Joey's Soapbox: My 2017 Not-At-All Biased Division Series Picks

The Indians progressed pretty well over the last month and a half of the season.

Howdy doody!  'Tis I, Joey Beartran, your fearless forecaster of all things playoffs.  And today I'm going to share my opinions on which teams will advance to the League Championship Series.  There are seven great teams to choose from (and the Yankees), but only four will advance (not the Yankees).

In the American League, we have the matchup that could have been a rematch of the 1986 World Series had Mike Scott gotten a chance to pitch in a Game Seven in the NLCS.  We also have the Cleveland Indians and their quest to repeat as league champions for the first time in franchise history.

In the N.L., the Chicago Cubs, who kept the Indians from winning their first title since Scott Atchison was in grade school, will be trying to repeat as world champions.  To do so, they'll have to get through Daniel Murphy, Bryce Harper, 'Ol Two Eyes (Max Scherzer) and the rest of the Washington Nationals.  And the Dodgers will be looking to inch one step closer to their first World Series berth since Mike Scioscia, Kirk Gibson and Orel Hershiser got in the Mets' way of what should have been their pennant.

Who will advance?  Who will go home?  (Spoiler alert: The Yankees)  And how many former members of the 2017 Mets will still be playing when I do my ALCS and NLCS predictions?  Enough with the questions!  On with the predictions!


American League Division Series


Boston Red Sox vs. Houston Astros

The Red Sox have made the playoffs 15 times in the last 32 seasons, yet this is the first time in over a century that they finished the regular season in first place in consecutive campaigns.  (They last accomplished this feat in 1915 and 1916, winning the World Series in both seasons.)  Meanwhile, this is just the Astros' second trip to the postseason in the last 12 years and their 11th overall.

All the experience goes to the Red Sox in this series, and they also have an ace starter (Chris Sale) and a game-over closer in Craig Kimbrel, who allowed 33 hits in 69 innings this season, or about the same number of hits Hansel Robles would give up in a week.

There's only one problem here.  After Sale, Boston's best starter is Drew Pomeranz, who somehow went 17-6 despite averaging barely over 5⅓ innings per start (32 starts, 173⅔ IP).  And manager John Farrell allowed last year's Cy Young Award winner, Rick Porcello, to throw over 200 innings despite the fact that he led the league in hits allowed and home runs given up, not to mention losses.  Since Sale can't pitch more than two games in the series, all Houston has to do is win the games not started by the 300-K southpaw.  You know, like the Mets had to do in '86 when the Astros had Mike Scott.

Challenge accepted.

Houston led the majors in batting average, OBP, slugging percentage, OPS and runs scored.  Only the Yankees hit more home runs than the Astros, but no team struck out fewer times than the A.L. West champions.  The Astros will batter the not-so-killer Ps (Pomeranz, Porcello and playoff pariah David Price) and may even steal a win when Sale starts.

And on a personal note, I'm stoked to see Justin Verlander start against Sale in Game One, especially since I flew to Chicago in 2012 to see then-Tiger Verlander face then-White Sox pitcher Sale, only to have that game rained out.  The Red Sox will be praying for rainouts of their own once the Astros start pummeling their pitchers.

Prediction: Astros in 5.


New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Indians

The Yankees won their first playoff game in five years on Tuesday.  The Cleveland Indians are a team on a mission, winning an American League record 22 straight games last month.  When the Yankees won four World Series titles in five seasons from 1996 to 2000, the only team to defeat them in the postseason was the Indians.

Those Yankee teams were far better than this year's model.  And this Indians club is looking World Serious.

Prediction: Indians in 3.


National League Division Series


Chicago Cubs vs. Washington Nationals

Daniel Murphy will pay homage to Leon Durham at some point.  (Jonathan Newton/Washington Post/Getty Images)

The Cubs finally ended their two-thousand year old championship drought (give or take a couple of years) in 2016, then remained hung over for the first half of the 2017 campaign.  Meanwhile, the Nationals had no real competition in the N.L. East and won the division title by 20 games over the Marlins.

Washington is counting on the three-headed pitching monster of Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez to lead the team past the defending champions.  However, Scherzer tweaked his hamstring in his final tuneup last week, Strasburg has pitched all of five postseason innings in his career and Gonzalez has not fared well in four playoff starts, pitching just 18⅓ innings over the mostly abbreviated outings.  (Gio has not thrown a postseason pitch after the fifth inning in any of his four starts.)  If Washington's starters can't go deep in games, the team could be in trouble.  The combined ERAs of all Nationals pitchers not named Scherzer, Strasburg and Gonzalez was a bloated 4.69.

Meanwhile, the Cubs' starters (Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester, John Lackey, Kyle Hendricks) were mostly pedestrian this year, but their bullpen was absolutely stellar, with Pedro Strop, Brian Duensing, Carl Edwards and closer Wade Davis combining to produce a 2.73 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and just under 11 strikeouts per nine innings.

The Nationals need to keep their starters on the mound to have a chance to win the series.  The Cubs need to keep games close so that their lockdown bullpen can take over.  But of course, the only thing that matters is that by the time this series is over, the Expos will still be the owners of the sole playoff series victory in Montreal/Washington franchise history.

Prediction: Cubs in 4.


Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers went through a stretch during the summer when people were talking about them winning more games than any team in major league history.  Then they lost 12 straight games.  It got to the point where Los Angeles actually had to pay attention to what Arizona was doing because the D-Backs had cut their once insurmountable lead in the division to single digit games.  In fact, Arizona won 11 games against L.A. in 2017; the most of any team in the majors.  Included in their season-series victory was a three-game sweep in September in which the Diamondbacks outscored the Dodgers, 19-2.

Los Angeles hit 221 home runs during the regular season, but who didn't?  What didn't impress me was their .249 team batting average, and the only reason it was that high is because Justin Turner batted .322.

Despite making just 27 starts in 2017, Clayton Kershaw allowed a career-high 23 homers.  Now the southpaw has to face the right-handed hitting Paul Goldschmidt (36 HR, 120 RBI) and J.D. Martinez (29 HR, 65 RBI in 62 games with Arizona) in the division series.  And let's just say they're not .249 hitters like Kershaw's teammates on the Dodgers are.  Then there's the matter of that 4-7 record and 4.55 ERA in the postseason for the three-time Cy Young Award winner.

So you have a team that went 26-12 over the last six weeks of the season against a team that was 13-25 over the same time period.  I don't know about you, but I can't go with the team that recently lost a dozen consecutive games.  That 91-36 start seems like a long time ago for the Dodgers.

Prediction: Diamondbacks in 5.

Tom Lasorda might not want to watch what Arizona is going to do to his beloved Dodgers.  (Fox Sports South screen grab)

Joey's Soapbox: My 2017 Not-At-All Biased Wild Card Game Picks

I wonder who I'm picking to win the N.L. Wild Card game.  If only I had a sign to help me...

Hey, how's everybody doing?  I'm playoff prognosticator Joey Beartran and I'm ready for some postseason baseball.  This is the first season since 2014 that the Mets were not invited to the playoff party but many players who called Flushing home at some point in 2017 did receive - and accept - their invitations.

The Indians and Dodgers, owners of the best regular season records in their respective leagues, are bringing Jay Bruce and Curtis Granderson, respectively, to the postseason.  Addison Reed will be coming out of the bullpen for the A.L. East champion Red Sox.  Even Rene Rivera could crack the defending World Series champion Cubs' 25-man postseason roster.

