BLUNDERS ON THE ROAD: THE FULL LIST

1. Pat Riley lets John Starks fire away, June 22nd, 1994, The Summit, Houston

       It wasn’t John Starks fault… at least not entirely. Yes, he shot 2-18 but coach Pat Riley, a control freak who viewed himself as a demi-god, never stopped Starks’ shooting spree. If he had the Knicks would have been 1994 NBA champions.

       Starks had flubbed Game 1 of the Finals with a 3-18 night but made up for it with several strong fourth quarters, most notably in Game 6 when he poured in 16 in the final period. But that game ended with Starks three-pointer—which would have won the crown—tipped away by Hakeem Olajuwon with two seconds left.

Over the next two days Starks stewed, desperate to repeat his success and redeem that one failure. “I put too much pressure on myself,” he wrote later. “I let my emotions get the best of me.”

       In Game 7, Starks struggled through the three periods, shooting just 1-8. Still, he kept firing, hoping to find the range. Riley, meanwhile, stood pat. He didn’t replace Starks with Rolando Blackman or call more plays for Hubert Davis or Patrick Ewing. He just let Starks shoot… and shoot… and shoot.

Starks was 1-10 in the fourth, his sole basket a put-back on a Ewing miss. But most of his shots were low-percentage heaves—he chucked up eleven three-pointers in all that night without sinking one. Meanwhile, the rest of the team played hard and hung close, pulling within 80-75 and then, on a Davis 3-pointer, to 88-84 in the closing minutes. But they couldn’t take back all the missed shots, the missed opportunities.

It would take years before Riley finally admitted he should have shaken things up and done something differently. By then it was way too late.

2. Snodgrass, Myers, Merkle and Mathewson all blow the World Series, October 10th, 1912, Fenway Park

       The 10th inning of the deciding game of the 1912 World Series is remembered for “Snodgrass’ Muff” but centerfielder Fred Snodgrass had plenty of help in the Giants’ self-destruction--equal notoriety rightfully belongs to “Meyers’ Muff,” “Merkle’s Boner” and “Matty’s Fadeaway.”

The Giants had grabbed a 2-1 lead in the top of that inning on Fred Merkle’s single and ace Christy Mathewson stood just one inning from the championship. But the first and second outs both proved maddeningly elusive while the third never came at all.

First, Boston’s Clyde Engle hit an easy fly to center. Snodgrass glided under the ball, which hit his glove…and bounced away. In a Series marred by 31 errors, this was the worst. An angry Mathewson lost focus, letting the next batter drill a low hard liner. Snodgrass earned partial redemption with a spectacular running catch but Mathewson walked the next man before getting dangerous Tris Speaker to lift a seemingly harmless pop foul. First baseman Merkle—castigated for his baserunning boner back in 1908-- had the easiest chance but pulled back for an ill-fated charge by catcher Chief Meyers. (Some claimed Mathewson called it for Meyers, others that the Red Sox bench called Merkle off.) Distracted and disgusted Mathewson surrendered a game-tying single to Speaker. Two batters later Boston finished off New York, ironically, with a sacrifice fly—one of the few balls cleanly caught in that disastrous inning.

3. The Giants’ defense collapses, blowing the World Series, October 10th, 1924, Griffith Stadium, Washington

       Don’t pin this one entirely on Fred Lindstrom. History highlights the bad-hop single the rookie Giant third baseman couldn’t stop in the 12th inning of the seventh game of the 1924 World Series but crucial gaffes earlier that inning really gave the Washington Senators the crown.

       Washington had tied Game 7 at 3-3 in the sixth when a bases-loaded grounder hit a pebble and jumped over Lindstrom. Then the ancient Senator, Walter Johnson, who’d lost twice in the Series, pitched four shutout innings in relief.

       The Giants cracked in the 12th. Muddy Ruel hit an easy pop foul but catcher Hank Gowdy tossed his mask in front of, not behind him, stepped in it and stumbled as the ball fell. Ruel, hitting just .050, then ripped a double. Shortstop Travis Jackson then bobbled Johnson’s easy roller. So instead of two outs there were two on for Earl McNeely. His perfect double play ball to Lindstrom then found a pebble (that same one?) and leaped into left as Reul scored the winning run.

4. Armando Benitez and Kenny Rogers choke away the NLCS, October 19, 1999, Turner Field, Atlanta

       This one truly hurt. The Mets came back so far just to lose in a painful ending every Met fan could have predicted as two much-loathed pitchers gave away the 1999 NLCS.

Certain players are fine in small markets or meaningless ballgames but can’t handle the spotlight of New York or the post-season, much less both. Armando Benitez was just such a person. Kenny Rogers was worse.

The Mets had rallied magnificently all year, particularly in the 1999 NLCS after losing the first three games to Atlanta, winning Game 4 with an 8th-inning rally and Game 5 on Robin Ventura’s 15th-inning grand slam single.

