Cram All You Want, You'll Still Lose With The Mets

Every once in a while, I'll find a statistic or story about a Mets player that's so far out there, I have to share it.  Similarly, on occasion I'll think of a title for a blog post that will go over everyone's head until they actually read the piece.  And sometimes those two worlds collide.  Today is one of those days.

About a month and a half ago, I wrote a piece on Anthony Young, the Mets pitcher who set a major league record by losing 27 consecutive decisions.  However, the Mets didn't lose every game he appeared in during his losing streak.  From the time his skein began on May 6, 1992 until he recorded his 27th straight loss on July 24, 1993, Young appeared in 77 games, making 17 starts and appearing in relief 60 times.  The Mets actually won 25 of those 77 games, but Young did not receive credit for a victory in any of those contests.

This morning, I woke up with Young on my mind and decided to do some research on which Mets player appeared in the most games without ever celebrating a victory after any of those affairs.  Well, thanks to the good folks who run the Baseball Musings Day-By-Day Database, I have my answer.  Now excuse me while I "cram" this information into your brain.

The name is Cram.  Jerry Cram.

Entering the 2015 season, a total of 62 players have appeared in at least one game for the Mets without ever going out for a winning hot dog and soda afterwards.  Of those 62 players, more than half of them (37) appeared in no more than three games for the team - all losses, of course.  But only four of those 62 players found their way into a game's boxscore at least 11 times.  And of those four, the Met who appeared in the most losses without ever seeing a win did so 14 times.  The unfortunate player's name was Jerry Cram.

Jerry Cram made his major league debut for the expansion Kansas City Royals in 1969, appearing in five games.  The Royals actually won two of those games, probably spoiling Cram for life.  He didn't appear in another major league game until 1974, a year after he had been traded to the Mets.

Cram pitched beautifully for the Mets in two seasons with the team, posting a 2.30 ERA in 14 relief appearances, tossing 27⅓ innings in those outings.  His greatest effort came on September 11, 1974, when he pitched eight shutout innings against the St. Louis Cardinals.  Cram entered the game in the 17th inning and pitched through the 24th frame, scattering seven hits and two walks.  He also went 1-for-3 at the plate, collecting the only hit of his career in the 18th inning.

Once Cram was taken out of the game for pinch-hitter Rusty Staub in the bottom of the 24th, the Cardinals took advantage, as speedy center fielder Bake McBride led off the top of the 25th inning with a single, then came all the way around to score on an errant pickoff throw by reliever Hank Webb, who was making his first appearance of the season for the Mets.  Webb's battery mate, Ron Hodges, was charged with the team's second error on the play, as he was unable to hold on to the throw by first baseman John Milner, allowing McBride to score the go-ahead run.

The Mets lost the game in 25 innings, which to this day remains the longest game in National League history that did not end in a tie.  (Brooklyn and Boston played a 26-inning affair in 1920 that ended in a 1-1 tie.)  The game was also Cram's fifth appearance for the Mets in 1974, with all of them ending in losses.  Cram appeared in five more games that month following his eight-inning relief effort and never celebrated a victory with his teammates.  The Mets went 0-10 in Cram's ten appearances in 1974.

Cram didn't appear in as many games during his second season with the Mets in 1975, making just four relief appearances for the team in April and May.  Once again, the Mets failed to win any of those games.  In fact, in all 14 of his games during his two-year tour of duty in Flushing, Cram never pitched with the lead.  Three times he entered a game with the score tied - the Mets eventually lost each game - and 11 times he came into a game with the Mets trailing.  They were trailing at the end of those games as well.

Three pitchers in Mets history appeared in exactly 11 games with nary a happy recap to show for it.  Jerry Hinsley made two starts and seven relief appearances for the Mets in 1964, then came out of the bullpen twice in 1967.  The only constant in Hinsley's career was that he only pitched in games the Mets lost.  Hinsley was a teammate of Joe Grzenda in 1967.  Like Hinsley, Grzenda was also used exclusively in relief during the 1967 campaign, making 11 appearances.  Each of those contests ended with the other team shaking hands after the game.  Finally, we have Collin McHugh, who made five starts and appeared in relief six times for the Mets between 2012 and 2013.

Collin McHugh fell short of Cram's mark.

