Doc Gooden's Greatness On The Mound Extended Past The 1986 Season

Photo by Ray Stubblebine/AP

Dwight Gooden, the Mets' hurler who helped exhume the team from Grant's Tomb and brought Shea Stadium back to life in the mid-'80s, is celebrating his 50th birthday today.  When Gooden was at his peak three decades ago, the baseball cognoscenti agreed that his first three seasons in the major leagues were among the best by a young pitcher in the game's history.  Gooden took the mound 99 times from 1984 to 1986, going 58-19 with a 2.28 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 35 complete games, 13 shutouts and 744 strikeouts - reaching 200 or more strikeouts in each season.

But after off-the-field problems came to light prior to the 1987 campaign, Gooden went from being Dr. K to being Dr. Just OK.  Or did he?

From 1987 to 1991, Doc's numbers were clearly not the same as they were during his first three seasons.  But they were still pretty darn good.  In his fourth through eighth seasons with the Mets, Gooden went 74-34 with a 3.39 ERA and 1.23 WHIP, striking out 797 batters, completing 22 games and tossing eight shutouts.  He also finished in the top five in the Cy Young Award voting twice.  (Gooden was fifth in the Cy Young balloting in 1987 and fourth in 1990.)  He accomplished all of this from 1987 to 1991 despite making fewer than 28 starts in three of the five seasons.

Perhaps his greatest and most underappreciated accomplishment occurred in 1991.  After seven consecutive seasons of winning 87 or more games, the Mets finished under .500 in '91.  But Gooden still managed to finish with a 13-7 record, 3.60 ERA and 150 strikeouts in only 27 starts.  In 15 of those 27 starts, Gooden allowed two earned runs or fewer, but received losses or no-decisions in six of the games, mainly because he was surrounded by a putrid offense.

Keith Miller (.280) and Gregg Jefferies (.272) were the only players with 300 or more plate appearances to finish the year with a batting average north of .260.  Howard Johnson (38 HR, 117 RBI, 108 runs) was the sole Met with more than 16 homers, 74 RBI or 65 runs scored.  Gooden basically had to help himself when he was in the game, as he batted .238 with three doubles, a homer, six RBI and seven runs scored in only 63 at-bats.  His .333 slugging percentage was higher than the marks posted by Mark Carreon (.331 in 254 AB), Vince Coleman (.327 in 278 AB) and Garry Templeton (.306 in 219 AB).

In the five seasons immediately following the 1986 championship campaign, when Gooden supposedly went from being a great pitcher to just being a very good pitcher, the right-hander's winning percentage was .685 in 137 starts.  That was the highest winning percentage for all pitchers who made 100 or more starts from 1987 to 1991.  The rest of the top five included Dave Stieb, Roger Clemens, Bob Welch and Dave Stewart - pitchers who combined to win 909 games over their long and successful major league careers.

Player	W-L%	GS	W	L	ERA	FIP	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Dwight Gooden	.685	137	74	34	3.39	2.78	.249	.304	.342	.647
Dave Stieb	.667	137	68	34	3.32	3.78	.226	.306	.332	.638
Roger Clemens	.662	172	94	48	2.74	2.61	.227	.284	.329	.613
Bob Welch	.662	174	88	45	3.47	3.93	.245	.313	.375	.689
Dave Stewart	.629	181	95	56	3.54	3.66	.246	.314	.366	.680

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/15/2014.

The Mets averaged nearly 99 wins a season from 1984 to 1986, with Gooden accounting for 58 of the team's 296 wins in those three campaigns.  Although several stints on the disabled list caused Gooden to miss significant time in 1987, 1989 and 1991, Doc still won 74 games in the five years immediately following the team's championship in 1986.

Averaging 27 starts per season from 1987 to 1991 should have allowed other National League pitchers to finish well ahead of Gooden in wins, but that never happened.  In fact, only Doug Drabek won more games in the Senior Circuit than Dwight Gooden did during that five-year stretch, as seen in the chart below.

