The Dog Days of Summer Seem to Only Affect the Mets

If you've been living in the New York metropolitan area the last few weeks, you know it's been a hot summer, especially recently when temperatures have been in the 90s with heat indices soaring into triple digits.  In between breaths of hot and sticky air, you've probably heard someone mention that we're in the dog days of summer.  But what exactly are those canine 24-hour periods?

The dictionary definition of dog days is as follows:

• The sultry part of the summer, supposed to occur during the period that Sirius, the Dog Star, rises at the same time as the sun: now often reckoned from July 3 to August 11.

• A period marked by lethargy, inactivity or indolence.

Clearly, the second definition was created with the 2016 New York Mets in mind.

Just a few days after the astrological beginning of the dog days of summer, the Mets' record stood at 47-38 and they held a firm grip on the National League's top wild card spot.  Since then, the Mets have gone 10-20 and their players have developed those dreaded summer allergies - the ones that make them allergic to winning streaks longer than one game.

Since July 7, when the Mets were three games ahead of the Cardinals and Marlins, New York has the worst record in baseball.  Don't believe me?  Here, see for yourself.  Can't find the Mets?  Just look all the way down in the lower right hand corner - the spot usually reserved for last place teams.

The dog days have affected other competitive teams as well, as the Marlins and Cardinals have only been one game above .500 since July 7.  The Pittsburgh Pirates, who had the eighth-best record in the National League on July 7, are also just one game over the break-even point since that date.  But even that's been good enough to put them ahead of the Mets on the morning of August 13.  It should be noted that the Mets had the fourth-best record in the Senior Circuit five weeks ago, which means the Pirates only needed to be barely better than mediocre to leapfrog over four teams on their way to passing the defending National League champions in the wild card race.

The Mets have done nothing but fall apart since Sirius started to rise at the same time as the sun.  I mean that figuratively and literally, as Matt Harvey, Yoenis Cespedes, Jose Reyes, Asdrubal Cabrera and probably some other players you never realized were on the team (Justin Ruggiano, anyone?) have all been felled by the injury bug.  Still, even with the plethora of boo-boos, no one could have expected that this team would ever be the worst out of 30 teams for a period of just over a month.

Summer doldrums have affected the Mets in the past as well.  Just six years ago, the Mets' record stood at 45-35 on the morning of July 3, the date in which the dog days of summer begin in the astrological sense.  The team had the wild card lead and was only two games behind the first-place Braves in the N.L. East and three games ahead of the eventual division champion Phillies.  Five weeks later, they were below .500, behind the Phillies, and on the outside of the playoff race looking in.

Do you remember the 2002 season, when general manager Steve Phillips brought in a bunch of former All-Stars in Mo Vaughn, Jeromy Burnitz and Roberto Alomar to help the team go for its sixth straight winning season and third playoff trip in four years?  That team was 53-49 in late July and within striking distance of the wild card-leading Dodgers.  Then ... KABOOM!  That's the sound a Flushing Free Fall makes when the team proceeds to go 8-25 in its next 33 games, which included a 12-game losing streak in mid-August and the loss of every home game in the entire month.  For all you kids out there, that's an 0-13 record in August.

And what about the 1992 Mets, also known as "The Worst Team Money Could Buy"?  That team was actually just four games out of first place on July 24 and appearing to be worth every penny invested in it.  But less than a month later, the team was 15 games off the pace in the division after losing 19 of 24 games.

The dog days of summer affect every major league team.  Players get tired over a long season and especially when the weather is hot and humid.  But over the years, those days have been particularly rough on the Mets.  This season has been no exception.

Last night's loss to the Padres was the Mets' 20th defeat in their last 30 games.  If you believe in astrological definitions, the dog days of summer ended two days ago.  Perhaps someone should tell the Mets that the Dog Star is no longer rising with the sun and hope that this information can help the team rise in the wild card standings.  The Mets could certainly use all the help they can get.

One Mo-MET In Time: Shawn Estes

The 1999 season marked the first time that both the Mets and Yankees qualified for the postseason in the same year.  Although the two teams failed to meet in the World Series in 1999, they did provide several memorable moments during their regular season matchups, including Matt Franco's game-winning hit against Mariano Rivera on July 10.