McHugh pitched seven shutout innings in his major league debut, becoming the second Met to strike out as many as nine batters in his first big league start (Matt Harvey set the record with 11 strikeouts a month before McHugh.)  But unlike Harvey's effort in his debut, McHugh didn't earn a win in his, as no Mets hitter was able to cross the plate while McHugh - or any other Mets pitcher - was in the game.  That was as close as McHugh came to appearing in a Mets victory, as his next ten appearances in a Mets uniform resulted in ten losses for the team.  Now pitching for the Houston Astros, McHugh has left the losing behind, as he won 11 games in 2014 and posted a stellar 2.73 ERA in 25 starts.  Although the Astros finished 22 games under .500 in 2014, they posted a winning record (13-12) in McHugh's starts.

Hinsley, Grzenda and McHugh never appeared in a game won by the Mets, but at least they weren't as unlucky as Jerry Cram.  He and his teammates all experienced the agony of defeat in each of Cram's 14 appearances in a Mets uniform.  And for those of you curious about what happened to Cram after he pitched his final game for the Mets in 1975, well, he went back to Kansas City to pitch for a much-improved Royals team in 1976.  Kansas City won its division in 1976, finishing the year with a 90-72 record.  Cram appeared in four games for the A.L. West champions.  What happened in those games?  The Royals lost them all, meaning Cram never got to experience a victory in a game he pitched after the 1969 season.

Anthony Young lost 27 straight decisions, but at least his teams won 25 times when he took the mound during his 14-month streak of individual futility.  Jerry Cram probably wished he could have had Young's good fortune as a Met.
 

The Mets Have Also Had Weird Walk-Off Losses

Photo by Elsa/GettyImages (via the NY Times)

On Saturday night, the Cardinals defeated the Red Sox in Game 3 of the World Series in bizarre fashion.  St. Louis had runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning and the game tied, 4-4.  Jon Jay then hit a ground ball to second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who made an outstanding diving stop before throwing home to nail Yadier Molina at the plate.  Allen Craig, who was not running at 100% because of a sprained foot, then took off slowly for third base.  Seeing Craig scrambling to reach third, Jarrod Saltamacchia attempted to throw him out.  But his throw hit Craig and caromed into foul territory, where it was picked up by left fielder Daniel Nava.  His throw back to Saltalamacchia appeared to get Craig at the plate for the third out, but umpire Jim Joyce called interference on third baseman Will Middlebrooks, allowing Craig to score the winning run.  Middlebrooks had tripped up Craig after Saltalamacchia's throw sailed down the left field line.

It was as strange an ending to a game as Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, also lost when a Red Sox corner infielder allowed the winning run to score, this time against the Mets.  Although the Mets have never lost a game on an interference call, they have lost their share of games in other weird walk-off ways.  Let's take a look at some of them.

In addition to losing hundreds of games on game-ending hits, sacrifice flies and bases loaded walks (Kenny Rogers, you will never be forgiven), the Mets have also lost three games when a runner on third scored on a balk (most recently accomplished by Collin McHugh, who balked home Miami's Donovan Solano in R.A. Dickey's last start as a Met on October 2, 2012).

Similarly, there have been three instances in Mets history in which a pitcher forced in the winning run by hitting a batter with the bases loaded.  One such hit batsman helped set in motion the firing of the team's manager.

On June 5, 2008, the Mets were opening a four-game series in San Diego after taking two of three from the Giants in San Francisco.  They entered the series against the Padres playing good baseball, having won seven of their previous nine games to go from three games under .500 (23-26) to two games over (30-28).  But in a 1-1 tie, Scott Schoeneweis walked future Met Scott Hairston to lead off the bottom of the ninth.  Schoeneweis then issued two more walks (one of which was intentional) to set up a bases loaded matchup with Paul McAnulty, who sported a Mario Mendoza-like .210 career batting average entering the game.  Schoeneweis was trying to induce an inning-ending double play from the Padres' left fielder.  But he hit McAnulty with his first pitch, forcing in the winning run.  The loss ignited a five-game losing streak for the Mets.  One week later, manager Willie Randolph was fired.

A week after Schoeneweis plunked a Padre, Willie Randolph was "schoen" the door by the Mets.

Another rare way the Mets have lost in walk-off fashion is via the groundout.  On nine occasions, a ground ball out has failed to prevent the winning run from scoring.  And once, a double play couldn't even stop a walk-off loss.  On July 21, 1973, the Mets and Pirates went to the bottom of the ninth deadlocked at one.  Mets reliever Buzz Capra loaded the bases on a single and two walks.  With no outs, Tug McGraw came into the game and induced a ground ball from Bucs first baseman Bob Robertson.  The Mets were able to get a force at home and another out at second, but Dave Cash came all the way around from second base to score the winning run while the Mets were throwing the ball all over the place.  Therefore, a 4-2-9-6 double play produced a W-A-L-K-off loss.

