It was 20 years ago today on Tom Seaver Night my 200th win-Eric Hillman's first start

[Joe Rigatoni]

Since it is after midnight.After seeing Matt Harvey's first major league start at home on tv.And after seeing
Cowtipper's last trivia question.I want to share my memory that it was 20 years ago today on Tom Seaver
Night that I got my 200th regular season Met win on Eric Hillman's first major league start.As I mentioned it
was Tom Seaver Night.I was going to the game and I said to myself "Wouldn't it be great if I got my 200th
regular season Met win on Tom Seaver Night." But what are the chances of that happening? The Pirates had
an 11 game winning streak going into that game.The Mets had a 7 game losing streak going into that game.
The Pirates were 64-48 going into that game.The Mets were 51-60 going into that game.The Pirates had
Doug Drabek starting in this game.The Mets had Eric Hillman starting in this game making his first major league start.On paper it didn't look good.I know about the due theory but still.And low and behold the Mets
beat the Pirates 2-0 in this game.Eric Hillman pitched 8 scoreless innings and got the win.John Franco pitched a scoreless ninth and got the save.And both of the Mets runs in that game were unearned.
The Pirates rested Barry Bonds and Andy Van Slyke in this game.Then the next day the Pirates beat the
Mets 7-6 in 10 innings.With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the tenth Eddie Murray hit a
line drive to center that looked like it might fall through but Van Slyke makes a nice running catch to save
the game.I was at that game as well.It was a day game and then after the day game I went to the U2
concert at Giants Stadium.I was disappointed they lost that game but at least I got my 200th regular
season Met win on Tom Seaver night and I got to see a great concert the next night as well.After I got
my 200th regular season Met win on Tom Seaver Night the Mets had a 5 game losing streak including losing
to the Pirates the next day.On Tom Seaver Night I bought the scorecard and the front cover had a picture
of Tom Seaver in his windup as the scorecard acknowledged Tom Seaver Night.I had Eric Hillman,John Franco,and Tom Seaver all sign the front cover of my scorecard.Since I had the opportunity I also got
Steve Springer to sign the front cover of my scorecard since he was the last player to get a hit in a
professional game off of Seaver.It was a minor league game that Seaver pitched to get seasoning when the
Mets signed him in June 1987 due to all their pitching injuries at that time.After Springer got the last hit off
of Seaver after the game Seaver called it quits and never did make that third stint with the Mets in 1987.
And since I had the opportunity I also got Righty Bobby Jones to sign the front cover of my scorecard since
he was a Met from Fresno,California just like Seaver was.And a funny story happened where Steve Phillips
also signed the front cover of my scorecard.Steve Phillips was the Mets assistant general manager at the
time and he was signing autographs.I had four scorecards in my hand including the scorecard from Tom
Seaver Night but I gave Phillips a different scorecard for him to sign and I was only looking for Phillips to sign
one scorecard.But Phillips took all four scorecards out of my hand and signed them all.I know he meant well
but I wasn't expecting him to do that.It all happened so fast.But that's ok so I got Steve Phillips to sign the
front cover of my scorecard from Tom Seaver Night as well.I just wanted to share my memory that like I said
it was 20 years ago today on Tom Seaver Night that I got my 200th regular season Met win on Eric Hillman's
first major league start.

[Joe Rigatoni]

So I went to the Met game on Saturday night 20 years later from this game stated above and in contrast to the game 20
years ago stated above the game on Saturday night is a game I want to forget as soon as possible.

[milladrive]

So I went to the Met game on Saturday night 20 years later from this game stated above and in contrast to the game 20 years ago stated above the game on Saturday night is a game I want to forget as soon as possible.

I hear that. My blood pressure is still getting back to normal. ....although a W's a W. ...and, as you said, the Mets improved their record in one-run games. lol

[Joe Rigatoni]

I hear that. My blood pressure is still getting back to normal. ....although a W's a W. ...and, as you said, the Mets improved their record in one-run games. lol

Milladrive,for what it's worth,I was referring to Saturday night's game which I went to that the Mets lost 9-3 in a game in
which the Mets were losing 9-0 in the top of the second.Saturday night's game was on the 20-year anniversary of Tom
Seaver Night.I wasn't referring to Sunday night's game that you and I went to in which as you know the Mets held on to
dear life to win 6-5.Like you said a win's a win so we can laugh about it now.We sure weren't laughing while the Mets were
in their ninth inning meltdown mode until the last out was made and they secured the win and then we can laugh about it
after that.If you knew this already then I apologize.I just wanted to clarify that it was Saturday night's 9-3 loss that I was
referring to and not Sunday night's 6-5 win.

[VIBaseball]

The main thing I remember about Eric Hillman (aside from his 6'10" height) was that he had a brief run of success after working on "visualization" with one of those sports psychologists.
It was briefer than I remembered. A lot of it was that era of Mets teams (1992-94), but Eric wound up 4-14 in the majors.

[Joe Rigatoni]

The main thing I remember about Eric Hillman (aside from his 6'10" height) was that he had a brief run of success after working on "visualization" with one of those sports psychologists.
It was briefer than I remembered. A lot of it was that era of Mets teams (1992-94), but Eric wound up 4-14 in the majors.

You're absolutely right.It's amazing that the guy I saw pitch on Tom Seaver Night to help me get that win would go on
to win only three more games in the major leagues.Somebody must have watched over me to get that win because as I
mentioned earlier the odds were against me.The Pirates had a 11 game winning streak before that game.The Mets had a
7 game losing streak before that game.The Pirates had Doug Drabek pitching.The Mets had Eric Hillman pitching making his
first major league start and it turns out he would win on Tom Seaver Night but will win only three more games after that in
his career.The Mets beat the Pirates 2-0.Both runs were unearned.The Pirates decided to rest Barry Bonds and Andy Slyke
in this game.The Mets then had a 5 game losing streak after that game including losing to the Pirates the next day.Like I
said somebody must have watched over me to get that win but I'll take it anyway I could get it.