Player	W	G	GS	CG	SHO	W-L%	IP	H	BB	SO
Doug Drabek	77	165	162	26	12	.602	1106.0	1009	283	643
Dwight Gooden	74	139	137	22	8	.685	969.0	911	283	797
Greg Maddux	73	171	168	32	9	.549	1143.0	1107	374	718
Tom Browning	72	176	175	19	5	.576	1141.1	1123	297	573
David Cone	67	155	138	27	10	.620	994.2	829	336	945

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/15/2014.

When Gooden was at his best from 1984 to 1986, he was the league's premier strikeout pitcher, fanning 200 or more batters in each of his first three seasons and averaging nearly 250 Ks per year.  Gooden's propensity for throwing strike three earned him the nickname Dr. K, but just because he wasn't leading the league in strikeouts from 1987 to 1991 as he did in his first two seasons didn't mean he was no longer frustrating batters at the plate.

In his fourth through eighth seasons in the big leagues, the good Doctor struck out 797 batters.  Only one pitcher in the National League had more strikeouts than Gooden did during those five "post-dominant Doc" seasons - his teammate, David Cone, who won two strikeout titles of his own in 1990 and 1991.

Player	SO	SO/9	SO/BB	K%	GS	W	L	W-L%	IP	BF
David Cone	945	8.55	2.81	23.1%	138	67	41	.620	994.2	4092
Dwight Gooden	797	7.40	2.82	19.8%	137	74	34	.685	969.0	4023
Sid Fernandez	733	8.40	2.55	22.8%	128	48	40	.545	785.2	3211
Mike Scott	719	7.13	2.72	19.4%	134	59	46	.562	908.0	3715
Greg Maddux	718	5.65	1.92	14.9%	168	73	60	.549	1143.0	4831

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/15/2014.

There's one last thing that won't show up in a boxscore or a Baseball Reference chart that helps assess Dwight Gooden's value to the Mets after his first three historic seasons with the team.  During the five-year period from 1987 to 1991, Gooden was outstanding at helping the Mets win games that immediately followed a loss, thereby preventing the Mets from suffering through extended losing streaks.  In Gooden's 137 starts during those five years, 65 of them came after a loss by the team.  The Mets' record in those 65 contests was 41-24, giving the team a .631 winning percentage in post-loss games started by Doc.  When any other starting pitcher took the mound immediately following a Mets loss during that five-year stretch, the team's record in those games was 147-148, for a .498 winning percentage.  That's how valuable Gooden was to the team after he had supposedly lost his ability to dominate hitters.

Dwight Gooden never had a winning percentage under .650 in any season from 1987 to 1991, while the Mets never posted a winning percentage above .625 in any of those five campaigns.  The entire team stopped being as great as they were in 1986, but not Doc.  He just continued to find ways to win.  If anything, he was one of the main reasons why the team continued to be competitive for as long as they did, until the bottom fell out in the early '90s.

Today is Doc's 50th birthday, making it a perfect day to look back at how golden he was not just during his first three seasons with the Mets, but in the years immediately following the team's World Series championship.  The baseball pundits might say Gooden wasn't the same pitcher after 1986, but that didn't make him any less valuable to the Mets.  The numbers don't lie.  Doc Gooden never lost his ability to be among the best pitchers in the league even when his club stopped being one of the best teams in the league.
    

Citi Field Is Becoming Nationals Park North

Bryce Harper doesn't wear clown shoes as he rounds the bases at Citi Field.  (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

On Thursday, the Mets dropped a 4-1 decision to the first place Washington Nationals.  It was New York’s 11th straight loss to Washington at Citi Field, a venue which has in essence served as a second home for the Nats.

It’s not just that the Mets are dropping decisions to the Nationals, it’s how they’re racking up the losses.  Let’s take a look at some of the horrifying numbers.  You might want to keep a barf bag nearby.

