Rockie Road

For Mets fans, one of the eye-catching events of this year's short-lived NL Division Series play (the Year of the Mountain Time Zone teams, "peaking" at the right time) was former Met Kaz Matsui's grand slam in Game 2 of the Rockies-Phillies series.

Matsui's grand slam was the 6th by a second baseman in post-season history. Previous ones were :
-Tony Lazzeri, Yankees 1936 World Series vs. Giants
-Gil McDougald Yankees 1951 World Series vs. Giants
-Bobby Richardson Yankees 1960 World Series vs. Pirates (Richardson had 1 homer in 460 ABs and a .298 SLG in the 1960 regular season)
-Chuck Hiller Giants 1962 World Series vs. Yankees
-Edgardo Alfonzo Mets 1999 Division Series vs. D-Backs (Game 1, scored tied in the top of the ninth, two outs, Ventura on third, Ordonez on second and Rickey Henderson on first after hitting into a fielders' choice play at home for the second out).

Matsui also had a near-cycle (a "tricycle"?) in that game, with a double, triple and homer. That particular combination has been done in the post-season only once before, by Lou Brock in Game 4 of the 1968 World Series. Other three-out-of-four combos in the post-season:

The single-double-triple combination has been done 23 times in the post-season, never by a Met but three times against the Mets: Reggie Jackson in Game 2 of the 1973 World Series, Mike Marshall in the 1988 NLCS, and Paul O'Neill in Game 3 of the 2000 World Series.

The single-triple-homer combination has been done 11 times in the post-season, never by or against the Mets.

The single-double-homer combination has been done 82 times in the post-season, three times by the Mets, and twice against them:
--Cleon Jones and Tommie Agee had this combination on successive days, in Games 2 and 3 of the 1969 NLCS versus the Braves
--Kevin McReynolds had 1B/2B/HR day in Game 6 of the 1988 NLCS
--Johnny Bench had a single, double and homer against the Mets in Game 1 the 1973 NLCS
--Jeff Kent's post-season single/double/homer combo came in Game 3 of last year's Mets-Dodgers Division Series.

Perhaps the oddest near-cycle game in post-season history was in Game 2 of the thrilling 1912 World Series. Red Murray and Buck Herzog of the New York Giants, both had single-double-triple days that day -- but the Giants could only manage a 6-6, eleven inning tie game against the Red Sox, called on account of darkness after both teams had scored a run in the tenth and gone scoreless in the 11th. Because of the tie game, and evenly matched play throughout the series, the 1912 World Series had to go to an eighth game before being decided. In that final game the Giants took the lead in the top of the tenth, and had the great Christy Mathewson on the mound, having given up only one run all game and none since the third inning. But in the bottom of the tenth a dropped fly ball by Fred Snodgrass, the Bill Buckner of his time (except on the other side in a NY-Boston Series), led to two unearned runs for Boston, costing the Giants the championship.