But the day before the Franco walk-off, the Mets used a late three-run homer by catcher Mike Piazza off Yankees starter Roger Clemens to break a 2-2 tie in a game the Mets eventually won, 5-2.  It was Piazza's second career homer off Clemens, with the first one coming in the Rocket's previous start against the Mets a month earlier at Yankee Stadium.

One year later, Piazza continued his torrid hitting against Clemens, launching a grand slam to straightaway center field - just the second grand slam allowed by Clemens in 17 seasons - to help the Mets cruise to a 12-2 victory.  A single in his next plate appearance gave Piazza seven hits in 12 at-bats against Clemens, including three homers and nine RBI.   The next time Clemens started a game against the Mets, he hit Piazza in the helmet with a fastball, knocking the Mets catcher out of the game.  General manager Steve Phillips shared his thoughts on the beaning after the game, saying, "I don't know if things are ever over.  Guys have long memories in baseball."

Things weren't over between Clemens and Piazza.  And apparently, the memory of Piazza's ownership of Clemens resonated more with the Rocket than it did with the Mets' All-Star catcher.

When the two teams squared off in the 2000 World Series, Piazza faced Clemens for the first time since he was the target of Clemens's head-seeking missile.  It only took four pitches for Clemens to once again have Piazza in his sights, although this time it was with a broken bat instead of a fastball.  Swinging on a 1-2 pitch, Piazza hit a foul ball that shattered his bat into several pieces, with one of the shards bouncing toward the pitcher's mound.  Instinctively, Clemens fielded the sharp piece of wood, then threw it in the direction of a dumbfounded Piazza, claiming that he thought it was the ball.  Never mind that Clemens's initial reaction was to hop around as if a spear was coming right at him (which it was) instead of a spherical, blunt object (which it wasn't).

The Yankees went on to win the game and the World Series.  Although Clemens was fined $50,000 for his unexpected javelin toss, he could easily afford to pay for it with his World Series-winning share of $294,783.41.  A year later, Clemens didn't have to worry about retaliation by the Mets because Yankees manager Joe Torre went out of his way to ensure that Clemens wouldn't have to pitch at Shea Stadium, where he'd be forced to bat.

By the 2002 season, much had changed for the crosstown rivals.  The Yankees were no longer the defending World Series champions and the Mets were no longer playoff contenders in the National League.  One thing that hadn't changed was that the Mets were still fuming over Roger Clemens and his approach to facing Mike Piazza.  Three years after Piazza took Clemens deep for the first time and two years after Clemens aimed a fastball and a fast bat in the direction of Piazza's body, the stage was set for Clemens to finally step up to the plate as a hitter at Shea Stadium.  And it was up to a new member of the Mets - one who wasn't present for each of the previous incidents - to show Clemens exactly how the Mets felt about him.

Shawn Estes may have missed Roger Clemens with a pitch, but he didn't miss a Roger Clemens pitch.  (Getty Images)

Aaron Shawn Estes was a former first round draft pick who had his share of ups and downs in the big leagues.  In 1997, Estes was an All-Star for San Francisco, going 19-5 with a 3.18 ERA to help the Giants reach the playoffs for just the fifth time in 40 seasons in the Bay Area.  But the '97 campaign was also the first of three seasons that Estes reached triple digits in walks.  Estes was never known for his control, as evidenced by his 521 walks in seven seasons as a Giant, a number that puts him in the team's top 20 in free passes - a team that has been in existence since 1883 and has used 731 pitchers through the 2014 season.

When Mets general manager Steve Phillips wanted to overhaul the team after it barely finished above .500 in 2001, he added several former All-Stars to the roster (Roberto Alomar, Mo Vaughn) and re-acquired players who used to call Flushing home (Jeromy Burnitz, Roger Cedeño).  Phillips also looked to bolster his pitching staff, sending utility infielder Desi Relaford and popular outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo to the Giants in exchange for Estes.

Estes's first win as a Met was a complete-game, one-hit shutout on April 26, a game in which the left-hander didn't allow a base runner until the seventh inning.  Ironically, Estes's masterpiece came against Milwaukee's Glendon Rusch, the pitcher he essentially replaced in New York's starting rotation and the last hurler to start a one-hitter for the Mets.  (Rusch combined with Armando Benitez on a one-hitter in 2001.)

