The rain returned in the third inning and Terry Tata stopped the game. Two nights earlier in San Francisco, Tata was informed by Major League Baseball he would the acting crew chief for the series in Atlanta, replacing Harry Wendlestedt, who was ill (Wendlestedt did not return to umpire until July 18).

“I took a redeye off the west coast and arrived in Hartford, Connecticut, spent some time with my wife and then took a flight from Bradley Field and arrived in Atlanta at 5pm,” remembers Tata. By the time he arrived at Fulton County Stadium it was already raining.

The Atlanta Braves employed two full-time groundskeepers and an estimated 25 part-time employees to help on game days. Sam Newpher, now the groundskeeper for Daytona International Speedway, was the head groundskeeper at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium in 1985.

Newpher stayed in close contact with the National Weather Service at the Atlanta airport. The weather service could pinpoint the time and location of the incoming storm and its relation to the stadium.

In the press box the media were already playing weatherman. “Everyone working at the ballpark lives in different parts of the city, so it’s not at all uncommon for someone to call home and see if it’s raining in that part of town,” said Van Wieren. “Then you start hearing, ‘well it’s not raining in Dunwoody!’ Then Skip will say, ‘Well, let’s go up there and play.”

Newpher watched as the second rain storm soaked the tarp.

“All of the drainage was surface drainage which drains off to the outside edge (of the field) into two surface drains,” he said. “It was a turtle shell type mound with the center of it being about 25 feet behind second base. Keep something in mind, if a tarp is on the field and you dump the tarp, you’re taking a couple thousand gallons and just going plop in one spot,” he said.

Van Wieren watched the rain fall from the Braves press box. He glanced at his scorecard, then the stadium clock and back to the field. He took a deep breath and exhaled, well aware of how late this game was going to end.

“The team wasn’t very good and sellout crowds were very rare,” said Van Wieren. “We had a sellout crowd that night and the team would do everything in their power to get that game in so they could get the gate.”

When play resumed 41 minutes later, Mets manager Davey Johnson announced he was taking Dwight Gooden out to avoid risk of injury. It marked the first time in 27 starts dating back to Aug. 11, 1984 that he had failed to go six innings. Gooden, unhappy, retreated to the Mets clubhouse and began drinking.

The Braves took their only lead of the game, 8-7, scoring four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. But the Mets tied it in the ninth. By the time the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves began extra innings the calendar read July 5. Still, fans moved to the edge of their seats. Not in anticipation of a win, but the post-game fireworks.

When the Mets came to bat in the 12th inning, Hernandez was a single away from the cycle. He had doubled in the first off Mahler, tripled in the fourth off Jeff Dedmon, homered in the eighth inning Steve Shields.

Hernandez would be facing Terry Forster. He needed his brother, who was home in San Francisco. Hernandez dashed back to the Mets clubhouse, called the operator and asked for an outside line.

“He was my good luck charm,” said Hernandez. “He always came down on West Coast trips. When we left San Francisco he’d come with me to San Diego and L.A. – and I always killed San Diego and L.A.”

Ironically, eleven years earlier on September 11, 1974, as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, Hernandez pinch hit against the Mets in a 25-inning game at Shea Stadium. “That was my first year,” remembered Hernandez. “I pinched hit in the ninth off Harry Parker and Dave Schneck robbed me of a home run.”

The Cardinals eventually won, 4-3, after seven hours, four minutes and 25 innings. The Mets went to the plate 103 times and the Cards with 99 plate appearances and a major-league record 45 runners left on base. The game ended at 3:13 a.m., the longest game played to a decision without a suspension.

Hernandez singled off Forster to complete the cycle. Superstition rules.

Van Wieren stared at his scorebook. Nothing good could come in the 13th inning, maybe that’s why most scorebooks have 12 innings he thought. “Once you run out of innings in your scorebook it’s improvise time,” he said.

The Mets took a 10-8 lead in the 13th inning. Finally the end was in sight – finally. To his left, Van Weiren’s wife Elaine and two sons (Jon and Steve) sat, waiting for the fireworks.

All Tom Gorman needed now was three outs. After a leadoff single by Rafael Ramirez, the Mets left hander struck out Dale Murphy and Gerald Perry. One more out. Gorman zipped two strikes past Terry Harper. One strike left. Let the fireworks begin. Harper obliged, lining a two-run homer off the left field foul poll to tie the game again.

“I just looked over and they had their head down like, ‘we’re never gonna get out of here,’” remembers Van Wieren.

“You wondered where it’s going to end,” said Caray, remembering Harper’s home run in an interview years earlier. “When (Rick) Camp hit his (in the 18th inning), you figure, we’re going to go on forever. Once is amazing. Twice is incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life and I never think I will.”

The Braves broadcasters weren’t the only ones wondering.

Paul Zuvella was called up just a couple weeks before the July 4th game. His high school buddy Chris Hopson flew in from Milpitas in the Silicon Valley, south of San Jose, California to visit Zuvella and catch a game.

