Game of Note
A three-run ninth inning rally made Frank Viola a winner in his Mets debut, which came on August 2, 1989. Sweet Music walked five Cardinals and allowed another four to reach via base hit, through he escaped after eight frames having allowed just two to score. St. Louis closer Todd Worrell retired the first two batters he faced to bring the Redbirds with an out of victory, but back-to-back doubles by Keith Hernandez and Juan Samuel tied things up. Cards manager Whitey Herzog opted to intentionally walk the next hitter, Howard Johnson, which made sense given HoJo’s total pwnage of Todd Worrell (four career homers in just 13 career at-bats). Less sensical was the follow-up free pass to Darryl Strawberry. That brought up Kevin McReynolds to the plate, who laced a fastball into center for a two-RBI single. Randy Myers gave one back in the bottom of the night, but ultimately held on for a 4-3 Mets win.