Last year, the Yankees stayed home and the Mets played past their 162nd game.  This year, New York (AL) is hosting the Minnesota Twins in the wild card game and New York (NL) is busy showing off videos of Jacob deGrom's haircut.  Seriously, that's how the Mets are making news this October.  (Well, that and Terry Collins saying adios to Mets fans.)

Say it ain't so, Jake!  (Screen grab courtesy of Jose Reyes' Snapchat)

So since we don't have meaningful Mets baseball games until next March 29, we should probably focus on the wild card games set for Tuesday and Wednesday night.  Will the Yankees win their first postseason game since Zach Lutz was a Met?  Will the Twins finally end their 12-game postseason losing streak?  Will the Rockies ride Chuck Nazty to the division series?  Or will Arizona get their revenge on Colorado for the 2007 NLCS?

There's only one way to know what's going to happen before it happens.  And that's by reading my wild card picks below; picks that are not biased at all.  Trust me.  I'm an expert.


American League Wild Card Game


Minnesota Twins vs. New York Yankees

The Twins have never defeated the Yankees in a postseason series, having dropped the ALDS to the Bronx Bummers in 2003, 2004, 2009 and 2010.  More recently, New York won all three games played against Minnesota at Yankee Stadium in 2017.  And to make matters worse for the Twins, their starting pitcher for the wild card game - Ervin Santana - has an 0-5 record with a 6.43 ERA in six career starts at the new House That Juice Built.

For the Yankees, starting pitcher Luis Severino struck out 230 batters during the regular season, which was tied for the third-highest total in Yankees history.  In addition, his 153 ERA+ made him the first Yankees starting pitcher to register an ERA+ over 150 since David Cone had a 159 ERA+ in 1997.

I heart Bart.  (Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

The Yankees go into the postseason on a roll, having won 21 of their last 30 games.  The Twins were a .500 team in September, going 14-14 in the month.  New York has ten-foot tall Aaron Judge clubbing everything out of sight.  Minnesota's top home run hitter is Brian Dozier, who's half the size of Judge and hit 18 fewer homers.  Everything seems to be coming up Yankees in this game, right?

Nah.

Santana wins his first game at the new Yankee Stadium, Miguel Sanó does his best David Ortiz impression (but from the right side of the plate) and Bartolo Colón's career lives to see another round.

Prediction: Minnesota will advance to the ALDS.


National League Wild Card Game


Colorado Rockies vs. Arizona Diamondbacks

Both Colorado and Arizona reversed their fortunes in 2017.  Literally.  The Rockies improved their record from 75-87 to 87-75, while the D-Backs went from 69-93 to 93-69.  But neither team came within striking distance of the first place Dodgers, necessitating this one-game face-off for the right to be swept by Justin Turner and Friends.

Last year, the Mets played in this game and ran into a buzzsaw on the mound in Madison Bumgarner.  This season, Jon Gray and Zack Greinke will try to be this year's Bumgarner.  It's too bad both pitchers will fail, as this game will be a Wild West shootout.

Gray will have to control the bats of Paul Goldschmidt and J.D. Martinez.  It will not go smoothly.  Greinke, on the other hand, will be staring down Nolan Arenado and batting champion Charlie Blackmon, among others.  Because of his reputation, Greinke will be left in the game a little too long.  Like five or six runs on the scoreboard too long.

Arizona may have finished ahead of Colorado in the standings, but the Rockies will finish ahead of the Diamondbacks in this game.  And if Arizona ordered a large number of churro dogs in anticipation of a lengthy postseason run, I know someone who can help them reduce their inventory.

#GIFparty + #tbt = Churro Dog! pic.twitter.com/chlMT4ezlC

— Steve Gelbs (@SteveGelbs) March 3, 2016

Prediction: Colorado will advance to the NLDS.

The Mets Should Just Say No to Justin Upton

Stop making eye contact, you guys.  You might make us think something's brewing here.

With less than two weeks to go until the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, the Mets are in sore need of a bat or three.  Well, duh.  That's all anyone is talking about these days.  And one team that keeps popping up as a potential trade partner for the Mets is the underachieving San Diego Padres.  The Padres supposedly upgraded their entire outfield this past off-season, adding Matt Kemp, Wil Myers and Justin Upton in an attempt to give a quick adrenaline boost to their offense.  The only problem was that the rapid shot of energy faded before the season began.

San Diego ranks 20th in the majors in runs scored and only the Mets (.233) and Seattle Mariners (.235) have a lower team batting average than the Padres (.238).  And no one - not even the Mets - can claim a lower team on-base percentage than the .294 OBP being produced by the Padres.  Because of their putrid offense and middle-of-the-pack pitching (3.91 ERA, 3.85 FIP, 1.30 WHIP), the Padres enter the day with a 42-49 record, just two games ahead of the last-place Colorado Rockies in the NL West and 3½ games in front of the Miami Marlins for the second-worst record in the entire league.

Without question, the Padres will be sellers at the trade deadline, just months after first-year general manager A.J. Preller bought the farm, the cows and both Upton brothers.  One player who might appeal to the Mets is the younger (and better) Upton sibling, Justin, whose 15 homers and 49 RBI are more than any current Met has recorded this season.  And although his .254 batting average is just okay, it would be only be surpassed by Daniel Murphy's .272 mark out of all the everyday players on the team.

On the surface, this seems like a no-brainer, even though Upton would just be a rental player, as he is in the final year of a six-year contract he originally signed with Arizona back in 2010.  The Mets wouldn't be committed to paying him beyond this season, just as outfield prospect Michael Conforto inches his way closer and closer to the big league squad.

But there are many reasons why the Mets should just say no to Justin Upton.  Here are a few of them.

Do you remember Richard Hidalgo?  He was traded to the Mets in mid-June 2004 and became an overnight sensation.  New York won its first four games with Hidalgo in the lineup, pushing the team above .500 for the season.  A week later, Hidalgo embarked upon a one-month home run tear.  From June 27 to July 29, Hidalgo batted .308 with 12 HR and 24 RBI.  He hit home runs in five consecutive games to begin the month of July, making him the first and only Met to homer in five straight contests.

Hidalgo sounded like a good buy, but before long, it was the Mets saying goodbye to him.  Take away his hot month and Hidalgo batted .189 with nine homers and 28 RBI during the rest of his short Mets career.  Hidalgo was the epitome of the streaky hitter, much like Justin Upton is today, and Hidalgo's cold streaks - like Upton's - tend to last longer than his hot ones.

During his first two months as a Padre, Upton was one of the best hitters in the league, batting .307 with 12 HR and 37 RBI.  Upton also posted a .545 slugging percentage, a .913 OPS and collected hits in 38 of his first 51 games, which included 15 multi-hit games.  But since the calendar turned to June, Justin has hit more like his brother Melvin, batting .179 with three home runs and 12 RBI in 37 games.  In the same time period, Upton (Justin, not Melvin) has nearly twice as many strikeouts (45) as he has hits (24).

This is nothing new for Upton, as he batted .301 with 13 homers in his first 53 games last year with Atlanta, then proceeded to bat .252 with 15 homers over his next 100 games.  The year before that, in his first season as a Brave, Upton tore the cover off the ball in his first 25 games, batting .304 with 12 HR and 19 RBI.  He then faded over the next four months, batting .244 with 12 HR and 45 RBI over his next 109 games.