The Mets have lost 21 games on a walk-off error, including one by the normally sure-handed Keith Hernandez on July 2, 1983, just two and a half weeks after the Mets acquired him from St. Louis.  Doug Sisk and Francisco Rodriguez are the only two pitchers to be victimized by walk-off errors twice.  Sisk was on the mound when the Mets lost games in 1984 and 1985 on miscues by Hubie Brooks and Rafael Santana, respectively.  Similarly, K-Rod walked off the field in disgust when Daniel Murphy made an error in September 2009.  It was the second time that season that Rodriguez witnessed a walk-off error from the mound, as just three months earlier, Luis Castillo made everyone want to "Forget Lou" after he failed to use two hands on an Alex Rodriguez pop-up at Yankee Stadium.

All of the above were certainly odd ways to lose games in walk-off fashion.  But perhaps the most bizarre walk-off loss in Mets history took place on July 27, 1967, in a game the Mets lost to the Dodgers in 11 innings, 7-6.  The Mets were already shorthanded, as only 21 players suited up for the team that day.  John Sullivan started for the Mets at catcher and delivered an RBI single in the seventh inning to pull the Mets to within one run of the Dodgers.  But manager Wes Westrum then foolishly used Jerry Grote - his sole remaining catcher on the bench - as a pinch-runner for Sullivan.  When Grote came in to catch in the bottom of the seventh, he started barking at home plate umpire Bill Jackowski about his strike zone.  After the inning was over, Grote continued to voice his displeasure over balls and strikes from the dugout and was tossed from the game.  That left Westrum without a catcher on his bench.  That is, until he called upon Tommie Reynolds to put on the catcher's gear.

Tommie Reynolds

Reynolds had never played the position before in a major league game.  But he took one for the team and squatted behind the plate for what he thought would be no more than two innings.  Of course, the game went into extra innings and the inexperienced Reynolds stayed in the game as the team's catcher.  Finally, in the 11th inning, with one out and runners at the corners, Reynolds couldn't handle a Jack Fisher pitch, allowing the winning run to score for the Dodgers.  The ruling by the official scorer was a passed ball by Reynolds.  It was the only time in Mets history that the team suffered a walk-off loss on a passed ball, and it was committed by a player who never caught another game in his career.

So you see, Red Sox fans, you're not alone when it comes to weird walk-off losses.  The Mets have done it all the time, even against your team in World Series play.  After all, this is baseball, where you're always bound to see something you've never seen before, just like Tommie Reynolds never saw that Jack Fisher pitch in 1967, a year the Red Sox also played the Cardinals in the World Series.

Will Middlebrooks is now part of a weird walk-off family.  But don't worry.  He'll have new family members to keep him company before too long.
 

Will Reese Havens Ever Put It Together For The Mets?

In 2008, the Mets had one of their better drafts in recent years.  That year they selected five players who have since made their major league debuts.  With the 18th overall pick, the Mets took Ike Davis, who rewarded them with a 32 HR, 90 RBI campaign in 2012.  They also selected Kirk Nieuwenhuis (3rd round), Josh Satin (6th round), Collin McHugh (18th round) and Chris Schwinden (22nd round).

Nieuwenhuis and McHugh contributed to the team this year and are expected to continue to be a part of the team's future, while Satin and Schwinden may be able to fill in for injured players in 2013.  There was another player who was drafted by the Mets in that year's draft who was expected to be a regular on the major league team by now.  Instead, he's become a regular on the disabled list and has not advanced past AA-Binghamton.  That player is Reese Havens.

Will we ever see Reese Havens wearing this uniform at Citi Field?

David Reese Havens was selected by the Mets in the first round of the 2008 draft, four picks after the team yanked Ike Davis from the amateur pot.  After a stellar final year at the University of South Carolina (.359, 76 runs, 18 HR, 57 RBI in 63 games), Havens was projected to be a power-hitting middle infielder.  But once the Mets drafted Havens, the injuries soon followed.

Havens missed nearly two months of his first professional baseball season with injuries to his elbow and groin.  As a result, he only played in 23 games for the Brooklyn Cyclones in 2008.  The following season, Havens collected 430 plate appearance for the St. Lucie Mets, showing some of his power potential with 19 doubles and 14 homers.  Although he hit .247, he showed great plate discipline with a .361 on-base percentage and only 73 strikeouts.  But over the next two seasons, the injury bug came back to haunt Havens and stunted his development.

