Mets Song Parody: Everybody's Hurt

If you were a Mets fan in 1992 and 1993, then you were a follower of "The Worst Team Money Could Buy" and the only triple-digit loss Mets team in the last half century.  If you were an alternative music fan in 1992 and 1993, then you probably stayed up to watch Kennedy host Alternative Nation on MTV.  That also means you were familiar with R.E.M. and their album, "Automatic For The People".

Before the band asked Kenneth for the frequency and after they lost their religion, R.E.M. released a single called "Everybody Hurts".  The accompanying music video depicted motorists in a traffic jam, alone with their thoughts until they decided to walk away from a situation that wasn't going anywhere.

The 2017 Mets have started slowly.  Unlike the last two seasons, when the Mets rolled off long winning streaks in April, this year's model is already 4½ games behind the first-place Nationals and struggling just to make it back to .500,  That's not the team's only struggle, as the team is being forced to deal with every injury known to mankind.

A quarter century ago, people walked away from a traffic jam as a popular R.E.M. song was playing in the background.  Today, no one's walking away without a walking boot attached to whichever body part is ailing them.  That's because on the 2017 Mets, everybody's hurt.  And not even a song parody is going to get them back on the field.  If only it could, though.  If only it could...

Mets fans will never be shiny, happy people as long as Ray Ramirez is the team's head trainer.  (SNY screen shot)

When your season's long
And the Nats, the Nats are in first alone
When injuries just pile up
And the limbs won't hang on

Don't let yourself go
Or your career will die
Everybody's hurt ... all the time

Sometimes a muscle isn't strong
And your D.L. stint is long
When your hamstring feels blown (you're gone, you're gone)
Ray Ramirez makes himself known (you're gone)
If you think you've felt his touch
Or his scythe, then you're gone 

Everybody's hurt
Discomfort never ends
Everybody's hurt

Don't cut your hand, oh no
Don't cut your hand
If you see protruding bones
No, no, no, your year's postponed

If you ache and moan, here's advice
The trainer's got to go
When you've torn your rotator cuff, and he tries
To splint your toe

Yeah, everybody's hurt all the time
Every career dies
Everybody's hurt ... all the time
Yeah, everybody's hurt

You're gone, you're gone, you're gone, you're gone...
Everybody's hurt...




 

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: Anthony Young

A moment, by definition, is a brief period in time.  The ground ball hit by Mookie Wilson is the 1986 World Series took three hops before it scooted by the closed glove of Bill Buckner.  All told, Mookie's moment lasted a few seconds, which was about two hours and 44 minutes less than the time it took Dave Mlicki to toss his gem against the Yankees in the first regular season matchup between the two city rivals.

It took three seconds for Wilson's moment to become legendary.  It took nine innings for Mlicki to do the same.  But what happens when a moment lasts just a tad bit longer?  And what happens when that moment becomes a microcosm of an era that most Mets fans do not look back upon fondly?

For one Mets player, his "moment" lasted for the better part of two seasons.  And although he and millions of the team's fans were at a "loss" to explain how his moment could have endured for as long as it did, he never became a hated Met for what he accomplished (or in his case, failed to accomplish).  In fact, despite his achievement becoming synonymous with the era he played in, he became somewhat of a beloved figure when all was said and done.

If Anthony Young looks happy here, it's because this photo was taken before his losing streak.  (Photo by Barry Colla)

Anthony Wayne Young was never supposed to make it to the major leagues.  As a 38th round draft pick in 1987 taken behind "studs" like Chris Kocman and Elgin Bobo, Young had to work his way to becoming a top prospect.  Young was inconsistent during his first three professional seasons, never advancing past the Single-A level until 1990, when he unexpectedly opened eyes with a phenomenal 15-3 record and 1.65 ERA in 23 starts for AA-Jackson.

Young's breakout 1990 campaign turned him into Baseball America's 26th-ranked prospect prior to the 1991 season.  The former 38th round draft pick was now the Mets' top minor league prospect and was on the fast track to the major leagues.  On August 5, 1991, his train pulled into Shea Stadium, where he made his big league debut against the Chicago Cubs.  Young pitched well in his debut, tossing 2⅓ innings of one-run ball in relief of starting pitcher (and fellow 1991 top prospect) Pete Schourek.  Four days later, Young faced the Cubs again in relief, allowing no runs and no hits in two innings.  He was then inserted into the starting rotation on August 29, where he remained until season's end.

In eight late-season starts for the Mets, Young was quite good, allowing more than two earned runs just twice in those eight appearances.  However, in a portent of things to come, Young lost his final four starts, with the Mets scoring a total of seven runs in those four efforts.

Change was in the air entering the 1992 season.  The team's first losing record in eight years caused a changing of the guard prior to the start of the '92 campaign, with Jeff Torborg coming aboard to sail the ship that now had a crew of All-Stars Bobby Bonilla, Bret Saberhagen and Eddie Murray.

A team chock full of veteran players was going to be a tough one to crack for the 26-year-old Young, but after holding opposing hitters to a .127 batting average and posting a team-best 2.23 ERA in four spring training starts, Torborg couldn't wait to pencil him as the team's No. 4 starter.

"Anthony Young has been as good as anybody," raved Torborg.  "He's blown the competition away."

Young had such a dominant spring that he was listed ahead of Dwight Gooden in the rotation - the same Gooden who had received the Opening Day assignment in each of the last four seasons and six of the previous seven.  Young rewarded Torborg by having a solid April, going 2-0 with a 2.96 ERA in four appearances (three starts).  But just three short months after his manager proclaimed him to be "as good as anybody", Young was better than no one, although he was not completely at fault.

In 1992, Anthony Young couldn't see anything at Shea Stadium but losses piling up.  (Keith Torrie/NY Daily News)

In May and June, Young lost eight consecutive decisions and watched his ERA balloon to 4.65.  The first three losses were squarely on his shoulders, as the right-hander allowed a total of 14 earned runs in losses to the Reds, Padres and Dodgers.  But in his next five defeats, Young pitched well, allowing no more than three runs in any of those appearances.  Of course, the Mets scored a total of five runs in those five games, making it a tough task for any pitcher to post a "W".