Upton was a product of his ballpark when he played in Arizona.  From his first full season with the Diamondbacks in 2008 until his final year in the desert in 2012, Upton batted .311 in his home ballpark.  He managed just a .244 batting average on the road in those five seasons.  He also had just 41 homers in nearly 1,300 at-bats on the road from 2008 to 2012, while taking advantage of his home park in Arizona to hit 65 home runs in 63 fewer at-bats.

Ever since he left Chase Field, his strikeout totals have gone through the roof.  In his six seasons as a Diamondback, Upton surpassed 140 strikeouts just once, fanning 152 times in 2010.  Once he left Arizona, Upton became a human whiff machine, striking out 161 times in 2013 and topping that with 171 Ks in 2014.  So far in 2015 with the Padres, Upton has fanned 96 times, putting him on pace to strike out a career-high 173 times this season.  To put that in perspective, half of the Mets' everyday players are on pace to reach triple digits in strikeouts, but none of those players are whiffing at an Uptonian pace, as Lucas Duda leads the team with 92 punchouts.

Finally, check out this stat provided to us by the incomparable Michael Baron on Twitter.

The #Mets are a completely useless 0-36 when trailing after 7 innings this season.

— Michael Baron (@michaelgbaron) July 18, 2015

One of the reasons the Mets are winless when they trail late in ballgames is the fact that as bad as they've been at the plate throughout the entire season, they're even worse in the late innings.  In the first six innings of games, the Mets are collectively batting .242 with a .391 slugging percentage.  That's not very good, but it gets progressively worse from innings seven through nine.

In the seventh inning, the Mets have a .215 batting average and a .310 slugging percentage.  That goes down slightly to .214/.307 in the eighth inning.  And in the ninth inning, those numbers go down to .197 and .281, respectively.  We're not talking about just the ninth innings when the Mets are facing the opposing team's hard-to-hit closer.  We're talking about every ninth inning situation - when the Mets have the lead, when they're tied and not facing the closer, when they're being blown out.  In every possible situation, the Mets just can't hit in the late innings of games.  And adding Justin Upton wouldn't change that very much.

Upton was a very good late-inning hitter in Arizona, batting .282 and posting a .460 slugging percentage in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings from 2008 to 2012.  Since 2013 - his first year away from the desert - Upton has batted .240 in late inning situations and has seen his slugging percentage in those spots drop from .460 in 2013 to .404 in 2014 to just .389 this year.  While it is true that a .240 batting average and .389 slugging percentage are better than what the average Met has done this year in the late innings of games, it's still not an acceptable mark for a player making over $14 million this year.  (Upton's .240/.389 marks in innings seven through nine are also slightly lower than what the Mets have produced in innings one through six.)  More importantly, it's not nearly enough production for a player who would be brought in to recharge the batting order's batteries, costing the Mets several good minor league prospects to acquire a player of his caliber.

Justin Upton is an above-average major league player.  But he's just not good enough to give the Mets what they need to overcome the season-long doldrums they've had at the plate.  He's not the same hitter he was in Arizona, he's too streaky and he's no longer a good hitter when the game is potentially on the line.

What the Mets need is a player who hits in any park, is consistent at the plate and does not wilt under the late-inning pressure.  The onus to find that player or players will fall on Sandy Alderson's shoulders.  The player who should not be at the top of his shopping list is Justin Upton.  The team would be better served to shop at a different store as the trade deadline approaches.

A Brief History On West Coast Road Trips For The Mets

After not performing well at home all year, the Mets completed a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies on Thursday, taking the finale by the score of 2-1.  The Mets will hope to continue their recent stretch of good pitching out west, beginning a four-city, 11-game road trip on Friday.  Ten of the 11 games will be played in the Pacific Time Zone, with the last game of the road trip taking place in Minnesota, where the Mets were snowed out in April, necessitating this makeup game.

So how have the Mets fared over the years when they've played at least ten consecutive games three time zones from home? 

Prior to 1969, there were only two teams playing in the Pacific Time Zone.  Therefore, the Mets never played ten consecutive games out west.  It wasn't until the miraculous year of 1969, when the San Diego Padres joined the National League, that the Mets took part in their first ten-game West Coast swing.  From August 26 to September 3, the Mets played three games in San Diego, four in San Francisco and three in Los Angeles, taking six of the ten games en route to their first World Series championship.

The Mets have had several more California road trips of ten or more games over the years, but they had to wait until 1998 - when the Arizona Diamondbacks joined the Senior Circuit - to play a game in the Pacific Time Zone outside of the Golden State.  And even with Arizona in the league, they had to wait until 2010 to play the Diamondbacks as part of a West Coast road trip of ten games or more.

Here is a list of every West Coast trip of ten or more games the Mets have played in their history, along with who they played and the team's record during those long trips three time zones away from home.

• 1969 - 10 games (3 vs. SD, 4 vs. SF, 3 vs. LA):  6-4
• 1970 - 10 games (3 vs. LA, 3 vs. SF, 4 vs. SD):  5-5
• 1973 - 10 games (4 vs. LA, 3 vs. SF, 3 vs. SD):  3-7
• 1974 - 10 games (3 vs. SD, 4 vs. SF, 3 vs. LA):  5-5
• 1975 - 11 games (4 vs. SF, 3 vs. SD, 4 vs. LA):  7-4
• 1976 - 11 games (3 vs. LA, 4 vs. SD, 4 vs. SF):  6-5
• 1977 - 11 games (3 vs. SD, 4 vs. LA, 4 vs. SF):  4-7
• 1978 - 10 games (4 vs. SD, 2 vs. SF, 4 vs. LA):  5-5
• 1979 - 11 games (4 vs. SF, 4 vs. LA, 3 vs. SD):  2-9
• 1980 - 11 games (4 vs. SF, 3 vs. LA, 3 vs. SD):  1-10
• 1983 - 10 games (3 vs. SD, 3 vs. SF, 4 vs. LA):  3-7
• 1984 - 10 games (3 vs. LA, 4 vs. SF, 3 vs. SD):  5-5
• 1985 - 10 games (4 vs. SF, 3 vs. SD, 3 vs. LA):  7-3
• 1988 - 10 games (3 vs. SF, 4 vs. SD, 3 vs. LA):  7-3
• 1990 - 10 games (3 vs. SF, 3 vs. SD, 4 vs. LA):  4-6
• 1992 - 10 games (3 vs. LA, 4 vs. SD, 3 vs. SF):  5-5
• 1993 - 11 games (4 vs. SF, 3 vs. SD, 4 vs. LA):  6-5
• 1994 - 11 games (4 vs. SD, 3 vs. SF, 4 vs. LA):  7-4
• 1995 - 10 games (3 vs. LA, 4 vs. SF, 3 vs. SD):  3-7
• 1996 - 10 games (4 vs. SD, 3 vs. SF, 3 vs. LA):  4-6
• 2010 - 11 games (4 vs. SF, 3 vs. AZ, 4 vs. LA):  2-9
• 2012 - 11 games (4 vs. AZ, 4 vs. SF, 3 vs. SD):  6-5

This fan hopes the Mets can make themselves at home out west with a bunch of victories.