Following his gem against the Brewers, Estes struggled mightily.  The southpaw won just one of his next seven starts, posting a 5.84 ERA and allowing opposing hitters to bat .343 against him.  Not once in those seven starts did Estes pitch into the seventh inning and in five of the seven outings, he failed to pitch more than five innings.  Needless to say, Estes was not winning over many fans in New York, especially after a five-inning, six-run debacle against the Indians on June 9 that brought him into his first Subway Series experience in his next start.  And what a start it would be, as Estes would be facing none other than Roger Clemens in his first Shea Stadium appearance since the 1999 season.

Shawn Estes was toiling a coast away in San Francisco during the 1999 and 2000 seasons when the Clemens-Piazza feud was at its peak.  But it would fall upon Estes to protect his new battery mate by sending a message to Clemens and the Yankees that the Mets were not going to be bullied by anyone.  On an unusually cool mid-June afternoon at Shea Stadium, the tension was palpable.  Estes started the game by striking out four of the first eight Yankee batters to face him.  That brought up Roger Clemens, as Public Enemy No. 1 was also Yankee batter No. 9.

With all eyes in the Shea Stadium crowd focused on the Estes-Clemens matchup, Estes fired his first pitch to the plate.  Naturally, aiming at a particular target - even a six-foot, four inch target - wasn't a strong suit for a pitcher who had walked 100 or more batters in a season three times in his career.  Estes's first pitch went behind Clemens, missing his rear end by about a foot.  Home plate umpire Wally Bell issued warnings to both dugouts and Clemens continued his at-bat against Estes, eventually striking out on a 3-2 pitch.

To most fans at the time, Estes had failed in doing his job, just as he had done in most of his starts during the season's first two months.  Striking out Clemens wasn't what they wanted to see.  Striking him was.  And by not doing so, the two-year wait for retribution lingered on.  After Estes retired the side in order in the top of the third, it was his turn to take a bat in his hands to face Clemens.  Although Estes's sacrifice bunt did allow shortstop Rey Ordoñez to score all the way from second base - the Yankees left home plate unattended - to give the Mets an early lead, it still didn't give fans what they desired.  Two innings later, Estes made up for missing Clemens in the third.  He didn't miss this time.

Shawn Estes hits Roger Clemens in a way no one expected.  (Photo by Steve Crandall/Reuters)

With the Mets clinging to a 1-0 lead in the fifth, Roger Cedeño led off the inning with a double down the left field line.  Rey Ordoñez then swung away at the first pitch he saw, flying out to center fielder Bernie Williams, which left Cedeño at second and brought up Shawn Estes.  Had there been no outs, Estes would have been instructed to bunt the runner to third base.  But with one out, Estes was allowed to swing away - and what a swing it was!

Estes hit a high fly ball down the left field line that cleared the outfield wall for a jaw-dropping two-run homer.  Estes's first hit as a Met - he began the season by going 0-for-18 - was not the first time he had taken an opposing pitcher deep, as he had homered once in 1997 and also hit a grand slam in 2000.  But it was the first time Clemens had ever allowed a long ball to a fellow moundsman in his 19-year career.  (Clemens would allow just one more homer to an opposing pitcher, serving up a two-run shot to Montreal Expos starting pitcher Jon Rauch in 2004.  It was one of only 11 starts made by Rauch in his career and his only home run.)

Clemens would later stroke a double off Estes in the top of the sixth - just the third hit of the Rocket's career - but was left stranded on the bases.  If Clemens thought he had gotten some sort of payback off Estes by banging out an extra-base hit of his own, he was in for a rude awakening when he went back to the mound for the bottom of the sixth when his nemesis, Mike Piazza, stepped into the batter's box to lead off the inning.

Piazza, who claimed that he "never really went to the plate with any ulterior motive",  took Clemens's first offering and deposited it over the wall to give the Mets a 4-0 lead.  Clemens was never allowed to finish the sixth inning, as he was taken out of the game two batters later.  The Mets went on the win the game, 8-0, with Estes picking up his third win of the season.

Estes pitched seven shutout innings against the Yankees, allowing five hits, one walk and matching a career high with 11 strikeouts.  But despite pitching (and hitting) beautifully against the Yankees in June, Estes became a former Met less than two months later.  The southpaw would win just one more game in New York, as he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in August as part of a package that netted the team long-time middle reliever Pedro Feliciano.