“That was the first game he had come to,” said Zuvella. “Poor guy, he was one of the very few remaining at the end.”

Zuvella was inserted in the sixth inning and faced five different pitchers in seven plate appearances – sidearm pitcher Terry Leach, Jesse Orosco, Doug Sisk , Tom Gorman and Ron Darling – going 0-for-7.

“That, I do remember,” he said. “I remember hitting the ball hard. I hit some line drives right at people. I’m thinking, ‘How unfair is this?’”

“Pitchers tend to have an advantage in that type of game,” said Zuvella. “That’s why they keep throwing the zeros up. It gets a little tougher offensively as the game goes on. You start to think, is this game ever gonna end?”

Part 2 of No End in Sight is here …

As Strawberry walked back to the dugout, Mets manager Davey Johnson jogged toward Tata. The argument heated quickly.

“When Davey Johnson gets in my face and I turned my hat around backwards so I could get right in his kisser,” remembers Tata. “As I am looking over his shoulder there’s a digital clock along the first base line and it reads two – five – seven. It’s 2:57 in the morning and I say to Johnson, ‘It’s three o’clock in the morning, everything looks like a strike.’”

Tata ejected four managers, coaches or players in 1985, two of them within 60 seconds.

“The one thing you don’t put in your mind is the hope that it will end,” revealed Tata. “It will end naturally. You can’t root for a guy to hit a home run or driving in the winning run. You’ve got to block that out of your mind and concentrate on the game. Once you start hoping for that it’s going to detract from your overall sense of the game and your job.”

The Mets regained the lead, 11-10, in the 18th inning on a sacrifice fly by Dykstra.

Again, all Gorman needed was three outs. Again, he retired Perry. This time he shut down Harper. One out remained – pitcher Rick Camp. Mets pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre was taking nothing for granted and paid Gorman a visit. Stottlemyre warned Gorman about Harper now he was warning him, don’t make the same mistake. Don’t take Camp for granted.

Gorman registered two quick strikes on Camp. One strike left. Let the fireworks begin – please let the fireworks begin. Gorman fired a forkball on 0-2 and, like Harper five innings earlier, Camp obliged, hitting one over the left field wall to tie the game.

“As soon as it left the bat you knew it was gone,” said Tata. “That just cut your legs off at the knees.”

“That certifies this game as the wackiest, wildest, most improbable game in history!” yelled John Sterling, then a Braves broadcaster on WTBS.

“You’re really certain it’s going to end with Rick Camp at the plate,” said Van Weiren. “When Skip talked about it he said he never saw me get animated in the booth. But when that ball was hit I literally jumped out of his seat and put my hands on top of my head and said, ‘you gotta be kidding me!?’”

Jay Horowitz joined the New York Mets as public relations director in 1980. He was in his fifth year with the team. “I was in the press box,” said Horwitz, who watched most of the extra innings with then Mets scouting director Joe McIlvaine. “I had my binoculars, and I remember looking at the expression on Danny Heep’s face, it was the most incredulous look I’d ever seen. I remember thinking, ‘this game is never, ever going to end.’”

One year later, in 1986, the Mets were involved in a 16-inning marathon game against the Houston Astros, a game that decided the National League Championship Series.

When Billy Hatcher homered off the foul poll in the 14th inning at the Houston Astrodome to tie the game, Horwitz started having flashbacks of Atlanta. “It was the same kind of feeling,” said Horwitz. “You think you have the game won, you’re going to the World Series, they tie the game. We had enough fortitude to come back and win that game. But outside of the rain delays it was almost a duplicate game.”

Jonathan Leach grew up in metropolitan Atlanta and had been a Braves fan since 1973, captured by the Hank Aaron chase. He was home from college for the summer. He fell asleep as the game weaved through extra innings until “the early morning hours, when my brother burst into my room and woke me up to tell me they were still playing,” said Leach. “I saw Rick Camp’s home run which may be the most improbable event in the history of baseball.”

Hundreds of miles north in New Rochelle, New York, Jonathan Falk arrived home from a party at 10 p.m. and turned on the television. “I turned on TBS to find out how they’d done, figuring if I was lucky I might catch an inning,” wrote Falk, a lifelong Braves fan. “They were still playing. I was glued to the set. The Rick Camp homer was probably the single most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in 43 years of baseball watching.”

“That was the most unbelievable part. No one expected that,” said Ken Oberkfell, a Brave in 1985 and the Mets Triple-A manager today. “I mean, I have a better chance of flying an airplane than he (Camp) did of hitting a home run, and there it went. I remember I was in the clubhouse figuring the game was over, but when I saw the home run I came running back to the dugout.”

When asked now if he remembers the pitch Camp said, “I would say it was a fastball. I mean, heck, I had a zero point something batting average. There wasn’t anyone else to hit. I was just trying to make contact.”

