A Look Back At Chase

Ed Ryan at Mets Fever (Shea Nation Network), writes about the Mets at Chase Field in the past two years:

As the team embarks on a very tough west coast trip, Ben Shpigel of the NY Times takes a look back at the last two years of success in Arizona and some of the usual events that have occurred.

Chase Field has also been the site of some of my favorite — and more bizarre —memories from my time covering the Mets. In 2005, Kaz Matsui (remember him?) had three hits in a game here, but Willie Randolph claimed that Matsui should have been credited with only two hits because his third should have been fielded cleanly. During that same series, Mike Jacobs set a record by becoming the first player in major league history to hit four home runs in the first four days of his career, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. And Victor Zambrano, then jockeying to keep his spot in the rotation, pitched eight innings of one-run ball. Notice how none of those players are on the team anymore?

Last season in Arizona, Carlos Beltran put on an amazing display, batting .529 with three homers and 10 runs batted in, while Carlos Delgado blasted two homers, hit .375 and drove in eight. Orlando Hernandez pitched a complete game in the series opener, and two days later Alay Soler tossed a two-hit, complete-game shutout, prompting El Duque to call them, “The Cuban Connection.”