In all, the Mets have had 22 road trips in which they played ten or more consecutive games in the Pacific Time Zone, with only two of those trips occurring after 1996.  (The Mets will embark on their third such trip Friday night.)  New York has only been able to celebrate a winning record in eight of those 22 trips.  Their overall record in the 229 games played on these trips is 101-128 (.441 winning percentage).  Since 1977, however, their record is 69-98 (.413 winning percentage).

On Friday, the Mets will begin a stretch in which they play ten consecutive games in the Pacific Time Zone.  The first three games will be played in Arizona, followed by three games in Los Angeles and four in San Diego.  As they head west, the Mets find themselves in third place, eight games under .500 and only one game behind the second place Washington Nationals.

The left coast has rarely been a place for the Mets to recharge their batteries.  In fact, sometimes a long trip out west has killed the Mets' season (does 2010 ring a bell?) or tried its best to choke the life out of the team (we almost stopped believing in 1973).

The 2013 Mets are probably not going to qualify for the playoffs.  But they still have plenty to play for.  A .500 record is still within reach.  So is second place in the NL East.  Some teams build on strong finishes to produce memorable years the following season.  A successful road trip out west can go a long way towards producing the confidence a young team needs to build a successful franchise for the future.  Otherwise, the Mets might continue to go south when they come back east.
 

Ballapeño's Bullpen: A Quick Anniversary Note To My Colleagues

Hola, everyone!  This is your favorite stuffed pepper, Ballapeño Pepe Sanchez Gomez del Chapulín Colorado, but you may call me Ballapeño.

Today is Cinco de Mayo, a day that is celebrated by stuffed peppers all over the world.  It is also becoming quite popular among Mets fans because it gives them the opportunity to drink for a reason other than to forget the latest meltdown by the bullpen.

But the main reason for this note is not to talk about the failures of the Mets' relevistas this year.  As Dikembe Mutombo would say, "not today".  Today is about wishing my colleagues at this site a very felíz aniversario.  It was three years ago today that Señor Ed Leyro and Señora Taryn Cooper (she was just a señorita back then) decided to take the plunge and tie the knot.  Three years later, that knot has become more unbreakable than it has ever been.

On the day they said "si, si, si" to each other, the Mets lost their game to the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4, in ten innings.  They lost when relevista Pedro Feliciano allowed a home run to the first batter he faced in the tenth, Orlando Cabrera.  Señor y Señora then drank muchas margaritas to celebrate their marriage and to forget the Mets' latest walk-off loss (they had una dozena such losses that year).

Since then, the Mets have given them two wonderful anniversary presents, defeating the Giants, 5-2, in 2011 and taking out the Diamondbacks last year by the final score of 4-3.  I believe the adult beverages we consumed after those games were far more celebratory.  (I don't remember.  I was told that I passed out after two tequila shots.  I claim I went on siesta for the rest of the day.)

Today, the Mets play los Bravos de Atlanta at Turner Field.  It is the first time the Mets have been on the road on Cinco de Mayo since the day Señor y Señora got married.  The last two years, the Mets have made sure they had a happy anniversary.  This year, they might need stellar work from the bullpen to avoid another walk-off loss like the one they had in Cincinnati on May 5, 2010.

I will drink to a Mets victory should los Mets defeat los Bravos.  I will also gladly offer a toast to Señor y Señora on the date of their third anniversary.  I just hope I don't have mas bebidas with them to try to forget a difficult defeat.

¡Felícidades to all on Cinco de Mayo and a happy anniversary to Señor y Señora!

Ballapeño's Bullpen: Mets Ride Dickey To Victory

¡Buenos dias, señoras y señores!  Please allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Ballapeño Sanchez.  It's not my full name, but I thought Ballapeño Pepe Sanchez Gomez del Chapulín Colorado would be far too long for my writing debut.  In case I look familiar to you, it's because I'm the mascot of the San Antonio Missions, the Double-A affiliate of los Padres de San Diego.  Either that or because you've seen me on Twitter in photographs such as this one, taken at Citi Field.

Anyway, I'd like to wish you all a happy belated Cinco de Mayo.  As you can see from the photo to the left, I was having a fiesta with some Mets-themed bebidas last night, but I didn't have too many.  After all, I had to write my thoughts on the Mets' recently-completed series against Arizona.

As you should already know, the Mets defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks today by the score of 3-1.  With the victoria, the Mets were able to take the series from the D-Backs and improved their record to 15-13.

The star of the game was R.A. Dickey, who when not teaching my colleague how to throw a knuckleball, also found the time to take the Diamondbacks' hitters to school.  Dickey became the first starting pitcher to take the mound in the ninth inning for the Mets this year, before needing help from Señor Tim Byrdak and Señor Frank Francisco.

All in all, it was a very good series for the Mets.  If not for a bullpen meltdown in Friday night's loss, the Mets could very well have swept the series from Arizona.  But beggars can't be choosers, you can't win 'em all, and all those other cliches peloteros tend to say during post-game interviews.

Now it's time for the good part of Ballapeño's Bullpen!  This is where I dispense my three nuggets on the Mets, otherwise known as my Peos of Wisdom.  For those of you who don't know what peos are, just go to your nearest Del Taco (or any other taqueria will do), order a dozen tacos or burritos, enjoy, and then your neighbor will be able to tell you exactly what a peo is.

If I have enough of these, I bet I can come up more than three Peos of Wisdom!

Peos of Wisdom #1: R.A. Dickey

What more can be said about R.A. Dickey other than he's el hombre on the Mets' pitching staff.  With apologies to Johan Santana, Dickey has been absolutely outstanding game in and game out, save for that rainy day in Atlanta back on April 18.  Since becoming a Met in 2010, Dickey has made 63 starts.  He's pitched at least six innings in 54 of them.

I'm not very good with math (I do know that 6 tacos + 6 burritos = 1 fiesta pack at Del Taco), but when a pitcher gives his bullpen as much rest as Dickey has over the past three seasons, in his case, 54 out of 63 times, that must be a good thing, right?  Speaking of the bullpen, that brings me to Peo Numero Dos.



Peos of Wisdom #2: Frank Francisco

It's no question that Frank Francisco is the doppelgang ... doppelga ... that Frank Francisco looks a lot like former Mets' closer Armando Benitez.  (Hey, I'm bilingual, but one of those languages isn't German, so get off my espalda already!)  But does he have to pitch like him as well?

On Saturday, Francisco got the save despite allowing the tying run to reach base and get into scoring position.  Today, he didn't allow anyone to reach base, but he caused a tense moment at Citi Field when he allowed Miguel Montero to fly out to the right field warning track to end the game.  One of these days, Francisco will have a relatively easy save.  Unfortunately, one of these days needs to happen one of these months.  My tacos give me enough indigestion.  I don't need Frank Francisco to make it worse.



Peos of Wisdom #3: Jason Bay

Last, but not least, I wanted to discuss Jason Bay.  No, he didn't have anything to do with this game (or the series with Arizona), but he did pop up in the news.  You see, Jason Bay's bruised ribs are still bruised, two weeks after the injury originally occurred.  The injury couldn't have come at a worse time for Bay, who was finally starting to get caliente (if you want to call a .290 batting average over his final nine games before the injury "caliente").  Even if Bay's boo boo had allowed for him to begin resuming baseball activities, he would still not be able to.  Why?

Jason Bay has the flu.

