Previous Game:
September 28, 1997
Mets 8, Braves 2
1998 Regular Season Game 1
March 31, 1998
Mets 1, Phillies 0
Next Game:
April 2, 1998
Phillies 6, Mets 5
Click to view scorecard

National League Standings, March 31, 1998

Box Score Game Memories Scorecard Mets Stats
Thru This Game

METS FANS SHARE THEIR MEMORIES OF THE MARCH 31, 1998 GAME:

Bryan Hoch
July 16, 2001
What a remarkable Opening Day at Shea. I cut school for this one, the sun was beaming down... it was 88 degrees on March 31st in Flushing, and I was in a field box behind the third base dugout.

Bobby Jones started against Curt Schilling, and the zeros piled up against each other on the scoreboard. Nine scoreless. Ten. Twelve. Fourteen. The Mets used six pitchers, including getting scoreless relief from Greg McMichael and Mel Rojas.

Finally, in the bottom of the fourteenth inning, light-hitting backup catcher Alberto "Bambino" Castillo singles home Brian McRae with the game winner off Ricky Bottalico to send everyone home happy, 4:35 and 428 pitches later.

Piazza wouldn't arrive until late May -- the Mets' Opening Day catcher was Tim Spehr, and Todd Pratt was in Norfolk.

This one ranks as one of my favorites ever. I went in to school the next day with a big ol' red sunburn, and everyone knew I hadn't really been sick the day before.

SCOTT R
March 1, 2006
I was at this game too. Me and my dad went. It was about 80-something degrees, a great day for March 31. Great pitchers duel until bases-loaded single by last man on bench in 13th inning Alberto Castillo.

Tom M.
July 28, 2006
First and only Mets home opener in the month of March and it was an unbelievably warm (88 degrees) day. Was also my two year old son's first Met game. He really doesn't remember it, but he loves telling people that we stayed for the entire 14 innings.

Ed K
March 13, 2008
As it turns out, Turk goes down in history as the last Met reliever to win a Season Opening Day at Shea.

Joseph Tyson
January 14, 2011
Sat in the upper deck in fair territory. Sunburnt and tired, I could hase kissed Castillo when he finally ended it.

Ed K
May 30, 2014
This was also the first regular season game ever played by the Mets in March. Expanding the MLB playoffs to three rounds forced the regular season to begin and end earlier.

Dave VW
November 16, 2023
Not only was this the Mets' first season-opener in March, as stated by a few commenters already, but this also tied their longest Opening Day game in franchise history. But instead of losing in 14 like they did at Colorado in 1995, this time they won in dramatic fashion. It also marked their fifth straight win over the Phillies in an Opening Day contest.

With Pedro Martinez now in Boston, the case could be made that Curt Schilling was now the most dominant pitcher in the NL. And he came roaring out of the gate in 1998, posting 8 shutout innings with 9 Ks, with the only 2 hits allowed being singles to journeyman catcher Tim Spehr. Thankfully, Bobby Jones and a very deep Mets bullpen matched zeroes, but operated under a much different "bend-but-don't-break" philosophy, stranding 13 Phillies runners on base, helped largely by holding Philly hitless in 9 ABs with RISP, along with some stellar Mets defense, particularly from usual webgemmers Rey Ordonez and Edgardo Alfonzo.

After getting the first 2 batters to reach in the 14th, the Mets looked ready to squander the opportunity when Alfonzo bunted too hard on a sacrifice attempt, resulting in the lead runner getting thrown out at 3rd. Bernard Gilkey followed with a single to LF but Brian McRae fell down rounding 3rd and had to retreat back to the base. It looked like he would have scored, too, because the throw to the plate from the leftfielder was up the first-base line. Luis Lopez then popped out after an 8-pitch AB, leaving it up to Castillo. After going down in the count 1-2, Alberto took some very close pitches for balls, then lashed a single to RF to send everyone home happy. It was actually his 2nd walk-off hit in the Mets' last 3 games, as he also had a walk-off RBI double in the Mets' 2nd to last game of the 1997 season vs. Atlanta!

All in all, there were 16 hits in the game, and all of them were singles. This was Jones' third and final Opening Day start for the Mets, and it was the first time the Mets ever won a game 1-0 on Opening Day; they've done it twice since, in 2012 and 2020, both times against the Braves. Also, this was the first regular season game broadcast on FSNY, formerly known as Sportschannel. During the broadcast, they periodically checked in on NY mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was in attendance, and wondered how long he'd stick around for, knowing he was delivering a speech in DC that evening. He actually didn't leave until midway through the 10th inning, which is better than what Howie and Fran had predicted in the booth.



Now it's your turn! Tell us what you remember of this game:

Please note:
We're looking for your comments about this specific game. We've had people use this space to share their thoughts on how the current season is going, or on ways that the Mets can improve the team. Such comments, unless in the context of this particular game, will be considered off-topic and will be removed.

Example One
The Mets suck! They need to trade Smith and get somebody like Jones.
This comment is off-topic and will be removed. It has nothing to do with any specific game. But here's an acceptable alternative:

Example Two
The Mets suck! Smith made three errors in this game, and hit into a double play, and the Mets blew a 5-0 lead. They need to get rid of Smith and get somebody like Jones.
See the difference? Here you're getting the same point across, but it's in the proper context. We wouldn't consider this message to be off-topic, and we would let it remain.

We do appreciate anybody who takes the time to share their thoughts on our site, and we hate to remove anybody's postings. But if we didn't take steps to ensure that only on-topic messages were retained, The Ultimate Mets Database would become a confusing jumble of unrelated comments, and would thus be less enjoyable to visitors like you.

Thank you!



Your name:
E-Mail address:
OPTIONAL
Comments about the game:






About Us
  • Contact us
  • FAQ



  • Copyright 1999-2024, The Ultimate Mets Database