Despite pitching relatively well during his hard-luck losses in June, Young was replaced in the starting rotation by Wally Whitehurst at month's end.  Moving to his new role in the bullpen, Young earned his first major league save on July 1 in the Mets' 12-inning win over the Cubs.  Three days later, Young was tagged with his ninth straight loss before turning his season around in a new role.

With John Franco suffering from an inflamed tendon in his pitching elbow, Young began to share closing duties with the left-handed Franco and thrived in the role.  In fact, from July 7 through September 2, Young had one of the best extended stretches by a relief pitcher in the history of the franchise.  Seriously.

Young made 23 appearances during the two-month period, recording 11 saves and two holds.  More impressively, Young held opposing hitters to a ridiculously low .155/.212/.165 slash line, allowing 15 hits (14 singles, one double) in 28⅓ innings.  All told, Young allowed just one run in those 23 appearances for a miniscule 0.31 ERA.

Alas, Young's magical ride entered the station before the season ended, as his final ten appearances resulted in five blown saves, all of which saddled him with losses.  Young finished the year with 15 saves - an impressive total for a pitcher who made 13 starts from April to June - but also 14 consecutive losses.  Young became the 24th pitcher in history to have losses in 14 straight decisions and the fourth Met to do it, joining Craig Anderson (19 consecutive defeats from 1962-64), Roger Craig (18; 1963) and Skip Lockwood (14; 1978-79).

As a team, the 1992 Mets posted their first 90-loss season since 1983, but the club didn't hit rock bottom until the 1993 campaign, when they reached triple digits in losses for the first time in 26 years.  Once again, Anthony Young contributed several of those losses, and just like he did the year before, Young's performance was far better than his won-loss record suggested.

Photo by Mark Lennihan/AP

Following a rough first outing on April 9, a game in which he allowed four runs in two innings en route to his 15th consecutive loss, Young pitched beautifully over his next 14 appearances, posting a 1.53 ERA in 17⅔ innings.  But the Mets couldn't help him out, as Young failed to earn a win in any of those 14 relief efforts.  However, he did succeed in picking up his 16th, 17th and 18th straight defeats, even though he allowed just two earned runs in those three losses.  After picking up his 19th consecutive "L" on May 28, new manager Dallas Green - who had replaced Torborg just eight days earlier - tried to change Young's misfortune by inserting him back in the starting rotation.  But instead of helping Young earn a victory, the only thing Green's decision accomplished was helping Young rack up losses faster.

A no-decision in Young's first appearance as a starter on June 1 was followed by losses in each of his next seven starts.  His first eight starts of 1993 should have earned him at least a win or two, as he allowed three earned runs or fewer in six of those starts.  But once again, the Mets left their bats at home during Young's starts, averaging two runs per game in the eight appearances and not scoring more than three runs in any of them.

By failing to earn a win, Young broke an all-time major league record when he dropped his 24th straight decision on June 27 against the St. Louis Cardinals.  The loss broke the 82-year-old record held by Cliff Curtis, who lost 23 consecutive decisions for Boston's National League squad from 1910 to 1911.

A month after breaking Curtis's record, Young still had not earned a win.  He had notched two holds and a save, but had also added three more defeats, extending the new record to 27 straight losses.  Then on July 28, Young came on in relief to face the expansion Florida Marlins in the ninth inning of a 3-3 tie, but allowed a two-out, bunt single to speedster - and former Mets teammate - Chuck Carr to score the go-ahead run for the Marlins, a run that was unearned because of an earlier throwing error by catcher Todd Hundley.

Carr's hit moved Young ominously closer to his 28th consecutive loss, but the Mets were facing the Marlins, who were the only team they had success against in 1993.  New York's 9-4 record versus Florida in '93 was the only winning mark posted by the team against any of its opponents.  And when the Mets came up to bat in the bottom of the ninth, they were determined to continue that success against the Marlins.

Pinch-hitter Jeff McKnight led off with a single against Marlins closer Bryan Harvey.  Dave Gallagher then moved McKnight to second base with a sacrifice bunt.  Ryan Thompson followed by flaring an excuse-me single between first base and right field, scoring McKnight with the bloop hit.  Young was now off the hook for the loss.  Two batters later, he was on the field celebrating with his teammates, as Eddie Murray followed Joe Orsulak's fly out with a two-out double down the right field line, scoring a sprinting Thompson all the way from first base after right fielder Darrell Whitmore bobbled the ball.

Video courtesy of MLB.com's YouTube channel

Anthony Young first win since early in the 1992 campaign was one of the few highlights of an otherwise forgetful 59-103 season for the Mets in 1993, but it was retribution for the pitcher once deemed one of the top prospects in baseball.

Young didn't pitch terribly during his 27-game losing streak.  During the skid, he appeared in 77 games (17 starts, 60 relief appearances).  In the 50 games he was not credited with a loss, he pitched 75⅔ innings, allowing just 60 hits, of which only 11 went for extra bases (nine doubles, two homers).  Young also gave up just 14 earned runs in those 75⅔ innings for a stellar 1.67 ERA, racking up 16 saves along the way.

It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Young was one of the best pitchers the Mets had in 1992 and 1993.  He did just about everything he could possibly do as a pitcher during those two campaigns.  He started games when asked to.  He pitched in middle relief.  He went out there in mop-up duties.  He also served as the team's temporary closer.  He just didn't earn wins.

Young finished his three-year Mets career with a 5-35 record.  His .125 winning percentage as a Met is by far the lowest of any pitcher who pitched at least 250 innings for the team.  (The second-lowest winning percentage is the .246 mark posted by Roger Craig in 1962 and 1963, when he pitched 469⅓ innings en route to a 15-46 won-loss record.)  Young's final 15-48 record over his six-year major league career was helped only by the 10-13 mark he put up from 1994 to 1996 as a member of the Cubs and Astros.

But Young's career wasn't entirely sponsored by the letter "L".  He actually became the first pitcher in major league history to accomplish a positive pitching feat, which seems almost impossible for a pitcher who had more consecutive losses than there are letters in the English alphabet.

Since the save became an official statistic in 1969, Anthony Young became the first pitcher to have a minimum of 15 saves in a year he made at least 13 starts when he posted his 13-start, 15-save campaign in 1992.  Young remains just one of four pitchers to accomplish the feat, as he has since been joined by Tim Wakefield (1999; 17 starts, 15 saves), Octavio Dotel (2000; 16 starts, 16 saves) and Dustin Hermanson (2004; 18 starts, 17 saves).