In Game 6 they’d recovered from a 5-0 first inning deficit to tie the game at 7-7.

Then in extra innings, Benitez and especially Rogers choked. The game was 8-8 in the tenth when New York manufactured the go-ahead run. Three outs from a previously unimaginable Game 7 and their closer on the mound--but the Mets learned in 1999 that Benitez was lights out except when it counted most. Two hits and a walk later and the game was tied at 9-9.

       For the eleventh, manager Bobby Valentine trotted out Rogers who had been inexplicably imported for the stretch run from Oakland despite having previously been run out of New York by Yankee fans for his dismal performance, especially in the 1996 post-season. When the 1999 post-season arrived Rogers again showed he knew only how to fold. In one NLDS appearance and his first two in the NLCS, he contributed 11-2/3 innings, yielding six walks, 15 hits and nine runs. His 12 walks in 18-2/3 post-season innings for his career was nearly twice his regular season rate and thus the textbook definition of a scared pitcher, the last person you’d send to the mound with the season on the line.

       After a double and a sacrifice bunt, Valentine had Rogers walk Chipper Jones and Brian Jordan intentionally. There was a certain logic here—get past the two best hitters while setting up a force at the plate or a double play—but a danger too. Ask a pitcher to throw eight consecutive balls and he may lose his groove. Ask a starter not used to relieving to do it and his rhythm will definitely wobble. Ask Kenny Rogers to do it in a clutch situation and you can practically guarantee the outcome. With Octavio Dotel and Masato Yoshii in the bullpen hoping to be called upon Valentine stuck with Rogers. He fell behind Andruw Jones 3-1 then snuck one more strike over.

Then, on a pitch way out of the strike zone, he ended the Mets season by commiting an unforgivable baseball sin, walking in the winning run.

       Rogers was gone the next year but Benitez was kept around to blow the 2000 World Series.

5. David Cone riles up the Dodgers, October 5, 1988, Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles

       Never give your opponent motivation. David Cone broke that elemental rule in his brief stint as Daily News columnist during the 1988 NLCS against Los Angeles. Cone (or his ghost-writer) gloated after the Mets’ Game 1 comeback win: “I’m not a psychologist but I have an idea what’s going through the Dodgers’ minds right now. It isn’t good.”

He also claimed Orel Hersheiser had merely been “lucky” in that game and that his replacement, closer Jay Howell, reminded the Mets of “a high school pitcher.”

Unfortunately, Cone looked like a little leaguer in Game 2 in Los Angeles on October 5, setting up run with a balk in the first, then surrendering four runs on four hits, a walk and a hit batter in the second inning. He was done after that and his newspaper career was over too.

DISHONORABLE MENTION: WORST BLUNDERS ON THE ROAD

1. Art Wilson lays the groundwork for Fred Snodgrass, October 9, 1912, Fenway Park

Poor Fred Snodgrass. The Giants’ 1912 World Series gets pinned on him but he was far from the only culprit. Take Game 2: with the Giants winning 6-5 in the 10th inning, Boston’s Tris Speaker drove the ball to deep center. When the Grey Eagle rounded third and flew for home shortstop Tillie Shafer pegged his relay home in plenty of time but catcher Art Wilson, who had just entered the game, dropped the ball, giving Speaker an inside-the-park homer. Darkness ended the game a 6-6 tie after 11 innings, a crucial win falling to the ground with Wilson’s Muff.

2. David Cone loses his cool, April 30th, 1990, Fulton County Stadium, Atlanta

       Dumb but smart, that was David Cone against Atlanta in April, 1990.

In the fourth inning Cone raced over to cover first on a grounder by Mark Lemke. Umpire Charlie Williams called Lemke safe, ruling that Cone’s foot missed the bag. Cone started screaming, forgetting there had been two runners on base and that time had not been called. As Cone argued they both raced around to score.

The Mets lost 7-4 and lost the pennant by four games with this game becoming a symbol of the transition from an era of stirring play to one of boneheaded gaffes by high-priced talent. But unlike those who would follow him—Bobby Bonilla, Vince Coleman, Bret Saberhagen—Cone was smart enough to stand graciously at his locker afterwards, deftly fielding questions from reporters, acknowledging his mistake.

3. Ed Appleton falls for a trick, August 7th, 1915, Robison Field, St. Louis

It was the easiest winning run ever. On August 7th, 1915 St. Louis had the bases loaded in the seventh inning of a 4-4 tie when manager Miller Huggins, coaching at third, preyed upon Brooklyn’s rookie pitcher Ed Appleton’s innocence. Huggins called to the youngster then beckoned as if he wanted to see the ball. Appleton tossed it over, Huggins stepped aside and the ball rolled to the grandstand, allowing the go-ahead run to waltz home. A rule change later outlawed such tomfoolery.

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