This Date in Mets History: August 16 - Strawberry's 11 Bases is the Mets' 23 Runs

The 1987 Mets outscored their opposition by 125 runs, best in the National League (while finishing 92-70, third best.) The artillery was primed on August 16, for a 23-10 assailing of the Cubbies at the (home run) friendly confines. Sorry Frank, the summer winds were blowing out. Darryl Strawberry captained the charge, chasing home five teammates on a homer, a triple, a double, and -- fie, cycle -- another double (also a walk and a steal.) Other gunners included Lenny Dykstra and Howard Johnson, who crushed a long ball a piece after Greg Maddux was blasted from the game. Though Ron Darling and Jesse Orosco didn't much like the warm winds either, they enjoyed what remains to this day the most potent offensive performance in club history.

Birthdays

• Nobody -- not George Will -- was happier at the conclusion of the mid-'90s baseball strike than Rick Reed (turns 48). Reed had agreed to strike-break for the Cincinnati Reds had the disputes extended into 1995, and as it was he had made no friends -- at least none in stirrups. He joined the Mets in 1997 and, out of nowhere, put up two consecutive 4-WAR seasons. He was also twice and All Star, in 1998 and 2001, the year he was traded midseason to Minnesota for Matt Lawton. The Mets were 21-9 in Rick Reed starts in the pennant-winning 2000 season.
• Roger Cedeno is 38. The speedy Venezuelan swiped 66 bags for the '99 Mets -- a franchise record it took Jose Reyes to overrun -- and batted a career-best .313/.396/.408. The Mets sold high on the outfielder, flipping him for Mike Hampton, before rehiring Cedeno for the 2002 and 2003 campaigns. Thoug the second coming was decidedly second rate, leave it to Small Market Sandy to repurpose pieces of the veteran for some disnatured depth.
• Mike Jorgensen is 64, though but for a canny medical intervention he might have bit it in 1979. The first baseman was between stints with the Mets when a bean ball produced a seizure-inducing blood clot in his brain. The Mets resigned Jorgensen the following year, and the first pitcher to throw at him (Expos rookie Bill Gullickson) was ground into the dirt by John Stearns. In parts of six seasons with the Mets ('68, '70-'71, '80-'82), Jorgensen was replacement level pretty much to a T.

Game of Note

Octavio Dotel brought a no-hitter into the seventh inning before walking two and surrendering a three-run homer on an August 16, 1999 game against the Padres. Despite it being Mike Piazza's fourth consecutive game with a home run, this put the Mets a run in arrears. In the eighth, Edgar Alfonzo hit his way on and made his run on a single and a double play ball, while meanwhile the relief arms of Wendell, Cook, and (later) Benitez pitched flawlessly. In the top of the 10th, Fonz smacked a line drive deep to left field that cleared the wall for the go-ahead -- and winning -- score.

Amazin'-ly Tenuous Connection

On August 16, 1989, a geomagnetic sun storm spit cosmic fire our way, temporarily preventing trades on the Toronto Stock Market. It is said that every day the sun rises or sets prevents TRAIDs of Canada's Jason Bay.