Young also posted 18 total saves during his short time in New York, despite never being groomed to be a closer.  When he pitched his final game for the team in 1993, Young's 18 career saves as a Met was tied for the 12th-highest total in franchise history.  Incredibly, through the 2014 season, Young still ranks among the team's all-time top twenty leaders in career saves.  In addition, Young's 15 saves in 1992 remained the highest total by a homegrown pitcher until Bobby Parnell saved 22 games for the Mets in 2013.

Looking back on his career, Young believed he shouldn't be remembered for his two-year "moment" in the spotlight.  Rather, he'd prefer to be known as a pitcher who pitched well enough to win, but was a victim of circumstance.

"I always said I didn't feel like I was pitching badly.  It just happened to happen to me.  I don't feel like I deserve it, but I'm known for it.  It was an 82-year-old record and it might be 82 more years before it's broken.  Everything that could happen, happened.  It was just destiny, I guess."



Anthony Young played on a Mets team that was vilified for having several overpaid underachievers.  But Young himself was not one of those players.  In fact, he fulfilled everything he was asked to do by his managers.  But because of an unfortunate and untimely streak, Young will always have a connection to the team now referred to as "The Worst Team Money Could Buy".

If only Anthony Young could have bought a victory for himself along the way, there could have been many more happier moments for a pitcher whose talent was greater than his won-loss record.


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

The Worst Team Money Wasn't Spent On

"What do you mean, I won't spend money?  I got you four months of Chris Young, right?"  --Papa Smirk

Going into today's matinee with the Miami Marlins, the Mets have managed to score just 520 runs in their first 137 games.  That averages to 3.8 runs per game.  At that pace, the Mets would cross the plate 615 times this season, which would be four fewer than their run total from 2013.

So how far back do we have to go to find the last time the Mets scored fewer than 615 runs over a full 162-game season?  You have to set the arrival time on the DeLorean to 1992, when New York scored 599 runs.  If you recall, that 72-90 squad was more famously referred to as "The Worst Team Money Could Buy."

That team, full of superstars and a major league high $45 million payroll, batted .235 and was the last Mets team that didn't register 600 tallies in a non-strike shortened season.  And prior to 1992, the last time the Mets scored fewer than 615 runs (the pace they're currently on for the 2014 season) was in 1983.  That year was the seventh straight season the team averaged fewer than 3.8 runs per game.  Long-time Mets fans would recognize that seven-year period from 1977 to 1983 as the Grant's Tomb era - the period in which Mets fans abandoned Shea Stadium almost as quickly as former team chairman M. Donald Grant abandoned his senses, his wallet and his ability to field a winning team.

So basically, the 2014 Mets are scoring at a pace that's been seen just twice by the franchise in nearly 40 years.  And both low-scoring periods have been associated with some of the lowest moments in the club's history.

But not all is gloom and doom.  On the flip side, this year's pitchers have allowed just 533 runs, putting them on pace to give up 630 runs in 2014.  That would be the lowest total in a non-strike shortened season since 1990, when the team allowed 613 runs en route to a 91-71 campaign.

Although pitching wins championships, a little hitting and run-scoring helps as well.  Both the 1969 and 1986 championship teams boasted pitching staffs that allowed fewer than 600 runs.  Of course, those two teams combined to outscore the opposition by 296 runs.

The 1992 squad was the last team to score as little as the 2014 club has.  That was known as "The Worst Team Money Could Buy".  This year's squad is about to become "The Worst Team Money Wasn't Spent On".  The front office has a lot of work to do during the off-season to make sure future Mets teams don't have "The Worst Team" moniker attached to them, regardless of how much money can or won't buy.

In Defense of Jonathon Niese

Don't worry, Jon.  I've got your back.  (Getty Images)

For the first time since becoming a Met in 2008, Jonathon Niese has lost four consecutive starts, with all four defeats coming after his brief stint on the disabled list.  The losing streak has caused some Mets fans on Twitter and in the blogosphere to question whether the best days for the lefty are behind him.

But before you proclaim yourself ready to say uncle about Niese, take a look at a few facts.

Niese's four-game losing streak has come against the Mariners, Brewers, Giants and Nationals.  As of this writing, Seattle is only one game out of the second wild card spot in the American League.  Meanwhile, San Francisco holds the top wild card spot in the NL, while Milwaukee and Washington sit atop their respective divisions.  In other words, Niese lost to four good teams!

In addition to facing playoff contender after playoff contender during his skein, Niese has received no run support from his teammates whatsoever.  The Mets have scored two, two, one and one run in Niese's last four starts.  In fact, this poor support has victimized Niese all season, as the Mets have lost 11 of Niese's 21 starts, scoring two runs or fewer in ten of the 11 losses.  With that kind of support, it's a wonder Niese has WON as many games as he has.

Other than a three-start tryout in 2008, Niese has pitched his entire career for Mets teams that finished with sub-.500 records.  Yet it took him until his seventh season to lose four straight decisions in the same season.  Consider this.

In 1967, Mets rookie Tom Seaver lost four consecutive decisions in a five-start span.  Three years later, he was credited with a loss in four straight starts (August 15-28, 1970).

A quarter century after Seaver's rookie campaign, Dwight Gooden suffered the first four-game losing streak of his career, doing so in a five-start stretch from July 9 to August 19, 1992.  (Gooden was placed on the 15-day disabled list in the middle of that rough patch.)  A year later, Doc had two separate stretches in which he lost four consecutive starts, doing so from June 12 to July 1 and August 7-23.

In 2010, R.A. Dickey won his first six decisions as a Met.  He followed that up by losing four straight decisions in a period of five starts (June 28 to July 20).  Although Dickey never lost four straight starts, he did lose five consecutive decisions during a six-start stretch in 2011.

What do the above three pitchers have in common besides several losing streaks of four games or more?  All three won Cy Young Awards as members of the New York Mets.  Even Jerry Koosman, who never won a Cy Young Award, but still leads all Mets southpaws in career victories, had some tough times on the mound.  From August 2 to September 5, 1977, Koosman started eight games for the Mets.  Incredibly, he was pinned with a loss in all of them.

