NO MOONLIGHT, HE:

Orosco Retires After 24-Year Career (VOA Sports, 22 Jan 2004)

He began his career with the New York Mets in 1979, before some current major leaguers were born. Orosco set big league records with 1,252 games pitched and 1,248 relief appearances. He posted 87 wins and 80 losses with 144 saves and a career earned-run-average of 3-16 with nine teams. Orosco says he wants to be remembered both for the length of his career and his consistency.

Here's how old Jesse Orosco is--the Mets got him for Jerry freakin' Koosman. Contrary to the story, his greatest moment came in Game 6 of the NLCS in '86, not the subsequent World Series. Mike Scott was throwing an evil splitter that year (emphasis on the "s" "p" "i" "t") and no one on God's green Earth gave them a shot at beating him in Game 7, so they had to win Game 6.

In a game that went many extra innings, Orosco gave up a tying homerun to Billy Hatcher in the 14th but was still around in the 16th, facing Kevin "Smallmouth" Bass despite giving up two runs of a three run lead. Bass got down to two strikes but fouled off a couple fastballs. Keith Hernandez called Gary Carter out to the mound and demanded to know why they weren't putting him away with a slider. Carter--a notorious pitcher's catcher--said Orosco's arm was going to fall off if he tried throwing one. Hernandez told Carter to either call a slider or he'd personally beat the tar out of him. The rest, as they say, is history.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 22, 2004 6:20 PM