National League Standings, August 4, 1975
METS FANS SHARE THEIR MEMORIES OF THE AUGUST 4, 1975 GAME:
Peter C
October 13, 2005
I was 11 and on this day and my grandfather had taken me to Cooperstown to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame. We stayed overnight and after dinner we were listening to this game in our hotel room. Now I have to tell you that for some reason my grandfather was a fan of young Met pitcher Randy Tate. He believed that he was going to develop into a fine pitcher.
On this night at least, my grandfather appeared to be right. As we listened to the signal as it faded in and out on a transistor radio, Randy Tate was pitching the game of his life. Over the first 7 innings Tate had struck out 11 Expos while walking 4 with his customary wildness. He had not only held the Expos scoreless, but hitless as well. The Mets led 3-0. The radio signal was getting weaker as Tate fanned pinch hitter Jose Morales to begin the 8th. After fading for a few moments, the signal returned and we heard that ex-Yank Jim Lyttle had broken up the no-hit bid. After that the signal was gone for good and we went to sleep, tired from the long day.
The next morning after breakfast, we walked past the Hall of Fame and saw the final on the museum's scoreboard. The Mets and Tate had lost the game 4-3. A walk, a Gary Carter single and Mike Jorgensen's 3 run HR, all off of Tate had ruined his fine outing.
Tate finished with 13 strikeouts. Ex-Met Chuck Taylor got the save for the Expos. Another nail in Yogi Berra's coffin as he would be fired as manager later that week.
rich
January 10, 2010
I remember watching this game at my neighbor's house (he was a big Mets fan) and how pissed off he got when Randy Tate lost the no-hitter. He threw a beer bottle through the glass coffee table in his den.
Dave VW
May 1, 2025
This certainly had to be one of the most excrutiating losses of the season, and maybe of the entire decade. Tate was brilliant over the first 7 innings, and even struck out the first batter he faced in the 8th, but a pinch-hit single by Jim Lyttle burst the bubble on yet another Met no-hit bid that got broken up late in a game. Then a walk to Pepe Mangual allowed Montreal to bring the tying run to the plate. Anywhere from this point on Yogi Berra could have gone to the bullpen for a fresh arm, as Tate was well over 100 pitches at this point.
Unfortunately, that call to the pen never came. Tate did manage to strike out Jim Dwyer, but Gary Carter followed with an RBI single, and Mike Jorgensen then hit a 3-run homer. In the span of just a few minutes, it went from a 3-0 lead and the potential of making history, to down 4-3 to the last-place Expos. What a kick in the head.
Meanwhile, the Mets offense, which had been pretty hot in July, has gone cold again. In this game, they mustered just 3 hits, and not a single one after the 5th inning. The cold streak bottomed out the following day in getting shutout in both ends of a doubleheader by the Expos, ultimately leading to Yogi's dismissal.
The 13 strikeouts by Tate were the most by any Met pitcher in 1975. It's hard to believe, after this type of performance -- on top of being only 22 years old -- that Tate would make just 5 more starts at the Major League level in his career.
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