As he rounded third, Camp was smiling as he met Tata halfway between home and third base. “You SOB, I was only kidding,’” said Tata.

“Even after I got out of baseball, every time I’d see him he’d just point to left field and laugh,” said Camp.

The Mets scored five runs off Camp in the top of the 19th inning.

“When you’re involved in a season like that and you get into one of those games you really don’t have the same concern over who wins,” remembers Van Weiren. “If you’re in a pennant race you do. If you’re 30 games out, you don’t really care. Sure you’d like to win the game, but if they don’t it’s not going to impact the pennant race. So when you get to a point in a game like that you’re just ready for it to end.”

Not the fans. As the Braves mounted another rally in the bottom of the 19th, scoring two runs, the fans began to chant, “We want Camp!”

“If we have to rely on me to hit a home run to win a game, we’re in bad shape,” said Camp. “I’ll always remember the homer, but it was a hard thing for me to do that and then go out and suck up a loss.”

“Go ahead hit another one out, we’ll pay ‘til noon,” said Tata.

This time Camp was facing Ron Darling, the Mets seventh pitcher of the game. Darling hadn’t made a relief appearance since his freshman year at Yale. The Mets were so certain Camp would not hit another home run, they began untying their shoes in the dugouts, equipment was being packed away.

“I remember the last pitch,” said Camp. “It was a high fastball I swung and missed. Struck out. You get a fastball from here up (motioning from his chest to eye level) it looks like a watermelon. I was trying to kill it.”

Strike Three. Game Over.

“This was the greatest game ever played – Ever,” said Howard Johnson.

“That was the greatest thing I’d ever seen,” added Bruce Benedict, Braves’ catcher, ” The tough thing about it was that there were a lot of lifetime memories in this game and we lost it. It’s hard to put those things in perspective. It was embarrassing.”

“That was the most bizarre game I ever played in – bizarre and fascinating, depressing and great, thrilling and boring,” said Ron Darling. “It was all of those things mixed in. It would have been a story but Rick Camp made it a big story. I’m just glad I got my name in the box score.”

“I thought we were going to win it after that,” said Dale Murphy. “I couldn’t believe it. It’s the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever seen. I’ll never forget that home run. I’ll never forget this game. I can’t explain this game. I’ll be feeling this for the next week.”

“Thrilling,” “fascinating” and “great” didn’t describe the experience for Gary Carter, who was playing his first season in New York. He caught the entire game, handling seven New York pitchers and catching 305 balls.

“The game took a toll on me,” said Carter. “It was worse than catching both games of an afternoon doubleheader because of the rain (delays). My body was aching and throbbing.”

“Do you know what it’s like to be playing baseball at 3:30 in the morning?” asked Len Dykstra after the game. “Strange man. Real strange.”

“I saw things that I’ve never seen in my major league career,” added Hernandez.

Like Rick Camp hitting a home run … or Mets third baseman Ray Knight who left 11 runners on base in his first nine at bats, including three times with the bases loaded.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, no other continuous game in major league history had ended so late. Prior to July 4-5, 1985, the previous latest game was completed at 3:23 a.m. in Philadelphia when the Phillies beat the Montreal Expos 6-1 on Aug. 10, 1977.

Rick Aguilera never saw it, any of it. Aguilera was sent home in the 13th after Howard Johnson’s go-ahead home run. ”When I got to the room, I turned on the TV and saw the game still going,” he said. “I thought it was a delayed broadcast. I couldn’t believe it when they said it was tied.”

Aguilera went to bed. His roommate Sid Fernandez arrived a few hours later and Aguilera asked if the Mets won. ”He said we did,” remembers Aguilera, “but he also said I wouldn’t believe it.”

“When the game ended we were all so exhausted we were just thinking, we gotta get out of here and get ready for tomorrow … I take that back, we gotta get ready for today.”

Gorman was credited with a win. It was then that Gorman found himself in a save situation with the Mets ahead 10-8 in the 13th inning. He lost that lead. And then another.

“To give up a homer to the pitcher in the 18th inning is totally embarrassing,” Gorman told the media a couple hours later. “I learned I can’t take anything for granted. I felt like I saw it all tonight. I should have saved the game; I should have won the game; I should have lost the game. It’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.”

”There’s not one thing you can say you feel at that moment,” added Gorman. “It’s not like pitchers don’t hit home runs; they do. I’m not trying to take anything away from Camp, but you know if you hit the ball good here, it’s going to go out. I’d never pitched at 3 in the morning, but guess they’d never hit then either.”

Newpher and the grounds crew headed back to the field after arriving at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium at 8am. “One of the very few people left in the stands was my wife,” he said.

“What are you still doing here?” he asked.

“I came to see the fireworks,” she said.

Fireworks? It’s four in the morning. But the Braves were in no position to negotiate. There were 8,000-10,000 people still in the stands, delirious and jacked up on coffee, waking up their children for the fireworks. Then, there was WTBS, who sold sponsorships for the July 4th fireworks show.