Like Koosman, Niese is a left-handed pitcher who has had his shares of ups and downs.  Koosman finished his 12-year Mets career just three games above .500 (140 wins, 137 losses), while Niese currently has a 48-48 won-loss record.  But as bad as Niese's current four-game stretch is, it's only halfway to the worst streak suffered by Koosman.  It's also not the first time a Met has lost four straight starts, as club legends Seaver and Gooden both accomplished the feat.

Tom Seaver lost four straight in 1967.  The Mets lost 101 games that year.  Dwight Gooden had three separate four-game losing streaks in 1992 and 1993.  Those are the teams most known for being "the worst team money could buy".  R.A. Dickey had losing streaks of four and five games in his short Mets career.  He never pitched for a winning Mets team.  And of course, Koosman's unfortunate streak in 1977 came in the first year of the Grant's Tomb era.

Someday, the Mets will finish a season above .500 again.  When that day comes, Jonathon Niese will surely have a better chance to win a greater percentage of his ballgames.  It's amazing that it took until his seventh season for him to put together a four-game losing streak, considering the teams he's played for.

So for all those people who are becoming impatient with Jonathon Niese, just remember this.  Some of the best pitchers to ever put on a Mets uniform suffered misfortunes just as much as Niese did.  Don't give up hope on the Mets' 27-year-old lefty yet.  He still has plenty of time to put up some fantastic numbers, just as long as his teammates remember to put up a few numbers of their own on the scoreboard.

The Best On The Worst: Todd Hundley

With apologies to Jerry Grote, the two most beloved catchers in Mets history are Gary Carter and Mike Piazza.  Both Carter and Piazza were considered to be the best hitting catchers of their time and both made their teams better while they were in their prime.  Carter helped the Mets win two division titles and one World Series championship, while Piazza led the team to its only back-to-back postseason appearances and the 2000 National League pennant.

Because of their success and popularity, the uniform numbers of Carter and Piazza have been taken out of circulation, with fans clamoring for both No. 8 and No. 31 to be retired by the team.  Carter's five years with the Mets coincided with the team's greatest era, as New York won more games from 1985 to 1989 than any other team in baseball.  Similarly, Piazza kept the Mets competitive during his first four years with the club (1998-2001), with the team playing meaningful games in September and October all four seasons.

Carter entered the Hall of Fame in 2003.  Piazza hopes to follow in Carter's footsteps in 2014.  But there was a gap of nearly a decade between last game as a Met in 1989 and Piazza's inaugural contest with the team in 1998.  And there was one backstop who was behind the plate for most of that time, bridging the gap from one championship-caliber catcher to another.

This catcher never led the Mets to the playoffs, and most of his seasons ended with the team playing out the stretch in September in front of empty Shea Stadium seats.  But that didn't deter him from giving his best performance day in and day out, regardless of where the Mets stood in the division race.  It's too bad that he saw more losses behind the plate than any Mets catcher since Jerry Grote.

A young Todd Hundley keeps his eye on the ball. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Todd Randolph Hundley was born on May 27, 1969, at a time when his father, Randy, was behind the plate for the division-leading Chicago Cubs.  Less than four months after Todd was born, Randy's squad had let its division lead slip away to the Miracle Mets.  It was something the Hundley family would get used to once Todd became a Met two decades later.

The Mets drafted Todd Hundley in the second round of the 1987 June amateur draft via the Baltimore Orioles, who lost a draft pick when World Series MVP Ray Knight signed a free agent contract with the O's following the 1986 season.  Hundley was a skinny kid with a familiar last name, especially within the catching community.  But Hundley made it to the majors on more than just nepotism; he made it with his superb talent.

Hundley struggled as a teenager in his first two minor league seasons, batting .146 in 34 games in 1987 and .186 in 53 games in 1988.  But everything came together for the young catcher in 1989, a year in which he batted .269 with 23 doubles, four triples, 11 homers and 66 RBI.  By 1990, Hundley was ranked as one of Baseball America's top prospects, earning him his first call-up to the big leagues in May.

Davey Johnson, who had a penchant for wanting good, young players on his team since becoming the Mets' manager in 1984, inserted Hundley into the starting lineup on May 18 against the San Diego Padres, and Hundley delivered a double off Bruce Hurst, who just four years earlier had almost been named World Series MVP as a member of the Boston Red Sox before the aforementioned Knight snatched it away from him.  Hundley would go on to start each of the next three games for the Mets, but would fail to get another hit.  Four days after his major league debut, Hundley saw his manager relieved of his duties by general manager Frank Cashen.  A week later, Hundley was back in the minor leagues and Mackey Sasser, with his .300-plus batting average, was named the team's primary backstop.  It would be another two years before Hundley took the job back from Sasser.

Hundley spent most of the 1990 and 1991 campaigns in the minor leagues, putting up excellent offensive numbers there, but struggling during his various call-ups to the big leagues.  Hundley combined to play in 57 games for the Mets in 1990 and 1991, batting .173 with one homer and nine RBI.  Hundley finally took over as the team's top catcher on Opening Day of the 1992 season, but by then, the Mets had turned into The Worst Team Money Could Buy.  A number of veteran players had been added to the team to complement Hundley, but many of them underachieved.  Players like Bobby Bonilla and Bret Saberhagen couldn't live up to the hype of the big stage in New York, and the team wilted in the hot, summer months.  As the team struggled, so did its young catcher, as Hundley could only muster one home run and 12 RBI in his last 68 games after posting six homers and 20 RBI in his first 55 contests.  But perhaps the misfortune of the team was a blessing in disguise for the 23-year-old Hundley, as the team focused more on the shortcomings of its high-priced veterans, allowing Hundley (who still had a .200 career batting average through 1992) to continue his development at the major league level.  The team sunk to new depths in 1993, but Hundley's star was just beginning to rise.

The 1993 season was one to forget for the Mets and their fans, as the team suffered its first 100-loss campaign since 1967.  But it an important year for Todd Hundley, as the switch-hitter reached double digits in home runs for the first time.  Hundley managed just a .228 batting average (which represented a career-high at the time), but he also had 11 HR and 53 RBI in 417 at-bats.