How does a guy in recovery get another sickness?  Was he watching the hockey game too close to the TV and caught a cold that way?  ¡Ay, Dios mío!  I'm telling you, Jason Bay is more fragile than a piñata at Jose Canseco's steroid parties.  Maybe one year, he will stay on the field long enough to get 500 at-bats in a season.  With any luck, it will happen for a team other than the Mets.



Well, that's it, fanáticos de los Mets.  I hope you enjoyed the first edition of Ballapeño's Bullpen.  If there is a positive response to my writing debut, I will write more of these for you.  Of course, you will get some ripe Peos of Wisdom as quickly as I can produce them.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe it is time for my siesta.  After a night of Cinco de Mayo festivities and a weekend full of Mets baseball, I think it's time I took a break, no?  Don't worry.  I'll wake up in time for tomorrow's series opener against los Filis de Filadelfia.  That's a promise, or my name isn't Ballapeño Pepe Sanchez Gomez del Chapulín Colorado.

¡Buenas noches a todos!

Z?  Z?  Z?  Sí, sí, sí.

One Season Wonders: Robin Ventura

In 1997, the Chicago White Sox were standing only 3½ games behind the first place Cleveland Indians on the morning of July 31.  However, with a 52-53 record, owner Jerry Reinsdorf felt they should be sellers instead of buyers at the trade deadline.  Throwing up the proverbial white flag, the White Sox shocked the baseball world by dealing their top starting pitcher (Wilson Alvarez), their closer (Roberto Hernandez) and a veteran pitcher (Danny Darwin) to the San Francisco Giants for a bevy of minor leaguers.

The South Siders were also attempting to trade their starting third baseman, but no team was interested in acquiring a player who had suffered a gruesome leg injury in spring training that had kept him out of the lineup for the majority of the '97 season.  As a result, the White Sox kept their third baseman until his contract expired following the 1998 season, allowing him to leave the team as a free agent.

Meanwhile, the Mets, who already had a third baseman in Edgardo Alfonzo, were interested in adding a little power to the hot corner.  With the White Sox showing no interest in bringing back their long-time third baseman, the Mets jumped at the opportunity to sign him, moving Fonzie back to second base to accommodate their newest infielder.  It took a four-year, $32 million contract to do it, but the Mets had finally wrangled themselves a power-hitting third baseman in Robin Ventura.

In 1999, Robin Ventura's sweet swing connected with baseballs and Mets' fandom alike.

Before coming to the media capital of the world, Robin Mark Ventura had already been in the media spotlight on a number of occasions.  Sometimes the attention was positive (Ventura set an NCAA record at Oklahoma State University with his 58-game hitting streak in 1987) and sometimes he was getting a noogie from future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan.

But one thing was for certain.  Robin Ventura was a complete player.  In ten years with the White Sox, Ventura had six seasons of 90 or more RBIs, surpassed 20 homers five times and hit over .280 in five different campaigns.  He was also an outstanding defensive player, winning five Gold Gloves as a member of the White Sox.  Although Edgardo Alfonzo was a good player at the time, he had never hit as many as 20 HR or collected as many as 80 RBIs.  He had also never been rewarded with a Gold Glove Award in four years with the Mets.  Robin Ventura had accomplished all of those feats prior to becoming a Met.  And in 1999, he was on a mission to accomplish the trifecta again.

In his first year in New York, Robin Ventura wasted no time getting acquainted with National League pitching.  The Mets' new third baseman hit .375 with five extra-base hits (three doubles, two homers) and 11 RBIs over his first ten games.  His torrid start put him among the league leaders in RBIs and made him one of the few players in Mets' history to reach 20 RBIs in a season before the end of April.  (In 1994, Jeff Kent set the franchise record for RBIs in April with 26.)

But once April turned into May, Ventura suffered his first slump as a Met and the team soon followed.  After defeating the Astros on May 3, the Mets' record stood at 17-9.  The team then went on to lose 19 of their next 28 games to fall below the .500 mark at 27-28.  During the month-long meltdown, Ventura batted only .240, dropping his season average to .268.  Although he still managed to hit eight doubles and five home runs during the 29-game stretch, he began to strike out more often, whiffing 27 times in 100 at-bats.

It was during this otherwise poor stretch that Ventura became the first player in major league history to hit grand slams in both ends of a doubleheader, as he accomplished the previously unprecedented feat against the Milwaukee Brewers at Shea Stadium on May 20.  However, this display of clutch hitting was rare for the Mets in May, and for Ventura in particular.  During the team's month-long slumber, Ventura only managed an additional three home runs and 13 RBIs on days when he wasn't hitting multiple grand slams.  The end result of the team-wide slump was the firing of pitching coach Bob Apodaca, hitting coach Tom Robson and bullpen coach Randy Niemann in early June, which coincided with a season-long eight-game losing streak.

After the dismissal of Apodaca, Robson and Niemann, Valentine famously stated that if the team didn't do well over the next 55 games, then he should also be relieved of his managerial duties.  Wanting to save his manager and the team's season, Robin Ventura went on a hitting tear, beginning with the Mets' 7-2 victory in the Subway Series finale against Roger Clemens and the Yankees.  In that game, Ventura collected two hits and scored two runs off Clemens, as the Mets handed him his first regular season loss in over a year.

The victory over the Yankees put the Mets back on track, as they went on to go 40-15 over their next 55 games, saving Valentine his job.  There were very few players in the National League as hot as Robin Ventura was over the two-month stretch.  From June 6 to August 6, Ventura batted .337 with 11 doubles, 16 HR and 48 RBI.  He also had a .405 on-base percentage and cut down on his strikeouts dramatically, fanning only 29 times in 223 plate appearances.

The Mets were finally cooled down with a loss to the Dodgers on August 7 (a game the Mets' third baseman didn't start), but Ventura's bat continued to smoke.  From August 8 to September 6, Ventura batted .366, lashed 13 extra-base hits (eight doubles, five homers) and drove in 22 runs.  On September 19, the Mets defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-6, with Ventura driving in the game-tying run in the fifth inning.  The win upped the Mets' record to 92-58 and left them one game behind the Atlanta Braves for the NL East lead.  It also gave them a four-game lead over the Cincinnati Reds for the wild card, who had lost that day to the Pittsburgh Pirates.  With 12 games to go in the regular season, the Mets weren't thinking of the wild card.  They wanted to dethrone the Atlanta Braves, who had won eight consecutive division titles.  But things have a tendency to change quickly in baseball, and over the final two weeks of the season, the Mets found out just how true that adage was.

The Mets had a seemingly comfortable lead in the wild card race with 12 games to go.  But then the Mets embarked on a seven-game losing streak.  At the same time, the Reds won seven out of eight games.  With three games left in the regular season, the Braves had already clinched the division title and the Mets were now chasing the Reds and the Astros in the wild card race, as both teams were tied atop the National League Central division with identical 95-64 records.  At 93-66, the Mets were two games out with three games to go.  Their season was in jeopardy of ending prematurely for the second straight year.  But with one swing of Robin Ventura's bat, the team began to believe in themselves again.

