Mets Box Score Flashback: Going above .500 for good in 2000

The 2000 New York Mets turned their season around for good on May 17 with a win against the Colorado Rockies. They wouldn’t fall below .500 for the rest of the year.

On May 17, 2000, the New York Mets hosted the Colorado Rockies in an evenly matched affair in front of 23,000. The Wednesday night matchup pitted the 19-18 Rockies against the 20-20 Mets.

By the end of the night, the Rockies fell down to .500 and the Mets climbed above. For the rest of the season, New York continued to have more wins than losses.

This particular 4-2 Mets win represented the season well. Al Leiter was the man on the mound for the Metropolitans. In 8 innings of work, the lefty allowed just 2 earned runs while striking out 9. John Franco earned the save and all seemed well in the world.

It wasn’t an easy win, though. As the case was a little too often for the 2000 Mets, offense was not a strong suit.

Despite having 10 hits, the Amazins mustered up only a pair for extra bases. Doubles by Robin Ventura and Jon Nunnally accounted for the two hits that landed the batter beyond first base.

Those two hits were important ones, too. Ventura’s double in the fifth knocked in two runs. Nunnally ended up scoring an insurance run shortly after his.

The starting lineup for this game was nothing out of the ordinary with one exception. Leading off and in center field we didn’t find Jay Payton. It was super-utility man Joe McEwing.

Only days earlier, McEwing made his debut for the Mets in a loss versus the Florida Marlins. He would stick with the club throughout the rest of the year. This game didn’t have much bearing on the decision although he did have an RBI single.

At the time, this seemed like a nice win for the Mets to get back on track. They had a rough run at the beginning of May before this victory against Colorado that helped set them up well for the rest of 2000.

Following the win against the Rockies, New York swept the Arizona Diamondbacks in three games. Each win was a one-run game.

Throughout the 2000 season, it never felt like the Mets were the top team in the National League. The Atlanta Braves continued to carry their momentum from the 1990s into the new millennium and even the eventual pennant-winning Mets looked like they were a rung below.

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May 17, 2000 was an important date for the 2000 season. It signaled the end of fighting to stay even and put the orange and blue en route to a playoff berth and eventual league title.