Over the next two seasons, both of which were shortened because of the players' strike, Hundley's power continued to evolve.  Because of the truncated seasons, Hundley combined to produce only 566 at-bats in 1994 and 1995, but in those at-bats, Hundley hit 31 homers and drove in 93 runs.  How far had Hundley advanced in the power department in those two years?  The only National League catcher with more home runs than Hundley in those two seasons was the Dodgers' Mike Piazza.  That's how much Hundley had improved.   In addition to his newfound power stroke, Hundley also showed dramatic improvement in his plate discipline, batting .258 with a .343 on-base percentage in '94 and '95, after posting .213 and .261 marks in those respective categories from 1990 to 1993.

Hundley's final 51 games in 1995 were very Piazza-like, as he batted .311 with 11 HR and 32 RBI.  The team also responded, going 27-24 in those 51 games.  For the first time since Hundley became a regular in the Mets' lineup, the team had something to look forward to in 1996.  Not only was Hundley turning into a top offensive threat, but a young trio of starting pitchers was about to burst onto the scene for the Mets.  The group of Jason Isringahusen, Bill Pulsipher and former No. 1 overall draft pick Paul Wilson, dubbed Generation K, was supposed to herald a new era of greatness in Mets history.  The threesome didn't become the second coming of Seaver, Koosman and Matlack, but the man who tried to mold them behind the plate did produce an historic season of his own.

In 1996, the Mets finished the year with a 71-91 record.  It was the sixth consecutive losing mark for a once-proud team who had ridden the championship wave just a decade before.  But when the trio of Isringhausen, Pulsipher and Wilson failed to live up to the lofty expectations, it was another trio who took baseball by storm in '96, as Bernard Gilkey, Lance Johnson and Todd Hundley set their sights on breaking as many offensive team records as they could.

Gilkey produced one of the most complete seasons ever put up by a Mets' everyday player in 1996, setting or tying club records in doubles (44) and runs batted in (117), while adding 30 homers, a .317 batting average and a league-leading 18 outfield assists.  Gilkey also became the first Met ever to have an 8.0 WAR in a single season.  Johnson, meanwhile, broke team records in hits (227), triples (21), total bases (327) and runs scored (117), becoming an All-Star for the first time.  But as mentioned in the 1990s Nike commercial, "chicks dig the long ball", and in 1996, everyone was digging the long balls being hit by Todd Hundley.

Hundley began the 1996 season the way he ended the previous year, batting .323 with eight homers and 19 RBI over his first 18 games.  Although his average dipped below .300 by May 1, Hundley continued to hit bombs with aplomb.  By the time the All-Star Game rolled around, Hundley had already taken 23 balls over the wall and had driven in 66 runs.  It was a Midsummer Classic Hundley would not miss, as the Mets' catcher was named to his first All-Star team in July.  After the break, Hundley continued to mash the ball.  By season's end, Hundley had become the first Met to reach 40 homers in a season.  His 41 taters also set a major league record for home runs by a catcher.  Furthermore, he became the first switch-hitter in National League history to hit more than 40 homers in a season.  The only major leaguer who had accomplished the feat before 1996 was Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle.  When all was said and done for the 1996 season, Hundley had batted .259 with 32 doubles, 41 homers and 112 RBI.  But he still had not played a meaningful game in September since his rookie season in 1990.  That all changed in 1997.

Under new manager Bobby Valentine, the losing attitude that had permeated the Mets clubhouse from 1991 to 1996 vanished.  Gone were the Vince Colemans, Bobby Bonillas and Bret Saberhagens from the previous six seasons.  Replacing them were players like Hundley, Butch Huskey (who posted a career-best .287, 24 HR, 81 RBI season in 1997) and veteran trade acquisition John Olerud, who brought an exceptional bat and glove with him to Shea Stadium from Toronto.  The pitching staff also finally came together, with Bobby Jones becoming an All-Star and Rick Reed getting a second chance to make a first impression.  Turk Wendell also came over to the Mets in an August deal that included center fielder Brian McRae.  Those extra pieces helped the Mets finish the year with an 88-74 record, with the team remaining in competition for the wild card until the final week of the season.  The seeds for success were planted in 1997, and Todd Hundley continued to blossom.

Although Hundley hit 11 fewer homers in 1997 than he did in '96, he still became the first Mets catcher to post multiple 30-homer seasons.  Hundley also made the All-Star team for a second consecutive season and walked a career-high 83 times in 1997, en route to posting a career-best .394 on-base percentage.  But a late-season slump by Hundley irked Bobby Valentine, causing him to lash out against his All-Star catcher.  The skipper caused headlines of his own when he was quoted as saying...

 



"I think he doesn't sleep enough.  He's a nocturnal person.  He needs more rest.  He has a really tough time getting to sleep after games.  I heard one night he stayed out until 4 o'clock in the morning before he was ready to go to sleep."





At the time, Hundley was going through many personal issues.  His wife was pregnant with their third child and his mother was very sick.  In addition, Hundley was recovering from nagging injuries to his toe and ribs.  But Hundley persevered through all of his distractions and still managed to lead the team to its best record since his rookie campaign.  The distraction he had in 1998, however, was one he could not recover from.

At the conclusion of the 1997 season, Hundley underwent a major surgical procedure on his right elbow.  It was a procedure his surgeon, Dr. David Altchek, claimed could have him out of action until the following April or could wipe out his entire 1998 season.  Mets general manager Steve Phillips prayed for the best but prepared for the worst.  The Mets began the season with Tim Spehr and Alberto Castillo as their top two catchers, but also used Rick Wilkins and Todd Pratt behind the plate in May.  By mid-May, it was clear Hundley was not going to be back any time soon.  It was also clear that the four-headed monster at the catcher's position needed a big-time upgrade.  Phillips immediately went to work, and despite denying he was interested in Mike Piazza, claiming he "wasn't a fit" for the Mets, acquired the slugging catcher in a trade with the Florida Marlins.

