Dwight Gooden opened the Mets' world championship season with a complete game, 6-hit, 4-2 win at Pittsburgh.
Some of us remember it fondly, even though we're not Mets or Pirates fans. The Pirates threatened in the ninth, but Gooden stayed out there firing away and shut down the Bucs. I remember Johnny Ray -- already with two hits and an RBI -- coming to the plate in the inning, the crowd going crazy, and the organist playing "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." He didn't.
Hard to believe there was a time when baseball started so "late" in April. And that there were organists.
We missed the only homer of the game, R.J. Reynold's lead-off blast in the first off Gooden, but heard the roar of the crowd as we walked from the car toward Three Rivers Stadium. I can still hear that roar. You knew it was a home run.
Rick Reuschel got the loss. Gooden struck out six. The game took 2:24 to play.
Sadly, Sammy "The Egyptian Boy Wonder" Khalifa was hitless.
As they say, you can look it up.
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