Sep 23 2014 10:38 AM
Re: Second place?
Second place and the quest for .500: A concise summary of the Mets' Citi Field era in just a few paragraphs.
Modicum of Suspense as Mets’ Year Winds Down
SEPT. 23, 2014
by JAY SCHREIBER and ELENA GUSTINES
| We interrupt Derek Jeter Week with an unexpected announcement: The Mets — yes, the Mets — have suddenly put some suspense into the final week of their season. Not pennant-race suspense, mind you; that may still take a while. But with a 76-80 record after a three-game weekend sweep of a deflated Atlanta team, the Mets actually have a chance to finish at .500, or even above that mark, something they have not done since 2008. Of course, 2008 is not exactly a source of pleasant memories for Mets fans. That was the year the Mets managed to collapse in the final month of the season in almost identical fashion to the way they threw away a playoff spot in 2007. Even now, it is hard to believe the Mets were able pull off such a miserable feat. But consider what came after that: In 2009, in their first season at Citi Field, the Mets sank to a 70-92 record under Manager Jerry Manuel. Months of bad baseball were encapsulated in one play: the infamous pop-up that Alex Rodriguez hit and Luis Castillo dropped with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the Mets leading the Yankees by a run in the Bronx. Instead, the Yankees won, 9-8. The following season, the Mets went 79-83. Jason Bay entered the scene with a four-year, $66 million contract and proceeded to hit very few home runs while also sustaining a concussion. He never rebounded. Meanwhile, Oliver Perez dragged the Mets into absurdity. He pitched poorly; refused a demotion to the minors; was, in turn, ignored and rarely used in games; and then, finally, in the final game of the season, was summoned to the mound in the 14th inning of a tie game and proceeded to hit one batter and walk three more as the Mets lost, 2-1. In 2011, Sandy Alderson took over as general manager and tried to make sense of the mess the Mets had become. He brought in Terry Collins as manager as well as all sorts of bargain-bin players, hoping some would make an impression, although few did. Meanwhile, every day of the week he was confronted by the Bernard Madoff financial scandal in which the Mets’ ownership had become increasingly ensnared. And in May of that year, Fred Wilpon, the principal owner, only made matters worse in an interview with The New Yorker. Pulling a George Steinbrenner, he gratuitously insulted some of his best players. Of Jose Reyes, he said: “He thinks he’s going to get Carl Crawford money. He’s had everything wrong with him. He won’t get it.” Of David Wright, Wilpon’s verdict was: “A really good kid. A very good player. Not a superstar.” And Carlos Beltran, Wilpon said, was “65 to 70 percent of what he was.” For the season, the Mets went 77-85. And in the final game, Reyes bunted for a base hit in the first inning and then took himself out of the game, thus assuring he would become the first Met to ever win a batting title and also guaranteeing that people would mock him for the way he won it. Not long afterward, he became a Florida Marlin. In 2012, the Mets retreated to 74-88, not that it made a difference. On June 1, Johan Santana threw the first no-hitter in Mets history, but the eye-opening number of pitches he needed to do it — 134 — created a foreboding feeling, since he had missed the entire 2011 season because of shoulder surgery. And sure enough, Santana was never the same after that historic night. Three months later, R .A. Dickey, the literate knuckleballer, notched his 20th victory in the final home game of the season. Not long afterward, he became a Toronto Blue Jay. As for 2013, well, Matt Harvey emerged as a monster until he went down with a torn elbow in his pitching arm. The Mets’ final record was 74-88, the same as the year before. And there was one unsightly footnote — a June 8 game in which the Mets took 6 hours 25 minutes, and 20 innings, to lose to the awful Marlins, 2-1. In what may have been the most unwatchable game in their history, the Mets went 0 for 19 with runners in scoring position. Which brings us to 2014. The Mets have had a losing record for much of the season, and have often felt borderline irrelevant, but they have also made real strides in developing a core of talented young players in outfielder Juan Lagares, catcher Travis d’Arnaud and starting pitchers Jacob deGrom and Zack Wheeler. Jenrry Mejia and Jeurys Familia are a decent tandem in the bullpen. Harvey is set to return next season after sitting out a year after Tommy John surgery. The Mets need another corner outfielder who can hit, and if they acquire one, well, who knows? For now, the Mets have three games this week in Washington against the Nationals, a team they rarely beat, and then three more at home against the Houston Astros. Five out of six gives them an 81-81 record and keeps them from a sixth straight losing season, which would leave them just one short of their franchise record. Can they do it? Can they really avoid another losing record? Probably not. But for now, by Mets standards, it qualifies as pretty suspenseful. |
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/sport ... .html?_r=0
| And in May of that year, Fred Wilpon, the principal owner, only made matters worse in an interview with The New Yorker. Pulling a George Steinbrenner, he gratuitously insulted some of his best players. Of Jose Reyes, he said: “He thinks he’s going to get Carl Crawford money. He’s had everything wrong with him. He won’t get it.” Of David Wright, Wilpon’s verdict was: “A really good kid. A very good player. Not a superstar.” And Carlos Beltran, Wilpon said, was “65 to 70 percent of what he was.” |
You know what's ironic about eff Wilpon's now infamous comments to The New Yorker?