• Washington has celebrated a victory in each of its last 11 games at Citi Field.  That 11-game streak of success is the longest winning streak by any team at the park, including the Mets.  The Mets' longest skein in the ballpark built for them is just nine games, accomplished from April 22 to May 8, 2010.  The Nationals' streak is also the longest of all-time by any road team in the Mets' home venue.  That includes teams that visited all the awful Mets squads that played in the Polo Grounds and Shea Stadium.

• During the Mets’ eleven-game streak of ineptitude, they have been outscored by the Nationals, 74-21, with seven of the Mets’ 21 runs coming in one game - a 9-7 loss on March 31, 2014.  (Simple math lets us know that the Mets have scored just 14 runs in the other ten games.)  That March 31 game and last night’s 3-2 setback were the only times during the skein that the Mets lost by fewer than three runs.  I guess last night’s game would have to be considered a moral victory for the Mets, even if it was still yet another demoralizing defeat.

• The Mets haven’t just been stinking up the joint against the Nationals in their last eleven head-to-head matchups at Citi Field.  They’ve actually lost 25 of 29 games versus Washington since September 2011.  In that time period, the Mets have played nine series against the Nats.  They’ve won just one of those series and they’ve been swept six times.  Two of those six sweeps came in four-game series.  In the 29-game stretch, New York has been outscored, 150-66.  That means the Mets have scored eight fewer runs in their last 29 home games against the Nationals than Washington has scored in their last ten versus the Mets. 

• When Citi Field opened in 2009, the Pepsi Porch overhang was meant to evoke memories of a similar right field overhang at Tiger Stadium.  But the Nats’ bats are bringing back a different kind of Tiger Stadium memory.  Washington has outhomered the Mets, 29-5 during their 11-game rampage at Citi Field, numbers that are reminiscent of the Mets’ lone trip to Tiger Stadium in 1997, when the team hit no home runs and Detroit blasted 14 moon shots off Mets pitchers.  Are we 100% sure that Bobby Higginson isn’t the Nationals’ guest hitting coach when Washington plays in New York?

• Speaking of long balls, Washington has homered 47 times in their last 29 games at Citi Field.  These home runs have accounted for a total of 72 runs.  Meanwhile, during those same 29 games, the Mets have managed to cross the plate via any means just 66 times (as painfully detailed two paragraphs above).  That means Washington has had a better chance of scoring at Citi Field via the home run than the Mets have had of scoring … period.  The Nationals have also scored 78 runs without the benefit of the ball leaving the park, which is just them throwing salt on the Mets’ open wound. 

• Finally, in five of their last 15 games at Citi Field, the Nationals have smacked four homers or more.  The Mets, on the other hand, have played a total of 463 games in their home park.  How many times in those 463 contests do you think they’ve produced a four-homer game?  You guessed it.  Five times.  The Nats have done in 15 games what the Mets have struggled to do in nearly 500 affairs.

Before moving to Washington at the conclusion of the 2004 season, the Nationals/Expos franchise played its home games in Montreal.  The Expos played their inaugural game on the road at Shea Stadium in 1969.  Thirty-five years later, Shea Stadium bid adieu to Les Expos, hosting Montreal in the team’s final game before sending them off to our nation’s capital.  But apparently, the Expos/Nationals franchise still thinks of New York as its second home.  How else can one explain the Nationals’ dominance over the Mets at Citi Field in recent years?

Citigroup has the naming rights for the Mets’ home ballpark through the 2028 season.  But if you ask anyone associated with the Washington Nationals, Citi Field has already been re-christened as Nationals Park North.  After all, with 11 straight wins over the Mets in New York - the longest win streak by a road team at the Mets' home ballpark in the history of the franchise - the Nats have proven that they have a distinct road team advantage at Citi Field.

Doc Gooden Was Great After He Stopped Being Great

Photo by Ray Stubblebine/AP

Baseball historians will say that Dwight Gooden's first three seasons in the major leagues were some of the best by a young pitcher in the game's history.  Gooden took the mound 99 times from 1984 to 1986, going 58-19 with a 2.28 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 35 complete games, 13 shutouts and 744 strikeouts - reaching 200 or more strikeouts in each season.

