In many ways, 1980 is a very important marker for the New York Mets. I’m not using this year because this is the year Nelson Doubleday (RIP) purchased the Mets. Rather I’m using this date to create a demarcation in Mets fandom.
Those fans born between January 1, 1980 – October 27, 1986 are a distinct group. Most likely you are part of a group who went to their first Mets game with their father at Shea Stadium. Your childhood home with its ramps and neon figures are gone. As a result, this same group probably brought their son/daughter to their first game at Citi Field.
As your first Mets game was at Shea Stadium in the 80’s, this was what you knew the song “Meet the Mets” to be:
It blared on the loudspeakers outside Shea. It was part of the intro to the WFAN games. Speaking of which, up until this past year, you only knew of the Mets on WFAN. Now, they’re on WOR, and you’re version of “Meet the Mets” has disappeared.
You also grew up with Tim McCarver when he was good. You mostly grew up with Fran Healey, who was never quite as bad as advertised. You knew and loved Bob Murphy, but Howie Rose and Gary Cohen are your guys. You love Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling as players, but if you’re being honest, you really know them more as broadcasters.
You were raised with four divisions, no Wild Card, and no Interleague play. It was baseball when it was more pure, but in some ways, it seems less fun in retrospect. The rivals of your youth all moved to the NL Cental. In their place was the never lose the division Braves.
Mostly, it’s been cruel to be born in this timeframe. The Mets won a World Series in your lifetime, but it was a World Series of which you have little to no recollection. It’s a cruel twist of fate for something so prominent in your team’s and baseball’s history occurred when you were alive, and you really can’t remember it. At least not all of it.
Your only true World Series experience was the Subway Series, and the Mets lost it to the hated Yankees. To make matters worse, Mike Piazza made the last out on what seemed at first glance to be the game tying homerun, and Derek Jeter was the World Series MVP.
Thsnkfully, things are looking up now. We saw Generation K falter, but now we have the stud muffins succeeding. We seem to have the team that can have long sustained success like those 80’s teams. However, we’re now old enough to enjoy it.
We now have a Mets team in the World Series that’s the only show in town. No sharing the spotlight. This is our moment. This is the World Series we get to enjoy and remember. So if you’re from Long Island, New Jersey, Brooklyn, Queens, and Connecticut, Lets Go Mets!
That’s the cheer for the New York Mets!
For the first time in baseball history, the World Series is about to feature two expansion teams. For the uninitiated, here’s the complete list of baseball’s expansion teams:
1961: Angels and Rangers (Senators)
1962: Astros (Colt .45s) and Mets
1969: Brewers (Pilots), Nationals (Expos), Padres, Royals
1977: Blue Jays and Mariners
1993: Marlins and Rockies
1998: Diamondbacks and Rays
Looking over these teams, there are only nine World Series titles amongst them all. Furthermore, there are only 20 World Series appearances in this group. Extrapolating further, these teams have combined for 75 playoff appearances.
Through all of that, the Angels are the only franchise with an overall winning record. The Astros have the most playoff appearances. With all of that, the Mets are the most successful expansion franchise.
The Mets five pennants are more than any other franchise. Royals are second with four. The Mets are tied with the Blue Jays and Marlins for most World Series wins. The Mets trail only the Astros (10) and Royals (9) in playoff appearances (8).
The goal for any team is to win the pennant and the World Series. The Mets have done that more than any expansion team. However, if the Mets lose to the Royals, the mantle would be shifted to Kansas City. This is but one of a dozen or so subplots to this World Series. With that said, as of right now, the Mets are baseball’s best expansion team.
Lets Go Mets!
After a hard fought game with very questionable calls, the Royals are going to their second straight World Series. Seriously, there was once again bad umpiring and replay.
This was ruled a homerun:
And this was called a strike:
That changed the AB from 3-1 with runners on second and third with one out to a 2-2 count.
If this happened to the Mets, I would be screaming bloody murder right now. I feel bad for the Blue Jays fans right now. That team, those fans, and the game of baseball deserved better. Congratulations to the Blue Jays on a great year. To Blue Jays fans, you have my sympathy. You didn’t deserve this after 22 years of waiting.
Note, I’m not saying the Royals were not the better team or that their victory is tainted. I’m says they got lucky in this game.
That scares me as a Mets fan. Not only is this Royals team on a mission, but now, they’re getting calls like this. The Royals are a great team, and it should be an interesting World Series. I’ll do my prediction later, but I think you know where I’m going.