With Piazza now on the team, Hundley was out of a job.  And despite a valiant effort to redefine himself as an outfielder, the experiment flopped, as Hundley batted .161 with three homers and 12 RBI in 53 games.  During the offseason, the Mets signed Piazza to a seven-year, $91 contract and traded Hundley to Piazza's first team, the Dodgers.  Hundley played five more seasons in the majors with the Dodgers and Cubs, hitting 24 homers in both 1999 and 2000 for his first major league manager, Davey Johnson, who was now managing in Los Angeles.  Hundley had two subpar seasons in Chicago and 2001 and 2002, before returning to the Dodgers for his final major league season in 2003, the same year the Cubs won their first postseason series in 97 years.

In 14 major league seasons, Hundley hit 202 home runs, making him one of only 18 players who played the majority of his games at catcher to hit at least 200 homers.  As a Met, Hundley hit 124 home runs, which is currently the seventh-highest total for any player in franchise history.  Hundley also ranks in the team's top 20 in games played (829; 18th all-time), runs scored (340; 18th), RBI (397; 13th), walks (299; 20th), doubles (118; 19th), total bases (1,116; 16th) and slugging percentage (.438; 17th).  But most of those numbers were compiled on some bad Mets teams.  And Hundley also had some of the worst timing of any player in recent history.

Hundley began his career just two seasons after the Mets won a division title.  By his second year, the Mets were beginning the third-longest stretch of sub-.500 seasons in franchise history.  Hundley also played his last year as a Met just before the team embarked on their only back-to-back playoff appearances in club annals.  And Hundley's bad timing continued after he left the Mets, as he went back to Los Angeles from Chicago the year before the Cubs came five outs away from advancing to their first World Series in nearly six decades.

Wearing white or black, Todd Hundley knew how to attack.  (Photo by David Seelig/Getty Images)

Todd Hundley was one of the best players to ever put on a Mets uniform.  Unfortunately for him, his time with the team came during one of the most embarrassing eras in team history.  It also occurred between the careers of two of the most beloved catchers who ever called Flushing home - Gary Carter and Mike Piazza, two Hall of Fame-caliber players who are still respected and revered by Mets fans.

Hundley's Mets career began under the tutelage of Davey Johnson and ended with Bobby Valentine as his skipper - the two winningest managers in team history.  But Hundley saw very little winning during his nine seasons in New York.  The years Hundley spent with the Mets may have been some of the worst the team has experienced in the last few decades.  That doesn't mean Hundley shouldn't be remembered as one of the best players the team has ever seen.  He was one of the few reasons to look forward to a Mets game in the mid-1990s.


Note:  The Best On The Worst is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting the greatest Mets players who just happened to play on some not-so-great Mets teams.  Please come back next week for the next installment.

A Throwback Jersey That Should Definitely Be Thrown Back

You remember 1993, don't you?  It was the year Bill Clinton was inaugurated as the country's 42nd president, the year Prince became a squiggle (or The Artist Formerly Known as Prince), and the year Michael Jordan retired for the first time.  Good times, right?  Not if you were a Mets fan.

In 1993, the Mets reached triple digits in losses for the first time since 1967, when Tom Seaver was a major league neophyte.  How bad were the Mets in 1993?  They finished five games behind the expansion Florida Marlins and lost 13 more games than "The Worst Team Money Could Buy".  It's an era most Mets fans would rather forget.  But according to the Colorado Rockies' official Twitter account, our memories of that embarrassing year are about to come back to us, one throwback jersey at a time.

Check out the jerseys for #Rockies v #Mets #TurnBackTheClockNight next Tuesday, 4/16. Buy tix: atmlb.com/156ipj7 twitter.com/Rockies/status…
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) April 11, 2013

Next Tuesday, when the Rockies entertain the Mets in the second game of a four-game series, the two teams will be wearing the jerseys worn by their 1993 counterparts.  That's right, Mets fans.  The squiggle is coming back.  And this time I'm not talking about The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.

In 1993, New York added an underscore beneath a slightly modified Mets logo on the team's jerseys.  The Mets might have changed their look, but their performance on the field and in the standings took a turn for the worse.

But before the team went on to lose 103 games (a number that could have been higher had it not been for an unlikely six-game winning streak to close out the season), they opened the year on a high note, sweeping a two-game series from the expansion Colorado Rockies at Shea Stadium.  The series marked the debut of the team from the Mile High City and the now-ridiculed new Mets jerseys.

Twenty years later, the Rockies are celebrating their historic first season by bringing back the uniforms they wore when they played their inaugural game in the big leagues.  That means the godawful jerseys that became synonymous with Jeff Kent (before he was good), Anthony Young (while he was bad) and Bobby Bonilla (when he wasn't wearing his Bronx tour guide duds) will also be making a one-game comeback to mark the occasion.

And yes, for all you kids scoring at home, the Mets will be wearing their home squiggle jerseys on the road because everything about the 1993 team went against reason.

Will the Rockies ask Anthony Young to throw out the ceremonial first pitch in an effort to pin a loss on the Mets?  Will Jeff Torborg be secretly smuggled into the Mets' clubhouse for an impromptu pep talk?  Will Jeromy Burnitz - a member of the 1993 Mets who went on to collect 37 homers and 110 RBIs for the 2004 Rockies - be back at Coors Field?  For that matter, will the game even be played?  (Early weather forecasts for Tuesday night have temperatures dipping into the mid-20s with snow showers possible.)

The Mets have had their share of fashion faux pas over the years (snow white caps in 1997, the Mercury Mets one-shot in 1999).  But nothing was associated with embarrassing play as much as the squiggle uniforms that made their debut in 1993.  Thanks to the Colorado Rockies, that uniform will be making a one-game return on Tuesday night.  We can only hope the style of play that Mets fans saw in 1993 doesn't return with it.

Maybe Bret Saberhagen has some leftover bleach to get rid of that dirty underscore.

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.

One Season Wonders: Bret Saberhagen

In 1991, the Mets went into the season with a manager other than Davey Johnson for the first time since 1983. Perhaps not coincidentally, the 1991 season ended with the Mets registering their first losing record since the aforementioned '83 campaign.

During the Mets' seven-year string of excellence from 1984-1990, the team prided itself on having a strong starting rotation.  Pitchers like Dwight Gooden, Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez, Bobby Ojeda, David Cone and Frank Viola had all contributed excellent seasons for the Mets during that period.  But a lot was changing as a result of the 1991 season.