But after off-the-field problems came to light prior to the 1987 campaign, Gooden went from being Dr. K to being Dr. Just OK.  Or did he?

From 1987 to 1991, Doc's numbers were clearly not the same as they were during his first three seasons.  But they were still pretty darn good.  In his fourth through eighth seasons with the Mets, Gooden went 74-34 with a 3.39 ERA and 1.23 WHIP, striking out 797 batters, completing 22 games and tossing eight shutouts.  He also finished in the top five in the Cy Young Award voting twice.  (Gooden was fifth in the Cy Young balloting in 1987 and fourth in 1990.)  He accomplished all of this from 1987 to 1991 despite making fewer than 28 starts in three of the five seasons.

Perhaps his greatest and most underappreciated accomplishment occurred in 1991.  After seven consecutive seasons of winning 87 or more games, the Mets finished under .500 in '91.  But Gooden still managed to finish with a 13-7 record, 3.60 ERA and 150 strikeouts in only 27 starts.  In 15 of those 27 starts, Gooden allowed two earned runs or fewer, but received losses or no-decisions in six of the games, mainly because he was surrounded by a putrid offense.

Keith Miller (.280) and Gregg Jefferies (.272) were the only players with 300 or more plate appearances to finish the year with a batting average north of .260.  Howard Johnson (38 HR, 117 RBI, 108 runs) was the sole Met with more than 16 homers, 74 RBI or 65 runs scored.  Gooden basically had to help himself when he was in the game, as he batted .238 with three doubles, a homer, six RBI and seven runs scored in only 63 at-bats.  His .333 slugging percentage was higher than the marks posted by Mark Carreon (.331 in 254 AB), Vince Coleman (.327 in 278 AB) and Garry Templeton (.306 in 219 AB).

In the five seasons immediately following the 1986 World Series championship campaign, when Gooden supposedly went from being a great pitcher to just being a very good pitcher, the right-hander's winning percentage was .685 in 137 starts.  That was the highest winning percentage for all pitchers who made 100 or more starts from 1987 to 1991.  The rest of the top five included Dave Stieb (68-34, .667), Roger Clemens (94-48, .662), Bob Welch (88-42, .662) and Dave Stewart (95-56, .629) - pitchers who combined to win 909 games over their long and successful major league careers.

Despite his dropoff in strikeouts following the 1986 season, Gooden's 797 Ks from 1987 to 1991 was surpassed by just one pitcher in the National League - his teammate, David Cone.  Cone struck out 945 batters over the five-year stretch.  Gooden's 74 wins was also second in the NL to Doug Drabek, who won 77 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates from '87 to '91.

One other thing that Gooden was great at from 1987 to 1991 was something that never showed up in the boxscore.  During those five years, Gooden was outstanding at helping the Mets win games immediately following a loss, thereby preventing the Mets from suffering through extended losing streaks.  Doc started 65 games following a Mets loss from 1987 to 1991.  The Mets were 41-24 in those games.

Photo by Ed Leyro/Studious Metsimus

Today is Dwight Gooden's 49th birthday.  It's been nearly three decades since he rocketed onto the major league scene with his blazing fastball and devastating curveball as a rookie in 1984.  It's also been almost two decades since he threw his final pitch as a member of the New York Mets.

From the ages of 19 to 21, Gooden was arguably the best pitcher in the game.  Then, as his off-the-field habits started to come to light, he failed to approach his otherworldly numbers from 1984 to 1986.  But that didn't mean he stopped being a great pitcher.  In fact, no one in baseball gave his team a better chance to win from 1987 to 1991 than Gooden, and only a handful of pitchers sent as many opposing batters back to the bench without putting the ball in play than Doc did.

Just because he wasn't leading the league in strikeouts and threatening to throw a no-hitter in every start didn't mean he wasn't the Doctor anymore.  In fact, he continued to operate with surgical precision for quite some time after the 1986 campaign.