When Steven Matz was first called up it was a phenomenon. He won his first start going 7.2 innings allowing five hits, two earned, three walks, and six strikeouts. He went 3-3 at the plate with a double and four RBIs. The start was so good his grandfather also became a legend:
His second start was equally as impressive. He won that game too going 6.0 innings allowing two hits, none earned, two walks, and eight strikeouts. After that game, he was diagnosed with a torn lat and shut down for three weeks.
He did come back from the lat year making four September starts. In those games, he averaged 5.1 innings with a 2.86 ERA and a 1.455 WHIP. These were not poor numbers, but they certainly weren’t the Matz we all saw in July. He then injured his back. After a good Instructional League start, he was put on the NLDS roster and named the Game 4 starter.
Predictably, his numbers again dipped after a long layoff. He lost what could’ve been the clincher. He threw 85 pitches over five innings allowing six hits, three earned, two walks, and four strikeouts. He was lined up for the clincher in the NLCS. He went 4.2 innings allowing four hits, one earned, two walks, and four strikeouts. Bartolo Colon had to come in and get him out of the jam.
In the postseason, Matz is 0-1 with a 3.72 ERA and a 1.448 WHIP. He’s only averaging 5.0 innings. I’ve heard he’s pitched well considering the layoffs. I’ve heard the Mets didn’t catch a popup in the fifth inning in Chicago. You know what these are? Excuses. It covers up the fact that he hasn’t been that good. If the other three starters weren’t as dominant, he would be killing the bullpen.
So who should start in his place? I would argue Colon, which is not something I ever thought I would say. He’s made four appearances. In the first, he induced a double play grounder, but we know what happened next. Since then, he’s pitched 5.1 innings allowing three hits, one earned, one walk, and six strikeouts. In these postseason, he has a 3.38 ERA and a 0.750 WHIP.
I say this even though Colon has been good in the pen and was tattooed by the Blue Jays earlier this year. However, that game was Toronto. I’m hoping the colder weather and a friendlier ballpark would help him in the World Series.
I still think Matz could stay on the roster. It may be helpful to have another lefty in the pen. Additionally, he’s been fine in the beginning of games. Let him come in and air it out; put him in a position to succeed.
I do not think the Mets will make a change. I can understand why. I can still see Matz turning it around. I hope he does because the Mets are going to face a much tougher opponent in the World Series. He’s going to have to return to July form.
He better because the Mets will need him.
One of the reasons The Natural is my favorite baseball movie is because it focuses on everything that makes baseball great. It showed baseball as a romantic, mythical, redemptive and magical sport. It also crushed the idea of jinxes in the sport.
If you remember the movie as well as I do, you remember Pop lamenting he was cursed. That’s why he never win the pennant. He should’ve gone into farming like his father said. Instead, he needed players to win. Players like the farmboy, Roy Hobbes, to get him that pennant. With one swing of the bat, Roy Hobbes showed jinxes aren’t real:
The Mets also showed there was no such thing as jinxes. You could argue they were tempting fate, but it really wasn’t the case. Whether it was the Mets website prematurely listing the Mets as the pennant winners . . .
. . . or Yoenis Cespedes prematurely ready to party . . .
. . . or Ruben Tejada pre-ordering special bottles of Johnny Walker Blue:
Despite all of that, this happened:
So no, I don’t believe in jinxes. Now, would anybody like to join me for some sesame chicken in Tuesday?
From the moment he arrived in 1998, Mike Piazza brought the Mets to another level. The Mets went from young and improving to a playoff team.
He was joined by some terrific Mets along the way. Edgardo Alfonzo, John Olerud, Robin Ventura, Al Leiter, etc. However, Piazza was the man. He was (and still is) the greatest hitting catcher in the history of the game. With some bad luck and some other factors, the Mets didn’t win the World Series when Piazza was with the Mets.
The Mets missed their shot. The Mets were beset with hard times and bad decisions after that. However, Piazza still had his moments:
However, he never got his chance to go back to the playoffs, to win a ring. I thought about that in 2006. I was hoping the Mets would bring him back like they did Lee Mazzilli in 1986. I understood why they didn’t.
Paul Lo Duca had a terrific year. Piazza was still a capable starting catcher with pop in his bat. You couldn’t ask either to sit on the bench. You also don’t want to invite the controversy. It still doesn’t mean I didn’t miss him, especially with Ramon Castro being the backup catcher.