“There was a great concern about whether the fireworks show would or would not go on,” remembers Van Weiren. “Ted (Turner) had gotten the station (WTBS) to sell a separate post-game that would include the fireworks. Once the game ended there was going to be a commercial break, we’d come back on the air and televise the fireworks.”

Braves television broadcaster Ernie Johnson was beside himself about the whole concept. Fireworks on TV? Come on, who’s going to watch that.

“We kidded about that,” said Van Weiren. “Ernie (Johnson) said ‘what are we supposed to say when the fireworks go off? Do we just sit there and go ‘Ooooh! Ahhh!?’ It was going to be a strange deal.”

Van Weiren said as the game went deeper into the night, there were a lot of questions about “whether they were going to do the fireworks,” he said. “We got the word that the fireworks were gonna go because this was a sold program on TBS and they were going to get the sponsored money.”

So, at 4:01 a.m. on July 5 the July 4th fireworks display began. For nearly 10 minutes the skies over Atlanta thundered. Bright colors lit up the night followed by the sounds of massive explosions. The roar hit a crescendo with a finale so intense, Atlanta resident Vivian Williams jumped from her bed.

Like many others living in the Atlanta suburbs, Williams believed the city had come under attack. The phones lit up at the police station. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution later reported “residents of Capitol Homes and other areas near the stadium called the police to complain that their neighbors, the Braves, were disturbing the peace.”

Williams told the police “setting off fireworks at 4 a.m. is inappropriate and ill-advised.”

Meanwhile, calls were pouring in to the Braves public relations office. Some came from fans who left before the end of the game and were angry that the fireworks display was not postponed until another date, he said. Other calls were from neighbors of the stadium who called the Braves to complain about the noise.

“We went back to the hotel and the USA Today was already under the door,” remembers Horwitz. “That’s always a bad sign, when the USA Today beats you there.”

Chip Caray, then home on college break, remembers his father stumbling in as the sun rose. He figured it was a late night with the guys.

“It’s the latest I’ve ever stayed out in my life and not done something I was ashamed of,” Skip said.

Part 1 of No End in Sight is here …

Ever since his name surfaced in a trade rumors last December, Lee’s life is worthy of a narrative by Rod Serling. He took his first step into the Twilight Zone when the Philadelphia Phillies shipped Lee to the Seattle Mariners in a four-team, nine-player trade including two Cy Young Award winners (Lee and Roy Halladay).

“My initial reaction was disbelief and shock … I thought we were working out an extension with the Phillies,” said Lee. “I thought I was going to spend the rest of my career there … obviously this goes to show this is a business and you never know what’s going to happen.”

A nine-player trade? Four teams? What year is this, 1974? All we need now is a black and white television set, a transistor radio and newspaper to report the trade.

Modern day baseball science fiction.

Instead of retreating into normalcy, Lee’s baseball life took another left turn in spring training when Major League Baseball suspended and fined him for five regular-season games after sailing one pitch over the head, and another behind the back of Chris Snyder. The ball never hit Snyder. It was a spring training game. The suspension was eventually overturned, but not after delaying the start of Lee’s season until April 30.

That’s about the same time baseball card collectors noticed something strange. Topps released Lee’s card with the Seattle Mariners. One problem: Lee was wearing a Mariners jersey and cap with one small oversight, a small black circular patch on his left breast with the initials “HK” on it. As Topps begins a search for a new card designer, Lee is searching for a shrink.

He is facing the very real prospect of being traded — again — for the third time since July 2008. Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports, citing unnamed major league sources, reported the Mariners will move Lee in 7 to 10 days.

He won the American League Cy Young Award in 2008 and was rewarded with a trade to Philadelphia. Lee was 4-0, including two World Series wins, in 2009 for the Phillies. Two months later he was sent to Seattle.

Anyone need a emotionally insecure Cy Young Award winning pitcher?

The Mets, Dodgers, Rangers and Twins are reportedly interested in Lee. Why wouldn’t the Mets be interested. Lee is a valuable pitcher, despite what recent history tell us about his relocations. After the trade, the suspension and the baseball card faux pas, he has still managed to compile a 6-3 record in 11 starts (2.39 ERA) with Seattle. His strikeout to walk ratio — are you seated — is 19 to 1 (76 K, 4 BB). Lee has pitched six or more innings in all 11 starts and has given up more than three earned runs once this season.

If a team would like to pick up his tab, Lee is available for $9 million. He will be a free agent at the end of the season. What does that mean for a contending team like the Mets? Dave Cameron at FanGraphs.com offers this perspective to potential suitors:

“The marginal value of a win last winter was about $4 million. Using that figure, we’d estimate that the remainder of Lee’s 2010 regular season to be worth about $14 million … I would estimate the marginal value of a win in July to be closer to $5 million, which would put Lee’s value at $18 million …”

How valuable is a win to a contender in September — and possibly October?

