Howard Johnson’s 1986 Time Machine — Episode 22

August 18–24, 1986

Welcome back to the Howard Johnson 1986 Time Machine on KinersKorner.com, where we travel back 40 years to relive one week at a time from the unforgettable 1986 New York Mets season.

This week, the Mets were beginning to make the National League East standings look like a typo.

Starting the week 78-41 and 17 games ahead the Mets swept the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, taking down **Orel Hershiser, Fernando Valenzuela and Dennis Powell** on three consecutive nights.

Then they headed to San Francisco and won the first two games against the Giants, including a **5-3 victory behind Dwight Gooden** and a **3-2 win behind Bob Ojeda**.

Five straight wins later, the Mets were **82-41 with a staggering 20-game lead**.

Then came Sunday.

The Giants jumped all over Rick Aguilera, beating the Mets **10-1** and handing them one of their worst losses of the season.

Final tally for the week: **5 wins, 1 loss, an 82-42 record and a 19-game lead.**

Joining us to break it all down are two members of that legendary team:

⚾ **Howard Johnson** — two-time World Champion, two-time All-Star, three-time 30-30 Club member and one of the most exciting players of the 1980s.

And joining HoJo this week:

🔥 **Jesse Orosco** — All-Star, World Series champion and one of the most important pieces of the 1986 Mets bullpen. Orosco would eventually set the Major League record for pitching appearances, but in 1986, his job was simple: **get three outs.**

We talk with Howard and Jesse about:

• Facing Orel Hershiser and Fernando Valenzuela in Dodger Stadium

• Why the Mets were so difficult to beat in so many different ways

• The confidence inside the pitching staff

• Bob Ojeda's brilliant 3-2 victory over San Francisco

• The different pressure of pitching in close, low-scoring games

• How the bullpen handled a 10-1 blowout

• Whether a 19-game lead changed the clubhouse mentality

• The defined roles that made the Mets bullpen so effective

• When the players began thinking about October

• And the moment Jesse and Howard realized the 1986 Mets might be something truly special

Because the 1986 Mets weren't great because they never lost.

They were great because **one bad day never made them forget just how good they were.**

And with the Mets sitting at **82-42, 19 games ahead**, there was still plenty of baseball — and one unforgettable October — still to come.

**Subscribe to KinersKorner.com** and follow along every week as Howard Johnson takes us back inside the 1986 Mets season, one week at a time.

#Mets #1986Mets #HowardJohnson #HoJo #JesseOrosco #NewYorkMets #MetsHistory #MetsFans #KinersKorner #1986Baseball #MLBHistory

🔔 SUBSCRIBE TO KINER'S KORNER

If you're a Mets fan, baseball fan, or someone who believes the best baseball stories are the ones told by the people who lived them, make sure you LIKE, SUBSCRIBE and TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS so you never miss an episode of Howard Johnson's 1986 Time Machine.

And if you prefer to listen while you're driving, walking, exercising — or pretending to work — **Kiner's Korner is available on all major podcast platforms.**

Visit Kiner'sKorner.com for more Mets history, stories, interviews and baseball memories.

Join our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/kinerskorner

LET'S TALK METS

What is YOUR favorite memory of the 1986 New York Mets?

Who was the most important player on that championship team?

And if you could spend one more day inside the 1986 Mets clubhouse, what would you want to see?

Tell us in the comments.

Because 40 years later...

They're still walking together.

And we're still talking about them.

# 1986 NEW YORK METS | METS HISTORY | HOWARD JOHNSON | RAFAEL SANTANA | 1986 WORLD SERIES

#Mets #LGM #1986Mets #NewYorkMets #HowardJohnson #HoJo #RafaelSantana #MetsHistory #1986WorldSeries #BaseballHistory #KinersKorner #TimeMachine #MetsFans

The 1986 New York Mets may have won 108 games, but one team gave them everything they could handle all season—the Houston Astros.

In Episode 20 of **Howard Johnson's 1986 Time Machine**, host **Mark Rosenman** and two-time World Series Champion **Howard Johnson** are joined by **1986 National League Manager of the Year Hal Lanier**, who led the Astros to 96 wins and the NL West title in his rookie season as a big league manager.

Together, they look back at the week of **July 7-13, 1986**, when the Mets hit a rare bump in the road, losing three straight to the Cincinnati Reds before responding with a dominant four-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves. Meanwhile, Lanier's Astros entered the All-Star break just one game behind the San Francisco Giants, setting the stage for an unforgettable second half.

The conversation includes:

⚾ The Mets' surprising three-game losing streak and immediate turnaround

⚾ The close regular-season battles between the Mets and Astros

⚾ How Hal Lanier built Houston around pitching, speed, and defense

⚾ Lessons learned coaching under Whitey Herzog's Cardinals

⚾ Managing Nolan Ryan, Mike Scott, and one of baseball's best pitching staffs

⚾ Howard Johnson's memories of facing the Astros during the summer of 1986

⚾ Comparing the 1986 Mets with the great San Francisco Giants teams of the 1960s

⚾ What life was really like around the All-Star break during a pennant race

Long before their legendary National League Championship Series, these two clubs were already pushing each other to the limit.

If you love baseball history, the 1986 Mets, the Houston Astros, or hearing untold stories from the people who lived them, this is an episode you won't want to miss.

👍 Please Like, Subscribe, and hit the Notification Bell so you never miss an episode of **Howard Johnson's 1986 Time Machine**.

Visit us at **https://kinerskorner.com**

#1986Mets #NewYorkMets #HowardJohnson #HalLanier #HoustonAstros #MetsHistory #BaseballHistory #MLBHistory #NLCS #MikeScott #NolanRyan #DaveyJohnson #KinersKorner #BaseballPodcast #MetsPodcast