Ron Darling was traded to Montreal at the 1991 trade deadline. Also gone were Bobby Ojeda, who was traded to Los Angeles prior to the 1991 season, and Frank Viola, who signed as a free agent with the Boston Red Sox after losing 10 of his last 12 decisions with the Mets in 1991.

Of the pitchers still on the Mets,  Sid Fernandez was coming off an injury-plagued season in which he only made eight starts, winning one of them.  David Cone lost a career-high 14 games in 1991, despite leading the league with 241 strikeouts.  And Dwight Gooden, the long-time ace of the staff, had undergone rotator-cuff surgery in September and was not a lock to be ready for the start of the 1992 season.

The Mets needed a quality starting pitcher and they needed one fast.  They also wanted a young pitcher who was a proven winner and could give them plenty of innings.  Five years after acquiring David Cone from Kansas City, they went back to the Royals and found themselves the ace they wanted in 27-year-old Bret Saberhagen.

The Mets hoped Bret Saberhagen would be the apple of their eye when they traded for him in 1991.

Bret William Saberhagen had done it all in the major leagues before his 28th birthday.  He was a two-time All-Star (1987, 1990), a Gold Glove Award winner (1989), a two-time Cy Young Award winner (1985, 1989), had pitched a no-hitter (1991) and was a World Series MVP, pitching the Kansas City Royals to their first and only title in 1985.  One thing he hadn't done was pitch in a large market city, as Kansas City wasn't exactly the media capital of the world, or even Missouri for that matter.

But with the Mets in need of a quality arm to anchor their depleted staff, Saberhagen seemed like the perfect fit.  So on December 11, 1991, the Mets traded Kevin McReynolds, Gregg Jefferies and Keith Miller to the Royals for Saberhagen and Bill Pecota.  The cost to acquire the front-line starter they coveted was steep, as McReynolds, Jefferies and Miller were all regulars on the 1991 Mets, but the Mets were desperate for an ace, and Saberhagen fit the bill.

As good as Saberhagen was during his eight-year stay with the Royals, he did suffer from the even-year, odd-year syndrome.  Saberhagen finished with a losing record in every even-numbered year, going a combined 36-48 with a 3.70 ERA and 1.23 WHIP in 1984, 1986, 1988 and 1990.  However, in odd-numbered years, Saberhagen was an elite pitcher.  In 1985, 1987, 1989 and 1991, Sabes combined to go 74-30 with a 2.85 ERA and 1.06 WHIP.  His first year with the Mets was going to be an even-numbered year.  You can imagine what happened next.

Bret Saberhagen was one of a number of new faces brought in by general manager Al Harazin prior to the 1992 season.  With Eddie Murray, Bobby Bonilla and manager Jeff Torborg on board, Saberhagen was supposed to be the crown jewel of the offseason haul.  Instead, he turned out to be the cubic zirconia version of his former self.

Injuries prevented Saberhagen from performing at the level the Mets expected of him, and as a result, he was only able to make 15 starts, going 3-5 with a 3.50 ERA.  The next year, everyone expected a bounceback season from Saberhagen, especially since it was an odd-numbered year.  The only problem was that it was only Saberhagen who everyone expected to bounce back.  The rest of the team was another story.

In 1993, the Mets produced their worst record in twenty-six years.  Not since the days before Gil Hodges' arrival as manager had the Mets been so awful.  The '93 squad finished the year with a 59-103 record, and it could have been much worse had it not been for a season-ending six-game winning streak.  The Mets were so bad in 1993 that even the expansion Florida Marlins finished ahead of them in the seven-team National League East.  Needless to say, Bret Saberhagen did not win a lot of ballgames in '93.  However, he wasn't that bad compared to his teammates.

Although injuries curtailed Saberhagen's season for the second consecutive year, he was the only starter to not finish the season with a losing record.  In addition to his 7-7 record in 19 starts, Saberhagen had a respectable 3.29 ERA and an outstanding 1.06 WHIP.  The low WHIP was a direct result of Saberhagen's excellent control, as he walked a mere 17 batters in his 19 starts.

After two injury-plagued seasons in 1992 and 1993, the Mets still had not gotten what they expected from their ace.  However, when Saberhagen was healthy in 1993, he showed he could be one of the stingiest pitchers in baseball.  All he needed was one season of good health, just one, to prove that he could still be one of the best pitchers in the game.  That wish became a reality in 1994.

After their horrific 1993 season, the Mets weren't expected to do much in 1994.  But they surprised most experts over the first month and a half of the season, jumping out to a quick start.  The Mets weren't doing it with their hitting (they finished next-to-last in the NL in batting average in 1994) or their baserunning skills.  (Jose Vizcaino went 1-for-12 in stolen base attempts and John Cangelosi led the team in thefts with five - that's one, two, three, four, FIVE STEALS!)  But the one thing they had in 1994 that they didn't have in 1993 was a healthy Bret Saberhagen.  And his health was instrumental in getting the Mets off to their quick start.  In the team's first 32 games, Saberhagen was 4-1 with a 3.09 ERA.  As a result, through May 10, the Mets were in second place with an 18-14 record, just 2½ games behind the first place Atlanta Braves.

Saberhagen split his next four decisions as the Mets slipped below .500.  But beginning with his start on June 13 against the defending National League champion Phillies, Saberhagen went on a roll that lasted until the end of the season.  On that fateful night, Saberhagen pitched beautifully, allowing two runs (one earned) in seven innings, needing only 94 pitches to stifle the high-powered Phillies' offense.  It was a far cry from his previous outing against Philadelphia, a four-inning, seven-run debacle on May 21.  The confidence he gained by beating the Phillies in mid-June lasted for the rest of the season, as Saberhagen was pretty much unhittable after that game.

Beginning with his final start in June, Saberhagen had one of the finest extended stretches in club history.  From June 30 to his last start of the season, Sabes went 7-0 with a 1.51 ERA and 0.85 WHIP.  Even more impressive was his strikeout-to-walk ratio, as Saberhagen struck out 62 batters over his final nine starts while walking only five.  That's one, two, three, four, FIVE WALKS, as in the same number of steals John Cangelosi had all season.