Imagination … its limits are only those of the mind itself. — Rod Serling

By the eighth inning 32,904 Mets fans were cheering for the Philadelphia Phillies, for pitcher Jim Bunning. On Father’s Day 1964, the Phillies pitcher was just a handful of outs away from a perfect game.

Met fans rooting for the Phillies? This would never, under any circumstances, happen today.

But these were simpler days for Met fans. By the Sunday doubleheader at Shea Stadium in June 1964, the Mets were already firmly planted in last place (20-45) in the National League, 21 games back.

Winning a division title was nowhere in sight – nor did it matter – in 1964. Mets fans celebrated wins, and losses, and the first year in their new Flushing home, Shea Stadium. Life was good. National League baseball was back in New York.

“Nobody realized it was a perfect game until the fourth or fifth inning,” former Phillies pitch Dennis Bennett told Bill Ryczek, author of The Amazin’ Mets. “You know that it’s taboo to talk about it, but Jim was talking about it.”

Bunning was reportedly very vocal about what was developing. According to catcher Gus Triandos, he’d never seen Bunning acting so animated. “He was jabbering like a magpie,” he said.

Only one other time over the first 10 years of his career did Bunning feel the same command and control of his slider. It was six years earlier (1958), as a member of the Detroit Tigers when he tossed his first career no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox.

Galen Cisco, who was playing for the Mets, said Bunning “just wasn’t missing. Everytime he tried to keep the ball away, it was away. When he got two strikes, he was throwing the ball off the plate, and we were swinging. We just weren’t very patient.”

Perfection was in jeopardy in the fifth inning when Jesse Gonder hit at line drive toward right field. Phillies second baseman Tony Taylor dove to his left, knocking down the ball and threw out Gonder at first base.

Former Met Hawk Taylor said Bunning had “won over the umpire, who was starting to widen the strike zone for him … not that he needed a lot of help, but I remember the strike zone was substantially enlarged.”

Joe Christopher added, “When you’re making good pitches and the umpire is in your corner, it’s two against one.”

Bunning had retired 24 consecutive batters when Charlie Smith stepped in to lead off the ninth inning. Smith made No. 25 easy, hitting a foul pop up to third base that was squeezed by Cookie Rojas.

Mets manager Casey Stengel pinch hit George Altman, who felt he had the advantage against Bunning, who threw side-armed. “Lefthanders got a good look at him,”

Altman told Ryczek, “He’s the kind of pitcher you love to hit off. To me, it was a lot better than facing Koufax or someone like that … of course he wound up handling all of us.” Altman hit a long foul ball into the seats then promptly struck out.

Mets pitchers Tracy Stallard and Bill Wakefield, members of the fraternity, were emotionally split. Stallard wanted to see the Mets break up the perfect game, while Wakefield privately changed allegiances. “You always want to be professional, you always want to root for your team, but it wasn’t a situation that was going to cost us the pennant, or even a position in the standings.”

Stengel sent another pinch hitter to the plate, Johnny Stephenson. The Mets rookie was 2-for-27 in his major league career. Bunning fidgeted nervously on the mound as Stephenson came to the plate.

His first two pitches to Stephenson were strikes, the first swinging, the second a called strike. Bunning missed with the next two pitches. Stephenson watched a 2-2 pitch drop into the strike zone. Bunning was perfect, throwing 86 pitches (69 strikes).

“He threw me all sliders, which were hard to pick up, the way he fell off the mound,” remembered Stephenson.

Surrounded by teammates, Bunning disappeared into the visitor’s dugout at Shea Stadium. After a few minutes of standing ovation fans launched into a chant of “We want Bunning! We want Bunning!”

When the Phillies pitcher stepped back on to the field for a post-game interview with Ralph Kiner, Mets fans exploded in cheers. Moments later, Bunning’s wife, Mary, and his eldest daughter—he has seven children—came out of the stands to kiss and hug Dad.

Ryczek wrote, “… through mid-1966, Bunning made seven starts in Shea Stadium. He had seven wins, seven complete games and four shutouts. Bu early 1967, he had allowed just three runs to the Mets in 72 innings.”

Bunning became the first pitcher in major league history to throw a no-hitter in both the American (July 20, 1958 vs. Boston) and National leagues.

Manuel has shed the inflated expectations of Gary Matthews Jr., the bloated ego of Oliver Perez, the empty calories of John Maine and, ultimately, the monkey that has been clinging to his back recent days and months.

Since Opening Day, the Mets have been making small, incremental changes, some due to injury others for production. Frank Catalanotto, Daniel Murphy, Sean Green, Carlos Beltran, Mike Jacobs and Omir Santos have been replaced with healthy diet of Ike Davis, Ruben Tejada, Angel Pagan, Chris Carter, Hisanori Takahashi, R.A. Dickey, Jenrry Mejia, Elmer Dessens and Ryota Igarashi.