Roger Clemens had been disliked by Mets fans since the 1986 World Series, when he was seen clean-shaven prior to what he thought was going to be a championship-clinching win by his team at the time, the Boston Red Sox.  (Clemens had a five-o'clock shadow during the game, but shaved off his stubble in anticipation of a celebratory post-game interview that never happened.)  More than a decade later, Clemens infuriated fans once again when he took out beloved catcher Mike Piazza with a fastball to the helmet, then tried to do the same with a broken bat in that season's Fall Classic.

The Mets waited patiently for two seasons to get their revenge on Clemens.  The opportunity almost passed them by when Shawn Estes failed to hit Clemens with a pitch on a cool June day in 2002.  But before the day was over, Estes found a different way to hit Clemens, shaming him more than a fastball to the body ever could.  Piazza also exacted a modicum of payback against Clemens by homering off him an inning after Estes took him out of the park.  It turned out to be Piazza's final hit off Clemens after spending the previous half-decade hitting rockets off the Rocket.

''I don't think revenge mattered.  Hopefully today beating the Yankees and doing it the way we did is the key to getting some momentum.  That was really all we were trying to do.''

--Mike Piazza, following the June 15, 2002 game against the Yankees 


Shawn Estes never did bolster the starting rotation as general manager Steve Phillips expected, going 4-9 with a 4.55 ERA in 23 starts.  But he did provide the team and its fans with one magical day at Shea Stadium.  Estes was pitching across the country when the bad blood between Clemens and Piazza started to boil in 1999.  But when the book on the storied feud was closed, it was Estes who provided one of the final chapters, nailing a Roger Clemens pitch just two innings after he failed to nail Clemens at the plate.

A total of 72 players in Mets history (through the 2014 season) finished their careers in New York with just one home run to their credit.  Of those six dozen players, none of them hit a blast that resonated more with Mets fans than the one hit by Shawn Estes on June 15, 2002.

The man who came to New York with a history of being wild around the plate couldn't hit Roger Clemens with a pitch (yet still managed to get fined $750 for his efforts).  However, he did hit Clemens where it hurt the most - his ego - when he did something no pitcher had ever done before against him.  And in doing so, he helped provide closure to one of ugliest pitcher-batter feuds in recent memory.

Shawn Estes couldn't have picked a better time to have his one memorable moment as a Met.


Note:  One Mo-MET In Time is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets players who will forever be known for a single moment, game or event, regardless of whatever else they accomplished during their tenure with the Mets.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:

January 5, 2015: Mookie Wilson 
January 12, 2015: Dave Mlicki
January 19, 2015: Steve Henderson 
January 26, 2015: Ron Swoboda
February 2, 2015: Anthony Young
February 9, 2015: Tim Harkness
February 16, 2015: Kenny Rogers, Aaron Heilman, Tom Glavine
February 23, 2015: Mike Vail
March 2, 2015: Matt Franco

Ike Davis Celebrates With His Timo Present

Did anyone catch the ending of Sunday's game?  After the Astros scored a run in the top of the ninth inning off Jeremy Hefner (who was brilliant for the first eight innings), the Mets batted in the bottom of the ninth, needing a run to win.  Up stepped Ike Davis, who was responsible for the Mets' first run with a long home run to right.

Reliever Wilton Lopez, who seemed out of place on the Astros by virtue of his 5-1 record for a soon-to-be 40-88 team, was on the mound.  But with one towering fly ball off Ike Davis' bat, Lopez doubled his loss total.  Davis' walk-off homer just above the outstretched glove of rightfielder Ben Francisco gave the Mets a 2-1 victory in the game and the series.

But that wasn't the top story in the game.  The top story occurred just seconds after the ball left the yard.  I'll just let the photo below tell the story for me.

As Tropical Storm Isaac churns in the Gulf of Mexico, the Mets' own Isaac twirled at Citi Field.

Ike Davis, who plays for the Mets, a team that puts players on the 60-day DL for getting a paper cut, decided to score Baryshnikov-style.  Inexplicably, as he reached his joyous teammates at home plate, Davis did a pirouette/cha cha cha move, carefully covering his mouth so that no one would see his white man's overbite. 

He did this to celebrate a game-ending home run against a team that had won as many games as the 1962 Mets, a team that had already been mathematically eliminated from the NL Central race before the end of August.

