Win a No-Hitter!

***WE HAVE OUR WINNERS. THANKS ALL FOR PLAYING.***

You haven’t lived until you’ve listened to the Spanish-language call of the ninth inning of the First No-Hitter in New York Mets History synced to the video. And if you’re wondering where you can do that, boy do we have a DVD for five of you!

Meet the latest Metsian must-have Baseball’s Greatest Games release from A+E Home Entertainment/MLB Productions, the one from June 1, 2012, the one with Johan Santana’s no-hitter. It’s got the entire SNY telecast; it’s got Gary, Keith and Ron (who was never better than he was in this ninth inning); it’s got the WFAN audio of Howie Rose and, in relative morsels as the night wore on, Josh Lewin fill-in Jim Duquette; and it has the little-heard by non-Latino listeners call from Max Perez Jimenez and (subbing for longtime en Español voice Juan Alicea) Nelson Rosario, as heard over WQBU-FM.

You know from Gary. You know from Howie. And, language barriers notwithstanding, you should know from their compadres. Based on a small sample, the Spanish-language Mets broadcasts sound like a veritable throwback party, from using the Glenn Osser Orchestra version of “Meet The Mets” to introduce each inning to picking up an onslaught of crowd noise that leaks happily through the broadcast’s background. My one (minor) disappointment with the SNY and ’FAN broadcasts of June 1 was I never really got the sense that the crowd was as excited as Gary and Howie were in their own professional way. My friend Kevin — whose invitation I cleverly declined that fateful Friday — told me the “buzz” was kind of a mixed bag in the stands. Then I read two stories from reporters who rather effetely downplayed the significance of being there. I began to wonder if anybody besides Gary, Howie and my buddy Kevin was thrilled to have attended the First No-Hitter in New York Mets History.

Thanks to La Qué Buena’s feed on this disc, I can feel the excitement that much more, even if I can’t understand much more Max is saying in the ninth besides “¡johansantana!” and “¡citifield!” — and that’s despite my having taken six years of Spanish from seventh through twelfth grade. I’m not sure why WQBU transmitted more of the crowd noise than its counterparts. Perhaps they planted a microphone outside their booth’s window.

Anyway, the audio tracks are merely a bonus to this DVD. The heart of it is the First No-Hitter in New York Mets History, which remains as breathless an experience now (DL visit for its protagonist be damned) as it was two months ago. And thanks to A+E Home Entertainment/MLB Productions, you can own it for a very reasonable price…or you can have it for FREE if you are one of the first five Faith and Fear readers to correctly answer all the questions on the following quiz and e-mail your answers to faithandfear@gmail.com. (These contests usually run pretty quickly, but if we don’t have five completely correct sets of answers by Friday, August 10, 12:01 AM EDT, then we’ll take the ones that come closest that we received first.)

Each question is at least tangentially related to the subject of this game: the glorious outcome; the franchise’s history in seeking such an outcome; the Mets’ opponent that night; the pitcher we welcome back to the Mets’ rotation this weekend. Each answer, you’ll discern, has a recurring theme. My only guideline is if you know your online resources, this will go pretty smoothly.

But you don’t need to know how to speak Spanish.

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***WE HAVE OUR WINNERS. THANKS ALL FOR PLAYING.***

THE QUIZ

1) The last time a Mets lefty threw a one-hitter, I played left field for the losing team. Who am I?

2) I caught the last no-hitter a St. Louis Cardinal pitcher threw. Who am I?

3) Johan Santana didn’t get to bat in his first major league game because of the silly rule the American League has about such things. But I batted because I was the designated hitter on Johan’s team. Who am I?

4) You know how frustrating it was to watch all those pitchers for other teams throw no-hitters but not see a Met throw one? Well, you wouldn’t have minded me throwing one in that regard because I threw the last one in the majors before the Mets existed. Who am I?

5) I made the last out of the first inning Johan Santana pitched as a major league STARTER. Who am I?

6) The last time the Mets threw a combined one-hitter, I was the staring second baseman for the losing team. Who am I?

7) I was the losing pitcher in the last no-hitter pitched by a St. Louis Cardinal. Who am I?

8) I was the only teammate of Johan Santana’s on Johan’s first professional team to later play for the Mets. Who am I?

9) The last time a Mets pitcher didn’t give up a hit for the first seven innings of a game against the Cardinals that eventually became a one-hit victory for the Mets, I was the Cardinals’ second baseman. Who am I?

10) I drove in the go-ahead run that stood up as the winning run in Johan Santana’s first major league victory. Who am I?

11) We are the only THREE Mets who played on June 1, 2012, who, as of August 6, 2012, have been on the Mets’ active 25-man roster every day of the 2012 season. Who are we?

12) I was the leadoff batter for the team that lost the last major league no-hitter thrown before the Mets existed. Who am I?

13) I made my major league debut for the losing side in the last game in which the Mets were victimized by a no-hitter. Who am I?

14) I was the losing pitcher in the game in which Johan Santana gained his first major league win. Who am I?

15) I made the last out of the first inning Johan Santana pitched as a Met. Who am I?

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Best of luck! And if luck doesn’t do it for ya, try links:

This one, this one and this one, in particular.

And if you don’t want to be bothered, there’s always this one.

***WE HAVE OUR WINNERS. THANKS ALL FOR PLAYING.***