The combination of youth and experience have helped the Mets win eight of nine and boast a 9-2 record in June, including a weekend sweep on the road against the Baltimore Orioles.

“We need to build momentum,” Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez stated simply and succinctly after sweeping the team with the worst record in Major League Baseball.

The Mets have been cultivating all season including a nine-game winning streak in late April and a series sweeps against National League East rivals the Philadelphia Phillies in May and Florida Marlins (June 4-6).

While the sweep of baseball’s worst team may be brushed off, do not discount the psychological impact of the recent success. Winning – against Baltimore, Cleveland or Philadelphia — has a placebo effect.

“Sometimes motivation is more important than math … I don’t care if you have a masters degree in psychology; you need to get quick wins to get fired up,” said Dave Ramsey. “And getting fired up is super-important.”

Ramsey is not an athlete, he’s a financial guru. Then again, winning is not limited to the baseball diamond. Whether you’re opponent is credit card debt or the Philadelphia Phillies, winning starts in the mind.

Dan and Chip Heath, authors of the best-selling book Switch: How to Change Things When Things are Hard wrote: You can’t combat powerlessness with math. You combat it by proving to people they can win.

“Small successes can be extremely powerful in helping people believe in themselves,” Bill Parcells told the Harvard Business Review. Parcells said his two Super Bowl championships started with “setting goals that are within immediate reach. When you set small, visible goals, and people achieve them, they start to get into their heads that they can succeed. They break the habit of losing and begin to get into the habit of winning.”

Winning changes everything … and sometimes makes people ask, “Have you lost weight?”

But Perez has declined to go there, in essence guaranteeing he won’t be here, because any hope for redemption begins there. Mets manager Jerry Manuel already admitted that much saying, “It’s going to be tough to find spots for him.”

If here is a reference to pitching at the major league level, no chance — unless the organization swallows their pride and Perez’ three-year, $36 million contract. No one – fans, media, even teammates – will argue against the Mets if they opt out now.

The player revolt went public in today’s New York Post. “You tell him you go to Triple-A or that’s it, you are finished,” an unnamed Mets player was quoted.

Mike Silva at New York Baseball Digest wrote:

Perez is the symbol of what is wrong with this organization the last few years. Time to bite the bullet and send him packing. Yes, it will be an expensive lesson, but one that might give this club reason to believe in 2010.

Matt Cerrone at MetsBlog added:

I think this is unbelievable … i don’t understand, as a professional, why he wouldn’t do what’s best for himself, the team, and the organization, and try and get his career back on track…he’s a mess from head to toe … his stubbornness, and his agent, are getting in the way of his success and the team’s success …

Perez has lost clubhouse support. His manager has lost confidence. Fans and bloggers have seen and heard more than enough. Perez has been reduced to taking up space here; needed space that someone from there could fill.

His decision to stay here has backed Mets management into a corner. If he won’t accept a pass to Buffalo, what options do the Mets have to resolve the Perez puzzle?

In their best-selling book Switch: How to Change Things When Things are Hard, co-authors Chip and Dan Health suggest finding a “bright spot and clone it.”

That’s the first step to fixing everything from addiction to corporate malaise to malnutrition. A problem may look hopelessly complex. But there’s a game plan that can yield movement on even the toughest issues. And it starts with locating a bright spot — a ray of hope.

For Perez, if there is a “bright spot,” it will be like finding a needle in a haystack. Since signing a three-year contract in February 2009, Perez is 3-7 with a 6.35 ERA in 24 appearances (21 starts), allowing 18 home runs in 102 innings pitched. He has been ineffective, inconsistent, lacks velocity and control, all of the above.

No “bright spots” here.

March 24, 1969: UCLA coach John Wooden, flanked by Sidney Wicks, right, and Lew Alcindor after the Bruins beat Purdue 92-72 to win the NCAA basketball title for the third consecutive year.

John Wooden died at age 99 Friday night. He was a legendary man first, a coaching legend second. The influence he had on his student-athletes lasted a lifetime. The influence he had on people he never met are equally as special.

Wooden was known for his wise, yet simple, suggestions. Here are a few favorites:

“Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.”

“Be prepared and be honest.”

“If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.”

“Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.”

“You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one.”

“Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights.”

“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”

“Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.”

“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”

“You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.”

“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?”

“It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”

In 2005, ESPN did a fascinating documentary on Wooden. I recommend you pour a cup of coffee on Sunday morning, sit down and watch and read the story of a legend.

Also, visit CoachWooden.com.

Later, Mets manager Jerry Manuel announced his starting lineup for Monday’s opener against the Florida Marlins:

SS Alex Cora
2B Luis Castillo
3B David Wright
1B Mike Jacobs
LF Jason Bay
CF Gary Matthews Jr.
RF Jeff Francoeur
C Rod Barajas
P Johan Santana

Bad news, followed by embarrassing news, followed by a bad and embarrassing Opening Day lineup.