On October 1, the Mets began a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, basically needing to sweep the Bucs and hope for outside help to have any chance of winning the wild card.  The Mets took an early 1-0 lead on Robin Ventura's 32nd homer.  But the Pirates came back and tied the game, sending it into extra innings.  After reliever Pat Mahomes escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the 10th inning, he retired the Bucs in order in the 11th.  In the bottom of the 11th, the Mets put a runner on second base with one out.  After an intentional walk to Edgardo Alfonzo and a groundout by John Olerud, the Pirates decided to walk Mike Piazza to load the bases for Ventura, hoping that southpaw reliever Scott Sauerbeck would retire the lefty-swinging Ventura to end the inning.  The inning did end, but not the way the Pirates wanted, as Ventura lined Sauerbeck's second pitch to right-center for a game-winning single.  As an added bonus, the Astros and Reds both lost to the Dodgers and Brewers, respectively.  The Mets were now one game behind Houston and Cincinnati for the wild card, and Shea Stadium was ready for an epic final weekend.

Going into the season's penultimate game, the Mets already knew that the Astros had won and the Reds had lost.  Houston was now leading the National League Central by a game over Cincinnati.  The Reds' loss meant that the Mets were one win away from tying them for the wild card lead.  Rick Reed was tabbed to start the game on October 2 and pitched the game of his life, striking out 12 Pirates and allowing no runs.  However, Bucs' starter Francisco Cordova was matching Reed zero for zero throughout the first five innings.  All that changed when the Mets came to bat in the sixth inning.  The Mets needed some mojo risin' and they needed it fast.  Up come Robin Ventura to provide the Mets with all the mojo they would need.

With two men on base, Ventura ripped a double down the right field line, plating the Mets' first run of the game.  The Mets scored another run in the inning and added five insurance runs in the eighth inning en route to a 7-0 victory over the Pirates.  The season had come down to Game No. 162, with the Mets and Reds tied for the wild card lead.  Ventura went 1-for-4 in the series finale against the Pirates and was on deck when Mike Piazza watched Brad Clontz's wild pitch bounce over the backstop in the ninth inning, scoring Melvin Mora from third base with the winning run and setting off a wild celebration at home plate in front of the Shea faithful.  Despite the thrilling ending, the Mets could not pop the champagne at home, as the Reds defeated the Brewers that night after a long rain delay, setting up a one-game playoff at Cinergy Field the following night.

Needing one victory to secure their first playoff berth in 11 years, the Mets got off to an early lead, compliments of Edgardo Alfonzo's two-run homer off Reds' starting pitcher Steve Parris.  In the third inning, Robin Ventura collected his 120th RBI of the season, drawing a bases-loaded walk from reliever Denny Neagle to give the Mets a 3-0 lead.  Ventura would reach base two more times in the game, but by then, Mets' starting pitcher Al Leiter had deflated the Reds' bubble, as the Mets went on to win the game and the National League wild card berth, advancing to the NLDS to play the NL West champion Arizona Diamondbacks.

Although Ventura hit only .214 against the Diamondbacks in the series, he found other ways to contribute.  In Game 1, it was Ventura who led off the ninth inning with a single off Randy Johnson.  What made the hit so incredible was the fact that Johnson had allowed a mere nine hits to left-handed batters over the entire 1999 regular season.  Five batters later, Edgardo Alfonzo hit the go-ahead grand slam off reliever Bobby Chouinard to give the Mets an 8-4 lead, a lead that held up in the bottom of the ninth when Diamondbacks' shortstop Hanley Frias popped out to (you guessed it) Robin Ventura to end the game.  The Mets split the next two games before winning Game 4 at home to take the series, with Ventura contributing a double and a walk in the deciding game.  Despite his low batting average in the NLDS, Ventura reached base seven times (four walks, three hits) for a .389 on-base percentage.

In the NLCS, Ventura struggled at the plate, taking oh-fers in each of the first four games.  Ventura didn't get off the schneid until the 11th inning of Game 5, when he singled for his first hit in 17 NLCS at-bats.  Although that hit has long been forgotten, his next hit in the NLCS will always be remembered.  Four innings after his 11th inning single, Ventura lashed another single, although this one carried over the right field wall.  The famous Grand Slam Single gave the Mets a 4-3 victory and sent the team back to Georgia for a Game 6 showdown against the Braves.

Ain't life grand?

Unfortunately, the Mets could not force a seventh and deciding game in Atlanta, but Robin Ventura tried his best to get the Mets to Game 7.  With the Mets down 5-0 in the sixth inning, Ventura was on deck when Mike Piazza hit a sacrifice fly to plate the Mets' first run.  Ventura then doubled to right field off Braves' starter Kevin Millwood and scored on Darryl Hamilton's two-run single.  The Mets had cut the Braves' lead to 5-3 and eventually sent the game into extra innings.  But the magical run ended in the bottom of the 11th inning, when Kenny Rogers walked Andruw Jones with the bases loaded.

Despite hitting a combined .154 (6-for-39) during the Mets' ten-game postseason run in 1999, Robin Ventura provided some of the timeliest hits for the Mets against Arizona and Atlanta.  Ventura was nothing but clutch for the Mets in 1999.  For the season, he set career-highs in batting average (.301), slugging percentage (.529), on-base plus slugging (.908), hits (177), doubles (38) and RBIs (120).  The Mets' third baseman also added 32 homers, scored 88 runs and won his sixth Gold Glove Award.  (He also was prominently featured as part of Sports Illustrated "Best Infield Ever?" story.)  For his efforts, Ventura finished sixth in the National League MVP vote, finishing just ahead of teammates Mike Piazza (7th) and Edgardo Alfonzo (8th).

The 2000 Mets were expected to build upon their success from 1999, with Robin Ventura being one of the key contributors.  Although the team did well in 2000, winning their fourth National League pennant, Ventura did not perform as expected in his second season in New York.  Ventura played in 85 of the team's first 87 games, but only batted .235 with 17 doubles, 16 HR and 53 RBIs.  He was then placed on the disabled list with a bruised right rotator cuff and missed the next 14 games.  Upon returning, he did even worse, batting .227 with six doubles, eight HR and 31 RBIs over his final 56 games.  His final numbers in 2000 (.232, 23 doubles, 24 HR, 84 RBI, 61 runs scored in 141 games) were a far cry from what he produced in 1999. (In fact, Ventura's only positive contribution to the 2000 Mets might have been his one-man performance in Rain Delay Theatre at Yankee Stadium.)  In the postseason, Ventura's batting average continued to suffer, as he hit .167 in 14 postseason games for the Mets in 2000.  He also failed to reach base in any of his last nine plate appearances against the Yankees in the World Series.

Ventura's 2001 campaign was more of the same.  Although his batting average went up slightly to .237 (still nowhere near the .301 average he produced in 1999), Ventura's power and run production continued to suffer.  In 142 games, Ventura hit 20 doubles and 21 HR, but only collected 61 RBIs.  He also struck out 101 times, which was only slightly lower than his hit total (108).  The 108 hits represented a career-low for Ventura over a season in which he played at least 100 games.  Unlike the 2000 season, in which the Mets made the playoffs despite Ventura's subpar campaign, the Mets barely finished above .500 in 2001.  As a result, the Mets decided that they needed to shed their third baseman's high salary and move in a different direction.  They did just that when they dealt Ventura to the Yankees for David Justice, who was then traded a week later to Oakland for pitchers Mark Guthrie and Tyler Yates.

Robin Ventura wasn't all about his bat.  He may have been better with his glove.

