Edgardo Alfonzo
From The Met Wiki
Edgardo Alfonzo was an infielder for the Mets from 1995 to 2002. He played in 1086 games, accumulating 1136 hits for 1736 total bases. Alfonzo had 120 home runs and 538 runs batted in during his eight years in New York.
Alfonzo made his major league debut on April 26, 1995. He appeared as a pinch-hitter in the Mets’ 11-9 loss to the Colorado Rockies in the first game ever at Denver’s Coors Field. He got a run-scoring double for his first major league on May 2. In this game at Montreal, Edgardo became the 100th third baseman in Mets history. At Cincinnati on May 6, he hit his first major league home run. Alfonzo had two doubles, a homer and three RBIs in the Mets’ 9-3 win at Atlanta on June 23. He also had a double and three singles in a 12-3 Mets win at Chicago on July 18.
In 1996, Alfonzo batted .261 in 123 games played. He had four homers and 40 RBIs for the year. From June 10 to June 12, Edgardo had five hits and drove in three runs in the Mets’ three-game sweep of the Braves at Shea Stadium. On July 14, he had a single, double, homer and three RBIs in a 10-3 Mets win over the Astros in the second game of a doubleheader. Alfonzo also hit two home runs in the Mets’ 7-2 triumph at Philadelphia on September 19.
Edgardo led the Mets with 163 hits and a .315 batting average in 1997. For the season, he had 27 doubles, 10 homers and 72 RBIs. Alfonzo had a three-run double in a 7-2 Mets win over the Reds at Shea on April 22. His sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning on August 5 gave the Mets a 5-4 win over the Cardinals. At St. Louis on August 14, he hit a grand slam in a 6-2 Met victory. Edgardo also had a double, three singles and five RBIs in the Mets’ 15-6 win over the Giants at Shea on August 27.
Alfonzo hit .278 with 17 homers and 78 RBIs in 1998. He had 28 doubles and a team-leading 94 runs scored on the season. Edgardo drove in four runs with a triple and three singles as the Mets defeated the Phillies, 8-6, on May 31. He hit a run-scoring double in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Mets a 2-1 win over the Dodgers on August 1. He also hit a three-run homer in a 9-8 Mets win over the Giants at Shea on August 6. Five days later, Alfonzo had a double and three singles in the Mets’ 8-3 win at St. Louis.
The 1999 season was Edgardo’s most productive as a Met. He had 27 home runs, 108 RBIs and a .304 batting average. Alfonzo led the team with 191 hits, 41 doubles, 9 sacrifice flies and 315 total bases for the year. In addition, he set a Mets team record with 123 runs scored.
In ’99, Edgardo had some standout games. On April 30, he had four singles and a stolen base as the Mets defeated the Giants, 7-2, at Shea. Alfonzo hit a three-run homer to put the Mets ahead to stay in a 7-6 win over the Braves at Shea on July 4. At San Diego on August 16, he homered in the 10th inning for a 4-3 Mets victory. Edgardo had a run-scoring single in the bottom of the ninth for an 8-7 Mets victory over the Cardinals in the first game of a twinbill at Shea on August 22. At Houston on August 30, he had the most productive game of his career by going 6-for-6 (including three home runs) as the Mets routed the Astros, 17-1.
In the Wild Card tie-breaker game at Cincinnati on October 4, Edgardo had a two-run homer and a run-scoring double as the Mets defeated the Reds, 5-0, to enter the post-season. In Game 1 of the National League Division Series in Phoenix, he hit two homers (the second being a grand slam in the ninth) to lead the Mets to an 8-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Alfonzo also homered for the Mets in the series-clinching Game 4.
In 2000, Edgardo batted .324 with 25 home runs and 94 RBIs. His 176 hits, 109 runs and 40 doubles were team highs for the season. Alfonzo had two consecutive four-hit game at Colorado on April 29 and April 30, both of which were Met victories. He had two doubles and scored the winning run in the Mets' 10-8 triumph over the Pirates at Shea on June 24. Edgardo had four hits in the Mets’ 5-3 win at Los Angeles on August 18. At Montreal on September 16, he had a three-run homer and an RBI single in the Mets’ 10-4 win over the Expos.
Alfonzo homered in Game 2 of the NLDS at San Francisco He also drove in two runs in Game 4 of the series. In the NLCS against the Cardinals, Edgardo hit .444 (8-for-18) in the Mets’ five-game triumph. He also hit safely in 11 consecutive games in the 2000 post-season.
Edgardo had 111 hits in 124 games in 2001. He had 22 doubles and 17 homers for the season. Alfonzo began the year with a six-game hitting streak, during which he went 11-for-24 for a .458 batting average. He singled home the winning run in the 12th inning on April 15 to give the Mets a 7-6 victory over the Braves at Shea. On July 16, Edgardo drove in four runs with a double and a homer as the Mets beat the Marlins, 10-5, at Shea. He homered in consecutive games at Cincinnati (both Mets wins) on July 19 and July 20. Alfonzo also hit a game-tying homer – his last as a Met - at Pittsburgh on September 25.
Following the 2002 season, Alfonzo signed as a free agent with the Giants. He played three years in San Francisco before concluding his career with the Angels and Blue Jays in 2006.