The New York Mets will open the 2010 season with the same manager, general manager, starting rotation and similarly precocious circumstances. Jose Reyes is back on the disabled list; he hasn’t played in a major league game since May 2009. Carlos Beltran will be on the DL until June. Daniel Murphy is injured, and on the DL. But, more than Reyes, Beltran or Murphy, there are the injuries, rehab and inconsistenty that lingers on the hill.

In the first week of spring training Kelvim Escobar, who signed a guaranteed $1.25 million deal during the winter, opens the season on the disabled list with shoulder problems. That’s just the first week of spring, the rest of March was even more painful. John Maine compiled a spring ERA of 7.94. Johan Santana, 6.75 ERA. Mike Pelfrey threw 20 1/3 innings, allowing eight home runs and compiling a 7.97 ERA. Oliver Perez tossed 17 2/3 innings, alllowing 34 base runners and a 8.66 ERA. Jon Niese shined in comparsion with a 5.65 ERA this spring.

In 2009, Santana, Maine, Pelfrey and Perez combined 33-31 in 85 starts (498 1/3 innings). Since October, nothing has changed. In fact, the Mets circumstances are intenable because nothing has changed. Some would say they have worsened.

New York Mets 2009 Opening Day Pitching Staff
Johan Santana
Mike Pelfrey
Oliver Perez
John Maine
Livan Hernandez
Francisco Rodriguez
Pedro Feliciano
Sean Green
J.J. Putz
Darren O’Day
Bobby Parnell
Brian Stokes

New York Mets 2010 Opening Day Pitching Staff
Johan Santana
Mike Pelfrey
Oliver Perez
John Maine
Jon Niese
Francisco Rodriguez
Pedro Feliciano
Sean Green
Hisanori Takahashi
Ryota Igarashi
Fernando Nieve
Jenrry Mejia

But not the Mets, not their starting rotation. Santana claims if the Mets staff stays healthy, the team will be in “good shape. We know what we’re capable of.”

That’s good because no one, including Manuel and pitching coach Dan Warthen, knows the answer to that question. But there’s not shortage of creative answers to explain the poor spring. Last week, following a disturbing performance by Pelfrey against the St. :Louis Cardinals (5.2 IP, 6 runs, 3 HR), Manuel explained to the media, “We’re in a spring training. You have some hard surfaces, the wind blowing out, you have a lot of things that when you put them on a different field could be different. I think we’re throwing strikes, for the most part.”

Pelfrey followed, “I don’t think it really matters. It’s spring training. When they turn the lights on, it’s a totally different game. I’ll be happy to get out of Florida, though.”

John Maine took a pounding in his final spring start too, a 9-3 loss to the Washington Nationals. Maine said he was suffering from ful-like symptoms. He later explained: “The first few innings, I was right where I wanted to be … Other than hitting a brick wall in the fifth inning, I felt fine. I don’t care about my stomach or head or anything. My arm feels fine. My shoulder feels fine.”

Jerry Manuel added, “Obviously he wasn’t feeling too well today, but I thought that for a period of time he had pretty good stuff.”

The Mets are loaded with ifs. New York Post columnist Kevin Kernan, who has been hanging around Port St. Lucie for six weeks wrote, The bottom line is that the Mets’ starters have had a terrible spring … this camp has been an excuse-fest for most of the staff.

Psychologists call this self deception. Social psychologists refer to it as “confirmation bias,” a concept that suggests the unconscious ability to produce a lie, one we believe completely, making our perceived reality the truth, and what others see as a false conviction.

The Mets are drinking some funny orange-colored Kool Aid if, in their own minds, they sincerely believe 2010 is all that different from 2009. The Mets are one losing streak away from imploding. The Mets are one funk away from fragmenting, so much so, Manuel’s replacement is already being speculated. Bob Melvin, Bobby Valentine, Wally Backman.

Very little has changed since last year. The names are the same, the pitching is suspect and three starters (two All-Stars) will begin the season watching from the dugout. Still, the Mets believe the results will be different.

Ya’ Gotta Believe. It’s not easy Tug.

The newest Met, Jason Bay added, “I wouldn’t say it was a morgue in here without him, but it’s definitely a lot more chipper around here now.”

Reyes faced live pitching Monday. Mets fans rejoiced. The New York Daily News suggested Reyes’ batting practice session “… was so good he perhaps further ignited hope …” His swings were recorded and reported. Reyes was 6-for-11 — in the batting cage. The News added, “… Reyes made good contact, spraying several hard line drives …”

Impressive. The Mets have a shortstop who makes everyone smiles and crushes the ball in batting practice. Now, if we can only bottle that, bring it back to New York and place it at the top of the team’s lineup for the next six months.

More than his smile, the Mets need, verging on desperate, Reyes’ bat, his speed and his defense.