During this second-half surge, Saberhagen pitched what was perhaps his best game as a Met against the San Diego Padres on July 15.  In the second game of a twi-night doubleheader against the Padres, Saberhagen pitched ten scoreless innings, allowing five hits (all singles) while striking out 11 and walking none.  Unfortunately, Padres' starter Andy Benes matched Saberhagen zero-for-zero, striking out 14 Mets batters in eight innings of work.  Saberhagen's valiant effort went for naught, as the Mets lost the game, 2-1 in 14 innings, when Mike Maddux allowed back-to-back home runs to Tony Gwynn (the best hitter in Padres' history) and Phil Plantier (the current hitting coach for the Padres).

After Saberhagen defeated the Phillies again on August 10 to improve his record to 14-4, the Mets stood only two games under .500 with a 55-57 record.  It was Saberhagen's seventh consecutive victory, a streak that began on June 30 when the Mets entered the day in last place with a 33-43 record.  Since then, the Mets had gone 22-14 and had climbed into third place in the NL East.  The Mets lost their next game in 15 innings and then lost the season soon after, as the baseball strike put an end to the 1994 season.  Who knows what Bret Saberhagen would have accomplished had the season not been cut short?

Despite the premature ending to the 1994 season, it still went down in history as the year in which Bret Saberhagen produced one of the best pitching performances in club annals.  For the year, Saberhagen went 14-4, but that didn't tell the whole story.  His 2.74 ERA and 1.03 WHIP were both second in the National League to Atlanta's Greg Maddux.  Saberhagen also finished in the top ten in wins (14, 3rd), winning percentage (.778, 2nd), innings pitched (177⅓, 3rd), strikeouts (143, 4th) and complete games (4, 4th).  He also had the dubious distinction of finishing the year with more wins (14) than walks (13).  In addition, by recording 143 strikeouts against only 13 bases on balls, Saberhagen finished the year with an unheard of 11:1 K/BB ratio.  How unheard of was it?  To this day, it's still a major league record.

After two injury-plagued seasons in 1992 and 1993, Saberhagen finally produced the season the Mets expected from him during his third year in New York, making the All-Star team and finishing third in the Cy Young Award vote.  His 1994 campaign came on the heels of his infamous bleach-spraying incident, a matter that earned him a four-game suspension to start the '94 season and caused him to be discussed in trade talks with the Cleveland Indians, a trade that would have brought shortstop Felix Fermin and young right-handed starter Albie Lopez to the Mets.  Fortunately for the Mets, that deal was never consummated, as Fermin went on to hit .190 in 1995 and 1996 (after a .317 campaign in 1994) and Lopez posted a career ERA just under 5.00 in a decade-long major league career.

The 1995 season didn't begin as scheduled, as the strike knocked out the first three weeks of the regular season.  The season finally did get underway in late April, but Bret Saberhagen left his best stuff behind.  Although Saberhagen was decent in 16 starts for the Mets in 1995, he only won five games.  His 3.35 ERA and 1.14 WHIP, although both good, were nowhere near his numbers from his record-setting 1994 campaign.  Also, his strikeout-to-walk ratio decreased dramatically in 1995, as Saberhagen struck out 71 batters while walking 20 in his 16 starts.  The 3.55 K/BB ratio was a far cry from his major league record 11.00 K/BB mark in 1994.

As a result, Saberhagen was traded to the Colorado Rockies in July for minor league pitchers Arnold Gooch and Juan Acevedo.  Although the move was widely speculated to be payroll-related, Mets' co-owner Fred Wilpon said it was due to Saberhagen's injury history and lack of overall productivity during his 3½-year stay in New York.  Wilpon had decided that Mets needed to get younger to get better, and Saberhagen was not part of that equation.  Besides, Generation K was about to take Flushing by storm.  Until it didn't.

One thing Fred Wilpon was right about was that Bret Saberhagen wasn't very durable.  In fact, Saberhagen only had one more injury-free season left in him, going 15-8 in 31 starts for the 1998 Red Sox.  Although Saberhagen did pitch in the majors until 2001, he was never able to stay healthy once he left the Mets, save for that 1998 season.  A career that once looked so promising fizzled out earlier than expected, as Saberhagen appeared in only three games after his 36th birthday.

If not for injuries and Bleach-gate, Bret Saberhagen's career as a Met could have been truly special.

From 1992 to 1995, Bret Saberhagen was never as bad as people made him out to be.  Although he won only 29 games as a Met (the same total won by Oliver Perez, a pitcher who really was as bad as people made him out to be), he posted a 3.16 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in his nearly four-year career in orange and blue.  Let's put his Mets career in perspective. 

Only ten pitchers in Mets history had a lower ERA than Saberhagen's 3.16 mark.  Bret Saberhagen's winning percentage as a Met was .580.  The only pitchers in team history who topped that are Dwight Gooden (.649), Rick Reed (.621), Johan Santana (.615), Tom Seaver (.615), David Cone (.614), Ron Darling (.586), Al Leiter (.586) and Pedro Martinez (.582).  And about that WHIP.  The only Met with a better career WHIP than Bret Saberhagen is Tom Seaver, and you need to go to a third decimal point to determine that Seaver's 1.076 WHIP was only slightly better than Saberhagen's 1.079 WHIP.

For all the talk about how Bret Saberhagen underachieved, he really didn't.  Although he wasn't as healthy as he could have been, when he was on the mound, he was one of the best pitchers to ever put on a Mets uniform.  Unfortunately, his career on the field in New York was overshadowed by his mischief off the field.  But once you look past his off-field behavior, you'd see that Bret Saberhagen was really a special pitcher for the Mets.

To New York sports fans, 1994 was memorable because of the Rangers winning the Stanley Cup and the Knicks making it to the seventh game of the NBA Finals.  But for Mets fans, 1994 was the year Bret Saberhagen quietly put up one of the best seasons in team history, even if the season was cut short by the players' strike.  The Mets haven't had a player win more than 17 games in a season since Frank Viola and Dwight Gooden accomplished the feat in 1990.  Just imagine what Bret Saberhagen could have done had it not been for the strike.

Although he was technically a one-season wonder in New York, Bret Saberhagen's career as a Met was not too shabby.  But because his tenure in New York coincided with some of the worst seasons in recent history, his accomplishments on the field have been largely forgotten.  They shouldn't be.  Bret Saberhagen was pretty darn good.  No amount of bleach will ever erase that.


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