Doc Gooden never stopped being great on the mound.  It's a shame that some people thought his greatness just wasn't good enough.
 

Why I Think R.A. Dickey Is Still A Lock For 20 Wins

Yes, you read the title right.  Despite the Mets' recent inability to score runs and despite R.A. Dickey suffering his first consecutive losses of the year, I still think the Mets' resident knuckleballer, author and documentary star is a lock to become the first pitcher since Frank Viola in 1990 to register a 20-win season for the Mets.

Call me crazy but I have three words that will explain why I'm making what appears to be a bold statement.  And those three words are:

The.  Miami.  Marlins.

For his career, R.A. Dickey is 9-2 versus the Marlins.  How great is he against the Marlins compared to other clubs?  Dickey doesn't have more than four wins against any other team in the majors.  But it's what Dickey has done against the Marlins since the start of the 2011 season that's really eye-opening.

Over the past two seasons, R.A. Dickey has made seven starts against Florida/Miami.  He's been the winning pitcher in all seven of them.  That's seven starts, 7-0 record.  Even with an 8-13 overall record in 2011, Dickey still managed to go 3-0 against the then-Florida Marlins.  And this year, he's won all four starts against Miami.

Of course, you might say that his seven victories over the Marlins over the past two seasons came at a time when the Mets were scoring more runs than they are now.  (Over their last 29 games, the Mets have scored 78 runs, an average of 2.7 runs per game.)  The lack of points on the board would make any pitcher struggle to get wins.  Just ask Matt Harvey.  But that shouldn't deter Dickey against Miami.

Since taking the mound for his first start against the Marlins in 2011, Dickey has allowed four earned runs in 51 innings versus Miami.  Four runs in seven starts.  That's an ERA of 0.71.  So basically all the Mets have had to do is scratch out a run and Dickey could put it in the books against the Fish.

R.A. Dickey will be starting against the Marlins at Citi Field on Saturday.  He will also be making a start against them in Miami during the final series of the season.  In between those starts, he will be facing the fading Pittsburgh Pirates, another team he has dominated since joining the Mets.  In four starts versus Pittsburgh as a Met, Dickey has a 1.71 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and two complete games.  Earlier this year, Dickey pitched seven innings of one-run ball against the Bucs, striking out 11 batters while picking up the win.

It's tough to say anything is a lock with the Mets these days.  But it's not tough to say this.  With three starts left, all against the Marlins and Pirates, R.A. Dickey will win 20 games this year.  You can put that prediction in the books.

I Apologize To Jon Rauch

Over the past few months, I haven't been very kind to Jon Rauch.  In early June, Rauch missed a few games due to debris in his elbow.  While his teammates were battling the Washington Nationals for first place, he was getting a new tattoo near his ribcage.  I didn't exactly write the sunniest of blog posts when I found out about that.

Two weeks later, Rauch lost his seventh game of the season on a late home run surrendered to pinch-hitter Eric Chavez in the Subway Series.  It was his second defeat at the hands of the Evil Empire.  Once again, I chose to focus on the negative, writing a piece on how he was leading the Mets in losses at the time and how so few relievers in Mets history had ever led the team in losses.

Suffice it to say, I wasn't Rauch's biggest supporter at the time.  But since mid-June, Rauch has done his best to make me eat all of the negative words I've written about him.  Let's just say I'm beyond stuffed from all that word chow I've stuffed down my throat.

Seriously, Jon.  You don't have to look at me like that.  I really am going to apologize to you.

Since losing to the Yankees on June 10, Jon Rauch has appeared in 34 games (including today's 6-2 victory over the Cardinals), pitching 25⅓ innings.  In those two dozen-plus innings, Rauch has allowed a mere three runs on nine hits, walking six while striking out 17.  He is also the owner of a sparkling 1.07 ERA and a ridiculously low 0.59 WHIP over those 34 games.  In addition, opposing hitters have batted .103 against Rauch (9-for-87), with a .168 on-base percentage and miniscule .172 slugging percentage.  Basically, Rauch has gotten opposing hitters produce the numbers I produced in Little League when I batted 15th in my team's 15-man lineup.  (Okay, I actually batted .091, but the official scorer cheated me out of a hit.  He must have been related to umpire Dave Rackley.)