For the first time since 2006, the Mets were in the playoffs. For the first time since 2000, the Mets are in the World Series. There was a time it was all because of Piazza. He’s retired now on the cusp of the Hall of Fame. It’s where he belongs.
I just wish he was here.
There are times when something is so obvious and compelling that it just had to happen. Right? This year it seems like the Mets and Blue Jays are destined to meet in the World Series. Here’s why:
1985 ALCS
Did you ever see those Abraham Lincoln-JFK assassination similarities lists? On face value, it’s eery, but at the end of the day, they’re an amazing set of coincidences. It reminds me of the 1985 and the 2015 ALCS:
The players are all different. The front offices and managers are different, and yet, so far, the 2015 ALCS is following a similar script. If this is omen rather than coincidence, the Blue Jays win.
The Daniel Murphy Factor
By and large, the NL Cy Young voting is predicted to have Zack Greinke–Clayton Kershaw–Jake Arrieta finish 1-3 in some order. Daniel Murphy has homered off of all of them. Between the Royals and the Blue Jays, there is only one Cy Young candidate: David Price.
With the way Murphy has been playing this Murphtober, doesn’t it seem like he’s destined to homer off of another Cy Young caliber pitcher?
Referendum on the R.A. Dickey Trade
Look, no matter how you slice or dice it, the R.A. Dickey trade has been enormously successful for the Mets. Two of the biggest parts of this Mets team have been Noah Syndergaard and Travis d’Arnaud. That also doesn’t include Wullmer Becerra, who is starting to become a real prospect.
However, for the Blue Jays, the trade was always about winning the World Series. It doesn’t matter is he’s the fourth starter. It doesn’t matter if he hasn’t pitched well in the playoffs. It doesn’t matter if Thor is better now. All that matters now is if the Blue Jays win the World Series.
If they do meet up, it’ll be a great story. Just ask Dickey:
Dickey: “What a script… If I could face Syndergaard in Game 7, wouldn’t that be something? … Great narrative.”
— Jesse Spector (@jessespector) October 19, 2015
Conclusion
Now that I’ve wasted all that time explaining why it’ll happen, we now know the Royals will win Game 6 or 7. It doesn’t matter to me who the Mets face so long as they win the World Series.
Good things have happened to the Mets since they called up Michael Conforto. He was called up on July 24, 2015. At that time, the Mets were 49-47, and they were three games back (four in the loss column) in the NL East.
After Conforto’s call-up, the Mets went 41-25. That’s a .621 clip or a 100 win pace. Sure, there were other moves, but he was the first move. With the Mets now in the World Series, he’s putting together a Miguel Cabrera type of rookie year. He’s also looking to have a Jason Varitek type of year:
Michael Conforto (@Beaver_Baseball): will be 3rd person to play in all 3 major World Series events (also LLWS/CWS)-Ed Vosberg/Jason Varitek
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 22, 2015
Varitek and Ed Vosberg were alone in that group until Tuesday when they were joined by Conforto. It should be noted that Varitek (2004 & 2009) and Vosberg (1997) won their World Series. It’s now Conforto’s chance to follow their lead. I like his chances. Conforto has been a winner all his life. He’s now helped make the Mets winners.
Mets pennants do not come around often. This has only been the fifth in Mets history. You know what comes around less frequently? Yes, no-hitters. Also, Mets NLCS MVPs. Can you name them? Good luck!
As everyone predicted, Matt Harvey was at the Rangers game tonight:
https://twitter.com/NYRangers/status/657355376153767936/video/1
It’s great that he got a standing ovation. Not a boo to be heard. It seems now that everyone is a Mets fan in New York. Everywhere I was people were talking about it. There was a run on stuff at Modells. Dicks was limiting sales on hats and t-shirts to one per customer so they wouldn’t run out.
The main reason for all of this might be because the Mets are the only show in town for the first time since the 2006 NLCS, or the 1988 NLCS, depending on your perspective. It’s a sign the Mets could be taking back New York.
If they don’t, who cares? The only thing I really care about now is the World Series. If the Mets do win the World Series, you can only imagine the ovation Harvey will get at that game. With Game 7 of the Workd Series slated for November 4th, the next Rangers home game will be Tuesday, November 10th against Carolina. I can’t wait to see the video and hear the ovation then.
By the way, the Rangers won 4-1 with Rick Nash scoring an empty net goal without putting the puck in the net. Apparently, with the MLBAM/NHL deal, the NHL adopted the Chase Utley rule.