Reyes hasn’t played since last May due to injuries and, more recently, a mysterious thyroid issue. After a heartbreaking Game 7 loss in the 2006 NLCS, back-to-back collapses in 2007-2008 and last year’s nightmare, a hopeful smile is no longer enough. As a matter of fact, Reyes’ smile is getting older than the Charlie Chaplin song.

Smiles should follow wins. Wins mean championships. Championships give Reyes’ smile value (see Derek Jeter). Instead, I find myself asking what Mets GM Omar Minaya asked last May, “Why is he smiling?” 

After the Mets started slow last April, finishing the month 9-12, Minaya vented his frustration to Fox Sports baseball writer Ken Rosenthal. “There is a smile on David Wright’s face, a smile on Jose Reyes’s face. But there is not an edge … you need a little meanness to your game. I couldn’t tell you that we have that type of guy.”

No, the Mets have a nice guy, and everyone knows what legendary New York manager Leo Durocher said about nice guys. Let’s hope Reyes can prove him wrong.

Wright arrived in New York in July 2004 at the tender age of 21. Almost immediately he was the face – and the future – of the organization. Single women began showing up at the ballpark carrying marriage proposals written with a Sharpie, stenciled on cardboard signage. Young, passionate male Mets fans wear his jersey – home white, home pinstripe, black or road gray, you name it – and shout praises and encouragement from the box seats. Video games, endorsements, magazine covers, David Letterman … welcome to the Big Apple.

Wright offered hope when hope was lost and, through it all, Wright has remained humble and, at times, even a bit embarrassed by the attention.

But he’s changed, or should we say evolved, since 2004. The last four seasons have finally caught up to him. A heartbreaking loss in 2006 followed by September collapses in 2007 and 2008, then – 2009, a bewildering season filled with injuries, losses and personal underachievement.

The “rock star” label loses its value when you don’t have the hardware to back it up. Sure, the endorsements and media attention are still flattering, but “face time” becomes a novelty when no one is talking about October.

No one knows that more than Wright. In one of his rare winter appearances, the Mets third baseman hosted a tour of Citi Field for a youth group. The media tagged along and eventually got to the point: What about 2010?

“It’s the expectation that we have for ourselves … playing here, playing for this organization, the expectations are not only to go to the playoffs, but to go deep into the playoffs and bring back a World Series,” Wright answered.

Last winter Wright quietly disappeared. He worked on his swing in December, but didn’t speak. The Mets signed high-profile free agent Jason Bay. The Mets All-Star third baseman was silent. WFAN? SNY? Absent. Voluntary mini-camp last month? No show.

Wright has hit .300 or better every season since 2005. He has compiled 983 career hits, won two Silver Slugger awards, two Gold Gloves and appeared in four All-Star Games. Wright is now a veteran at age 26.

The concern, if any, with Wright should be hitting with runners in scoring position. In 2008, Wright his 33 home runs. But, in 189 official at-bats with RISP, he batted .243 (.328 OBP). In 2007, Wright batted .325 with 30 home runs. In 158 at-bats with RISP, he batted .310 (.431 OBP). In 2006, he batted .311 in 154 games. With runners in scoring position, Wright batted .365 (.449 OBP) in 167 at-bats.

Mets hitting instructor Howard Johnson indicated Wright’s biggest challenge in 2010 will be mental. “He is going to be under somewhat of a microscope this spring and those things are a factor — you can’t ignore it,” said Johnson. “The goal for me is to keep him on a day-to-day thought process and not get ahead of himself and not try to put up numbers in spring training. That’s not the goal. The main thing is having him on track for Opening Day.”

Jason Bay should add more power to the middle of the lineup. His presence will directly benefit both Wright and Jeff Francoeur, who will both be looked to for additional power.

As a team, the New York Mets hit 95 home runs in 2009, fewer than any other team in Major League Baseball. As a team, the Mets hit less than 100 home runs in 1992 (93) and 1982 (97). From 1977-1982 the Mets never hit more than 100 home runs as a team. The team record for most home runs in a single season is 200 (set in 2006), the last year the Mets played in the post-season.

The 671 runs scored last year were fewer than anytime in the past six years. The last time the Mets scored fewer runs was 2003, when they plated 642 and won 66 games under Art Howe.

Johnson told the New York Post he believes that while injuries and Citi Field may have contributed to the Mets lack of offensive punch, the root of the problem goes back to last spring when manager Jerry Manuel put a heavy emphasis on hitting to the opposite field.

“As an organization, we wanted to be a good offensive team with runners in scoring position,” said Johnson. “We wanted to be a good offensive club when it comes to strikeouts. We wanted to walk a lot and have a high on-base percentage. We achieved those goals, but we dropped in power.”

Wright hit 10 home runs in 144 games last season, four less than he hit over 69 games his first season (2004). He shrugs off the numbers. Wright would be happy to count his home runs on one hand — a hand covered in championship rings.