I get that Davis was happy to win a game with his bat before the 25,071 in attendance and the 17,000-plus empty seats in the house.  But did he really have to bring back memories of 2002 with his home plate histrionics?  Did he really have to go all Timo with his team?

You know what I'm talking about.  I'm talking about the Timo Perez home run celebration from August 24, 2002, almost ten years ago to the day.

This is tame compared to what Timo did on August 24, 2002.

On August 24, 2002, the Mets went into their game with the Colorado Rockies as the losers of a dozen straight games.  The team loaded with former superstars Roberto Alomar and Mo Vaughn, along with veterans Mike Piazza and Edgardo Alfonzo, had not won a game in two weeks and appeared to be on their way to a 13th consecutive defeat.  The Mets were down to their final out in the top of the ninth inning, trailing the Rockies, 2-1.  But a two-out walk to Joe McEwing gave the Mets some hope.  And with one swing of the bat by Timo Perez, that hope was realized.

Perez hit a drive that went over the Coors Field wall, giving the Mets a 3-2 lead.  Despite the fact that it was not a walk-off homer, as the game was being played in Denver, Perez lifted his arms high in the air as the ball left his bat, celebrating that he had given the Mets a late lead (probably forgetting that Armando Benitez was going to be given the ball to protect the lead).  Fortunately for the Mets, they tacked on two more runs in the inning, giving Benitez a three-run lead to protect, which he did. 

The 12-game losing streak was over, but the celebration by Timo Perez at the plate had just started to get the Rockies' blood boiling.  After all, Perez's non-walk-off homer had just helped defeat a 61-68 Rockies team that was out of contention.  That was then, this is now.

Like Timo Perez, Ike Davis was clearly excited after his ninth-inning homer defeated a poor team.  At least with Davis, his home run actually ended the game.  Oh, and here's one more eerie similarity about both homers.  Davis' ninth-inning homer and happy dance lifted the Mets' record to 59-69.  What did Timo's homer help improve the Mets to?  You got it.  59-69.  Here's the boxscore to prove it.

It just goes to show that you can't script baseball.  But I sure wish Ike Davis would have scripted his spin move a little better.  That white man's overbite?  Even Timo Perez was shaking his head at that.


Editor's Note:  For an even better story on Ike Davis' happy dance, please read today's post by the one and only Metstradamus.  You'll be glad you did.

The Mets Are Hoping To Avoid A Repeat of August 2002

Bobby V had this look in August 2002.  Will Terry C do the same in August 2012?

Ten years ago this month, the Mets did something they had never done before and have not done since.  They lost every home game they played.

In August 2002, the Mets became the third team in baseball history (and the first in National League history) to lose every home game they played in a calendar month (minimum 10 home games).  With an 0-13 record, the Mets equaled the mark of futility set by the 1969 Seattle Pilots (0-13 in August) and matched by the 1996 Detroit Tigers (0-16 in September).

The Mets also lost their first two home games in September 2002 to extend their home losing streak to 15 games, which set a new National League record for consecutive losses at home.  They did not win a home game for 34 days, going from July 31 to September 3 without a single happy recap at Shea Stadium.

Fast forward ten years to August 2012.  The Mets lost the middle game of their three-game series against the Marlins at Citi Field.  The 13-0 whitewashing was the Mets' ninth straight defeat at home, their longest winless skein since - you guessed it - August 2002.

Because of the four-day All-Star Break and the recently-completed 11-game western swing, the Mets have not celebrated a win at Citi Field since July 7, when they defeated the Cubs, 3-1, in a game started and won by Dillon Gee, who has been on the disabled list ever since.  Therefore, when the Mets take the field against the Marlins on Thursday afternoon, they will be searching for their first win at home in 33 days, just one day short of their franchise-record 34-day home winless streak from 2002.

Years ending in '2' have never been good to the Mets.  But this year was supposed to be different.  If the Mets lose the series finale against the Marlins on Thursday and Friday night's game against Atlanta, the 2012 season will be different in one respect.  It'll be the first time the Mets go 35 days without a victory at home. 

Let's go Mets.  But let's not go into the record book for futility at home.  A win - and soon - will make sure that ignominious distinction does not occur.

The Terrible Twos Befall The Mets Again

They were fun, they were lovable, but this was as high as the 1962 Mets got in the National League standings.