Despite only having one outstanding season with the Mets, Robin Ventura is still a beloved figure in New York.  He was an outstanding defensive third baseman during his three years in Flushing and provided many memorable moments for the team, although most of them came during their magical 1999 campaign.  Ventura is now managing the Chicago White Sox, the team for which he played the majority of his professional career.  But no matter what he does in Chicago, Ventura will always have 1999, a season that started out so innocently, but ended with a new Mets legend being born.

From his doubleheader grand salamis in May to his torrid two-month stretch in the summer of '99 to "The Best Infield Ever" to the Grand Slam Single, Robin Ventura was in the middle of many great moments during one of the most memorable seasons in Mets history.  He may not have had the best Mets career, but for one season, he was in the center of it all.  It's no wonder that that one season turned him into the Mets legend that he now is.


Note: One Season Wonders is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets who had one and only one memorable season in New York.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:
 
January 2, 2012: Bernard Gilkey
January 9, 2012: Terry Leach 
January 16, 2012: George Stone
January 23, 2012: Roger Cedeño
January 30, 2012: Frank Viola
February 6, 2012: Joe Christopher 
February 13, 2012: Dave Magadan 
February 20, 2012: Pedro Martinez
February 27, 2012: Bret Saberhagen

One Season Wonders: Roger Cedeño

When the Mets acquired Mike Piazza from the Florida Marlins in 1998, the writing was on the wall for Todd Hundley.  Hundley was one of only two Mets left on the team who had played for Davey Johnson (John Franco was the other), but had spent the first three months of the 1998 season on the disabled list while recovering from major reconstructive surgery on his right elbow.  Needless to say, Hundley was not happy that the Mets were giving up on him, especially after he had given the team his best two seasons in 1996 and 1997.

Surprisingly, Hundley was not traded immediately upon his return from the DL in July.  Instead, the Mets moved him to left field, displacing Bernard Gilkey, whose poor performance (.237, 3 HR, 24 RBI in 64 games at the time of Hundley's return) moved him to the bench and eventually to the Arizona Diamondbacks three weeks later.  Despite the Mets' willingness to play Hundley, an outfield neophyte, on a regular basis, his performance at the plate suffered.  Hundley finished the injury-shortened 1998 campaign with his poorest line (.161, 3 HR, 12 RBI in 53 games) since his first full season in the majors in 1992.

Finally, after months of speculation, the Mets traded Hundley to the Los Angeles Dodgers for two players.  One of the players was All-Star catcher Charles Johnson, who was immediately shipped off to Baltimore for reliever Armando Benitez.  The other was a 24-year-old utility outfielder who had played parts of four seasons in Los Angeles, never establishing himself as a full-time player.  But once he came over to the Mets, his game took off (literally) and he became a key contributor on a team that was trying to make its first postseason appearance in 11 years.  That player was Roger Cedeño.

Before Jose Reyes wowed Mets fans with his speed, there was Roger Cedeño.

Roger Leandro Cedeño had never accumulated more than 240 at-bats in any of his four seasons as a Dodger.  He also had never shown the ability to be a prolific base stealer in the major leagues.  In 311 games with the Dodgers, Cedeño stole 23 bases, with a career-high of nine of 1997.  However, he was a base-stealing threat in the minors, as evidenced by his 121 stolen bases from 1992-1995.

At the time of the trade, it was assumed that Cedeño would not be the answer to the team's leadoff hitter conundrum.  His career on-base percentage was .317 and he was not a good contact hitter, striking out 158 times in 687 at-bats with the Dodgers.  Therefore, it was not a surprise when the Mets used him primarily as a pinch-hitter and late-inning defensive replacement over the first month of the season.  But that all started to change once May rolled around.

From Opening Day to May 2, Roger Cedeño played in 24 games.  However, he only started nine of those games, as he appeared in eight games as a pinch-hitter, two games as a pinch-runner and five games as a defensive replacement.  As a result, he didn't get much of an opportunity to establish himself as an offensive threat.  Through May 2, Cedeño was hitting .289 with five stolen bases, but had only picked up 45 at-bats.  Then came a rare start on May 3 against the Houston Astros.  It was a night that turned Cedeño's season around.

Given the opportunity to start a game, Roger Cedeño took full advantage.  Against the Astros, Cedeño went 2-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored and two stolen bases.  He got things started with a leadoff single to center in the first inning, then promptly stole second base.  He took third base on a weak groundout to third, then scored on an RBI single by Mike Piazza.  The Mets batted around in that first inning, scoring four times.

By the sixth inning, the Astros had cut the lead to one, as Richard Hidalgo's two-run homer had turned an early 4-0 lead into a tight 4-3 game.  Once again, a rally started by Roger Cedeño gave the Mets some breathing room.  With one out in the sixth, Cedeño doubled to left, then stole third base, giving Edgardo Alfonzo the opportunity to drive in a run without getting a hit, which he promptly did by lifting a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Cedeño and giving the Mets an insurance run.  The bullpen did the rest, and the Mets held on for a 5-3 victory.

The game against the Astros began a stretch in which Cedeño started 10 times in 12 games.  Given his first chance as an everyday player, Cedeño went on a blistering tear, batting .400 and reaching base 27 times (18 hits, nine walks) in those 12 games.  On May 12, Cedeño went 4-for-4 with a walk, three runs scored and a stolen base against the Phillies.  He followed that up two days later by picking up two more hits, scoring three runs and tying a franchise record with four stolen bases against the Rockies.  Naturally, both efforts led the Mets to victories in each game.

Despite a brilliant first half in which hit .332, had a .432 on-base percentage, scored 53 runs and led the league with 46 steals, Cedeño was left off the National League All-Star roster.  Perhaps feeding off his snub, Cedeño continued to excel after the break.  In his first two games following the Midsummer Classic, Cedeño went 4-for-9 with two doubles, three runs scored, three RBIs and four stolen bases.  The four steals gave him 50 thefts on the year, making him the third Met to reach that mark after Mookie Wilson (1982, 1983) and Lance Johnson (1996).

Mets fans saw this quite often in 1999, as Roger Cedeño was the master of his stolen base domain.

Cedeño tied Mookie Wilson's club record for steals when he stole his 58th base on August 10 against Padres' reliever Donne Wall.   He then waited nearly three weeks to break Mookie's mark, but when he did it, he made sure it occurred in a game Mets fans would never forget.

On August 30, the Mets were leading the Astros, 2-0 in the second inning when Cedeño stepped up to the plate after a home run by Darryl Hamilton.  Cedeño followed Hamilton's homer with a single up the middle.  After a strikeout by Rey Ordoñez and a sacrifice bunt by Masato Yoshii, Cedeño stole third base, breaking Mookie Wilson's club record.  The stolen base rattled Astros' starter Shane Reynolds, as he proceeded to give up an RBI single to Rickey Henderson, a single to Edgardo Alfonzo, a two-run double to Robin Ventura and a two-run homer to Mike Piazza.  By the time the inning was over, the Mets had taken a 7-0 lead and the onslaught was on.  The Mets went on to defeat the Astros, 17-1, but the lead story was no longer Cedeño breaking Mookie Wilson's single-season stolen base record, but Edgardo Alfonzo's one-for-the-ages performance, as Fonzie went 6-for-6 with three home runs, a double, two singles, six runs scored and five RBIs.