In 2010, Havens played in only 32 games for St. Lucie and AA-Binghamton, followed by a 61-game effort for the same two teams in 2011.  When Havens was healthy, he played well, combining to hit .297 with 21 doubles, 15 HR and 47 RBI in those 93 games.  But Havens was rarely healthy, losing time with oblique and back problems.

The 2012 season began with Havens once again on the disabled list with back problems, but he returned to Binghamton in April and played 94 games for the B-Mets.  Despite playing most of the season, he had a poor year at the plate, batting .215 and struck out an alarming 113 times in 325 at-bats.

Reese Havens has been in the Mets' minor league system for five seasons now, but has only appeared in 307 games.  His .253 batting average in the minors has not been impressive, but he has shown outstanding extra-base hit potential (60 doubles, six triples, 42 HR) in what amounts to two major league seasons' worth of games.  He also draws a lot of walks, as evidenced by his .358 career on-base percentage.  But all of this has been accomplished with Havens not having played a single game above the Double-A level.

Yesterday was Reese Havens' 26th birthday.  He will probably play at AAA-Las Vegas in 2013, reaching the top rung of the minor league level for the first time in his sixth professional baseball season.  He is no longer considered a top minor league prospect.  But he is still on the Mets' radar, especially since the team has still not fully committed to Daniel Murphy as their second baseman of the future.

It's quite possible that last year's poor performance at AA-Binghamton could have been because Havens was concealing an injury.  After all, the former first round draft pick was already 25 and wanted to prove to the organization that he could stay on the field for an entire season.  But what if Havens stays healthy in 2013 and continues to hit under .250 while striking out every three at-bats?

The Mets have already given Ike Davis, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Josh Satin, Collin McHugh and Chris Schwinden a shot at the majors.  They've also given Reese Havens every opportunity to become the sixth player from the draft class of 2008 to advance to the big show.  It's up to Havens to stay on the field and produce on it if he wants to show the team that they were right in drafting him alongside a handful of other future major leaguers.  2013 may be his final chance to do so.

Despite No-Decision, Still A McHUGE Debut For Collin

Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

Earlier today, I composed a short piece on how the Mets' dominance of the Rockies in New York was a fading memory, with the Mets having lost seven straight and nine of 11 to the Rockies in New York after winning 30 of 37 against them in the Big Apple since 1999.  It might be time to update that piece, as the Mets have now lost eight straight and ten of their last 12 games to Colorado after their 1-0 defeat in today's matinee.

But I'm not upset with today's loss or this week's Rockies sweep.  I'm actually feeling pretty good.  And I have two words to explain why I'm not ready to jump off the Shea Bridge.  The first word is Collin and the second word is McHugh.

For seven scintillating innings, Collin McHugh thrilled the kids and empty seats in attendance (as well as Scott and Teresa McHugh, who made the trip to Citi Field to see their son mow down the Rockies).  But with the Mets continuing to be sponsored by the number zero (especially when on offense), McHugh received nothing for his efforts.  No lovely parting gifts, no win, nada.

In McHugh's seven innings, he allowed no runs on two hits, striking out nine batters.  (After never having a Met strike out more than eight batters in his major league debut prior to this year, McHugh joined Matt Harvey in this exclusive club today.)  According to the Elias Sports Bureau, McHugh became just the third pitcher since 1920 to post those numbers in his major league debut (seven innings, no runs, two hits or less, nine strikeouts or more), joining Hall of Famer Juan Marichal and non-Hall of Famer Steve Woodard.

But for the sixth consecutive game, the Mets scored two runs or less (mostly less), marking the first time since 1982 they had accomplished this.  However, the 1982 streak (which reached seven games) was not just due to an inept offense.  Six of the seven games were played in three days, as the Mets played three doubleheaders from September 17-21, 1982.  Blame that lack-of-scoring streak on tired players and too many rusty bench players getting starts.  What excuse do the 2012 Mets have?

But this post is not about the Mets' bats constantly hitting the snooze button instead of baseballs.  It's about Collin McHugh, a fellow blogger and now the latest Mets pitcher to have a memorable debut.  Scott and Teresa McHugh have been proud of their son since he was born.  Mets fans can begin to feel proud starting today as Collin McHugh gave us something to look forward to in 2013 and beyond.