The New York Mets got their start in a year ending in a '2'.  In 1962, no one expected much from the expansion team.  They were fun.  They had a colorful manager.  And they were the worst team in baseball history, losing 120 games, a number that could have been higher had it not been for two rainouts that were not made up.

But the 1962 Mets actually had a decent recovery after their 0-9 start.  For approximately one month (April 23 - May 20), the Mets did not play like an expansion team.  Their 12-10 record over that time period vaulted them ahead of their expansion counterparts in Houston and even pushed them past the more established Chicago Cubs in the National League standings.  But soon after, reality caught up to the 1962 Mets and never let go, as they went 28-101 the rest of the way to finish buried in the Senior Circuit cellar.

Although the original Mets were never expected to do much, their limp to the finish after a crisp stretch of baseball is something that has befuddled the team in every year ending in a '2'.  Saturday morning cartoons taught us that 3 is a magic number, but for the Mets, '2' was their black magic number.  Every year ending in a '2' started off so well for the Mets, then with one stroke of the magic wand - presto, change-o - the team morphed into a shadow of their first-half selves, dashing our heightened hopes with loss after loss.  It all started in 1962 and has continued throughout the decades without fail.

In 1972, the Mets got off to the best start in franchise history.  After defeating the Braves on June 3, the Mets were sitting pretty in the NL East, with a 31-12 record and a five-game lead over the defending World Series champion Pirates.  But that June 3rd game did not end well, as a wayward George Stone pitch struck the hand of Rusty Staub, injuring the Mets' rightfielder and best offensive threat.  Although Staub was not placed on the disabled list immediately, the hand injury caused him to miss a total of three months.  The Mets went 36-46 in his absence and finished in third place in the NL East, 13½ games behind the Pirates.

Ten years later, the Mets thought another outfielder would lead them to the promised land.  In 1982, George Foster was acquired by general manager Frank Cashen in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds.  The Mets had just come off a campaign in which they competed for the 1981 second half division title (the strike-shortened 1981 season was divided into two halves, with the first half division winners squaring off against the second half winners in an extra round of playoffs) and Cashen thought adding a slugger to the mix would push the Mets over the top in 1982.  It turned out to be one of his rare misses in an otherwise outstanding tenure as Mets' GM.

In 1982, George Foster spoke softly but left his mean stick in Cincinnati.

Foster was awful in his first season in New York, but the Mets were winning despite him.  After an extra-inning victory on Father's Day, the Mets stood only three games out of first place with a 34-30 record.  After June 20, every team in the National League East had a winning record.  The Mets, on the other hand, went 31-67 after the Day of the Dad to finish in the NL East cellar, 27 games behind the eventual World Series champion Cardinals.

The 1992 Mets were full of hope after loading up their roster with veteran players and a former Manager of the Year Award winner.  Bret Saberhagen, Eddie Murray, Bobby Bonilla and Jeff Torborg were all part of a Mets team that was trying to erase the memories of a poor 1991 campaign, the first losing season for the Mets since 1983.  Instead, they became "The Worst Team Money Could Buy". 

But before they became the team that inspired Bobby Bonilla to become author Bob Klapisch's Bronx tour guide, the Mets actually looked like a contender.  After their 15-1 drubbing of the two-time defending division champion Pirates on June 6, the Mets found themselves in second place, a mere two games behind the Pirates.  But then, everything came crashing down on the Mets.  Bobby Bonilla (.249, 19 HR, 70 RBI) finished his first season in New York as the winner of the Player Most Likely To Be Booed award.  Eddie Murray managed to hit a measly 16 HR, his lowest home run output since he became a major leaguer in 1977.  And Bret Saberhagen spent most of the season on the disabled list, winning a career-low three games in 15 starts.  Needless to say, the team suffered after June 6, going 44-64 the rest of the way to finish 24 games behind the Pirates.

If the 1992 squad was the worst team money could buy, then the 2002 team was its kissing cousin.  After a disappointing 2001 campaign, in which the Mets followed up their pennant-winning 2000 season with a mediocre 82-80 record, general manager Steve Phillips decided to go shopping.  A lot.  Phillips completely restructured the team, bringing in Roberto Alomar, Mo Vaughn, Jeromy Burnitz, Roger Cedeño, Pedro Astacio, Shawn Estes and Jeff D'Amico, to name a few.   The new faces helped the team do well in the first half.  The Mets were tied for first place on May 29 and were still above .500 as late as June 29.  But the wear of tear of the season (as well as the declining talent level of the new acquisitions) caught up to the team in the second half.