A week after breaking the stolen base record, Cedeño's batting average had fallen to .306, threatening to dip below the .300 mark for the first time since the day after he became an everyday player in early May.  But then Cedeño turned it up a notch for the stretch run, hitting .359 over the team's final 22 games.  He also reached base at a .431 clip, scored 13 runs and stole six bases as the Mets clinched the wild card berth in a one-game playoff against the Cincinnati Reds.  It was on to the playoffs for the Mets and Cedeño's first postseason experience was one both he and the Mets would always remember.

After starting 106 of the team's final 138 games, Roger Cedeño only started one game in the NLDS against the Arizona Diamondbacks.  But in Game 4, Cedeño kept the Mets' hopes alive with a crucial at-bat.  After the Mets had fallen behind on a two-out, two-run double by Arizona shortstop Jay Bell in the top of the eighth inning, the Mets were six outs away from having to go back to the desert to face eventual Cy Young Award winner Randy Johnson in a fifth and deciding game.  But an error by rightfielder Tony Womack gave the Mets hope and put two runners in scoring position for Cedeño, who had entered the game one inning earlier as a defensive replacement for Benny Agbayani.  Cedeño came through in the clutch, driving in the tying run with a sacrifice fly.  With the new life afforded to them via the bat of Roger Cedeño, the Mets were able to win the game and the series when Todd Pratt hit a walk-off homer to straightaway center over the not-completely outstretched glove of Steve Finley in the bottom of the tenth inning.

Cedeño and the Mets were now off to the National League Championship Series to face their division rivals in Atlanta.  This time, manager Bobby Valentine made sure to get him more playing time.  Cedeño made sure to save the best for last.

The Mets lost the first three games of the NLCS to the Braves, even with Cedeño hitting .429 over the first two games (he did not play in Game 3).  Just like they did in Game 4 of the NLDS, the Mets let a one-run eighth inning lead slip away in Game 4 of the NLCS, as Brian Jordan and Ryan Klesko hit back-to-back home runs off Mets' starter Rick Reed after Reed had faced the minimum 21 batters through the first seven innings.

With the Mets six outs away from elimination, Roger Cedeño led off the bottom of the eighth with a single off Braves' starter John Smoltz.  After Rey Ordoñez popped out on a failed bunt attempt and Benny Agbayani struck out against reliever Mike Remlinger, the Mets were only four outs away from ending their season prematurely.  But Cedeño wasn't about to let the season end without a fight, as he stole second base to put the tying run in scoring position.  Needing to pitch more carefully, Remlinger walked Melvin Mora, putting the go-ahead run on base and setting the stage for volatile closer John Rocker to come into the game to face John Olerud.  In an instant, Cedeño and Mora pulled off a daring double steal, putting two runners in scoring position for the Mets' first baseman.  Olerud then stroked a single to center, giving the Mets a lead they would not relinquish, a lead made possible by the bat and legs of Roger Cedeño.

As Roger Cedeño and Melvin Mora celebrated scoring the tying and go-ahead runs behind him, John Rocker was left to ponder what time he could catch the 7 train out of Shea.

The Mets and Braves battled for 15 innings in Game 5.  Although Cedeño didn't play in the first 14 innings, he did find himself in the right spot at the right time, coming into the game as a pinch-runner for Matt Franco in the 15th.  Cedeño ended up scoring the winning run on Robin Ventura's Grand Slam Single, the only run the Mets needed to take a 4-3 victory over the Braves.

Unfortunately, Cedeño's season ended earlier than it did for his teammates, as he was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the sixth inning of Game 6, as the Mets were rallying from an early five-run deficit.  The Mets had already scored three runs in the sixth and had the tying run at the plate in Cedeño when Bobby Valentine decided to go with a power threat in Benny Agbayani.  The Mets failed to tie the game in the sixth inning and Cedeño was out of the game, five innings before the Mets' season ended when Kenny Rogers gambled and threw ball four to Andruw Jones in the 11th inning.  Who knows if Cedeño would have provided the Mets with a key hit or stolen base in extra innings had he remained in the game?

Despite the disappointing end to the 1999 season, Cedeño had sparkled in the postseason.  Although he started only five games against the Diamondbacks and Braves, the speedster batted .421, scored three runs, drove in three more and stole three bases.  Cedeño had just completed a memorable season, one in which he finally established himself as an everyday player in the major leagues.  His fabulous postseason followed a regular season in which he hit .313, scored 90 runs and stole a franchise-record 66 bases.  So what did the Mets do to reward him for his efforts?  They traded him.

After one season in New York, the Mets dealt Roger Cedeño, Octavio Dotel (who was the winning pitcher in Game 5 of the NLCS) and minor leaguer Kyle Kessel to Houston in exchange for 22-game winner Mike Hampton and rightfielder Derek Bell.  Both Hampton and Bell were one-and-done in New York, as Hampton signed an eight-year free agent contract with the Colorado Rockies following the 2000 season and Bell inked a one-year deal with Pittsburgh.

Cedeño played one injury-plagued season in Houston, batting .282 with 54 runs scored and 25 stolen bases in 74 games before signing a one-year contract to play in Detroit in 2001.  He returned to his past glory in the Motor City, hitting .293 with a career-high 11 triples and 55 stolen bases in 131 games.  Once again, Cedeño was a free agent following the 2001 campaign and the Mets were looking for a speedster.  This time, however, it was a match that should never have been made.

On December 17, 2001, the Mets signed Roger Cedeño to a four-year, $18 million contract.  However, Cedeño showed up at training camp overweight and out of baseball shape, and it showed during the regular season.  In his first year back with the Mets, Cedeño batted .260, had a .318 on-base percentage and only stole 25 bases.  Going into the 2003 season, the Mets were hoping that Cedeño could return to his 1999 self.  Instead, they got more of the 2002 version, as Cedeño batted .267 and reached base at a .320 clip.  However, his stolen bases dropped to 14 despite playing in 148 games and his 60.9% success rate was also the worst of his nine-year career.

Those orange batting practice jerseys weren't very slimming, nor did they help Roger Cedeño recapture the form he once showed for the Mets in 1999.

Finally, after two years of high expectations and an endless stream of boos from the Shea faithful, Cedeño was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004 for Wilson Delgado.  The Mets did agree to pay all but $1 million of the remaining $10 million left on Cedeño's contract, but they were finally rid of him.

Roger Cedeño came to New York in 1999 after never establishing himself in Los Angeles.  He then put together one of the most unexpected seasons in club annals, helping the Mets reach the playoffs for the first time in 11 years.  Almost as quickly as he got here, Cedeño was gone, traded to Houston for a pitcher who helped the team make it back to the postseason in 2000.  However, despite his comeback season in Detroit in 2001, Cedeño was never as good as he was for that one wonderful season in 1999.  The Mets made the mistake to re-sign him following the 2001 season and the team suffered in the standings, finishing in last place in both years of Cedeño's second stint in New York.

Sometimes it's best to quit when one is ahead.  The Mets and Roger Cedeño were ahead of everyone but the Braves in 1999.  Three years later, both parties were behind everyone in the NL East.  It just goes to show that sometimes a one-season wonder should stop after that one wonderful season.


Note: One Season Wonders is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets who had one and only one memorable season in New York.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:
 
January 2, 2012: Bernard Gilkey
January 9, 2012: Terry Leach 
January 16, 2012: George Stone