Why so glum, Mo?  Did someone get to the post-game spread before you?

The Mets were in third place, 7½ games out of first on June 25 with a 39-37 record.  From that point on, they had the worst record in the division, going 36-49 to finish in last place for the first time since 1993, a year that featured the haul from the last big shopping spree conducted by a Mets general manager.

That brings us to 2012.  This year's team started off so well.  The Mets surprised everyone by winning their first four games of the season.  On June 3, the Mets found themselves eight games above .500 (31-23) and in a share of first place.  As late as July 7, the Mets were 46-39 and holders of the second wild card spot in the National League.  Then poop happened.  And it hasn't stopped happening.

Since July 7, the Mets have lost 13 of their last 15 games.  Their strong starting rotation has taken a hit, with Johan Santana becoming the first Met since Pedro Astacio in 2002 (naturally, it had to happen in a year ending in a '2') to allow six or more runs in three consecutive games.  In addition, R.A. Dickey has looked like a mere mortal (5.36 ERA in seven appearances since June 24), and Jonathon Niese just took a page out of Fred Wilpon's book, as he was "snakebit, baby" in Arizona last night.  That loss left the Mets a season-high 7½ games behind the Braves for the final wild card spot.  The Mets were already 11½ games behind the first place Nationals in the NL East.

This year's Mets might not have as many high-priced free agents and overpaid malcontents as their predecessors had in other years ending in a '2' (the 1962 and 1972 teams played in an era before free agency), but the one thing they do have in common is their second half performance after a decent to strong first half.

Although the Mets showed so much potential in April, May and June (who didn't think the first no-hitter in team history was a sign of things to come), the terrible twos have befallen the team once again.  It's a trend that inexplicably befuddles the Mets every ten seasons.  It's a trend that will hopefully end before 2022 comes around.

Rockies Get A Second Sacker; It's NOT Justin Turner!

Earlier this week, it was reported that the Colorado Rockies were looking at Mets' utility infielder Justin Turner as a trade option to compete for their open second base position.  Turner would have competed with a number of in-house candidates for the opportunity to be Troy Tulowitzki's double play partner.  However, that deal appears to be deader than Fausto Carmona's career.

According to a tweet by Jim Bowden, the Rockies have acquired middle infielder Marco Scutaro from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for journeyman pitcher Clayton Mortensen.

Confirming Troy Renck's report that the Boston Red Sox have traded Marco Scutaro to the Colorado Rockies for Claytong Mortensen...no cash
— JIM BOWDEN (@JimBowdenESPNxm) January 21, 2012

Scutaro will take over at second base for the Rockies, while the Red Sox will use Mortensen as a starter.  However, with Scutaro's $6 million salary now off the Red Sox's books, Boston might use that money to pursue a more attractive starting pitcher (Roy Oswalt?), as Mortensen has never been very impressive in the major leagues (4-8, 5.12 ERA in 95 IP).

Long-time Mets fans might remember Scutaro for being a part of the 2002 and 2003 teams.  If they don't, it's because they were too busy cursing out Steve Phillips for his not-so-brilliant acquisitions of Mo Vaughn, Roberto Alomar, Jeromy Burnitz, Jeff D'Amico and Shawn Estes.

Scutaro is entering his 11th major league campaign and will be playing in the thin air of Denver.  The air around Justin Turner, however, is thick with sighs of relief, as he would most likely not have received much playing time in Colorado had he been traded there.  Instead, he appears to be staying on the Mets, competing for the second base job and spelling David Wright at third whenever he needs a day off or steps on Ike Davis again.

Justin Turner had a fine rookie season for the Mets last year.  In 117 games, he banged out 30 doubles and drove in 51 runs.  He also was one of the toughest players to strike out on the team, fanning only 59 times in 487 plate appearances.  His ability to play anywhere in the infield and his penchant for making contact will make him a valuable asset on the 2012 Mets, especially since the team still hasn't figured out how not to continue racking up injuries.

Good luck to the Rockies and their new 36-year-old second baseman.  We'll be just fine in New York with our 27-year-old redhead.