But as great as Rauch has been when he's come into the game at the beginning of an inning, he's been even better when he's called upon to put out the fire started by one of his teammates.  Since mid-June, Rauch has inherited 13 runners when he's come into the game in the middle of an inning.  All 13 runners were left stranded. 

What do all those numbers mean?  It means I owe Jon Rauch a big apology.  So here goes.

Jon, if you're reading this, I'm sorry for picking on you because of the way you performed over the first two months of the season.  I'm sorry for writing that piece on the tattoo you got while you were recovering from your injury.  I'm sorry for complaining about my low batting average in Little League.  (Oh, wait.  That had nothing to do with you.)

Mostly, I'm sorry for not realizing that you're a damn good pitcher.  I now feel completely comfortable when you come into the game in any situation, whether it be to start an inning or whether you're brought into a bases-loaded no-out jam.

You proved me wrong with your fantastic second half.  Hope you can accept my apology.  (Oh, and please don't mention that .091 Little League batting average I had to anyone.  That's between you, me and my 4½ readers.  Thanks.)

Dickey Continues His Mastery Over The Marlins

Photo by Ed Leyro/Studious Metsimus (not bad, huh?)

On Friday night, the Mets traveled to Marlins Park in Miami for the first time since May 13, hoping to win their third consecutive series after taking two of three from both the Astros and the Phillies.  If the Mets wanted to get off to a good start in the series, they had the right person on the mound for the series opener.

R.A. Dickey has been outstanding this season against pretty much everyone, but he's been especially at his best against the Marlins, and it's not just this year.  Dickey has become a different pitcher against the Marlins since the beginning of the 2011 season.

Prior to 2011, Dickey had made six appearances against the Marlins, with four starts and two relief efforts.  How did he fare against the Marlins in those appearances?  To be blunt, he stunk worse than rotting fish.

Although Dickey's 2-2 won-loss record against the Marlins in those six appearances was so-so, the rest of his numbers versus the Fish were no-no good.  In 26 innings, the knuckleballer allowed 20 earned runs for a 6.92 ERA.  He also allowed 33 hits and walked ten batters, giving him a gaudy 1.65 WHIP.  In addition, Marlins hitters hit .308 against Dickey (33-for-107) and reached base at a .361 clip while battering him to the tune of a .477 slugging percentage.  Simply stated, it wasn't pretty.

But since the beginning of the 2011 season, Dickey has become the thorn in the Marlins' side, filleting them every time he's faced them.

Including tonight's 3-0 complete-game shutout, Dickey has made seven starts against the Marlins in 2011 and 2012, winning all seven.  That's no losses, no no-decisions.  Seven starts.  Seven wins.  In addition to his 7-0 record, Dickey has allowed a total of four earned runs in 51 innings for a sparkling 0.71 ERA.  Over the past two seasons, Marlins hitters have batted a measly .204 versus Dickey, reaching base at a .255 clip, while slugging a Bud Harrelson-esque .280.  In 186 at-bats, the boys of South Beach have managed only ten extra-base hits against Dickey (eight doubles, two homers), while striking out 40 times.  Dickey has also walked only a dozen Marlins in two years.

Overall, Dickey is 9-2 against the Marlins in 13 appearances (11 starts).  He does not have more than four wins against any other team in the majors, going 4-2 versus the Tigers (2-0 as a Met) and 4-5 versus the Nationals (4-4 as a Met).

In Friday's game, R.A. Dickey won his 17th win of the season, becoming the first Met since Al Leiter in 1998 to win 17 games in a season.  But it was also his ninth career win against the Marlins, which is more than twice as many wins as he has against any other team over his career.

R.A. Dickey has already proven that he can beat any team in the majors.  But whenever it's the Marlins' hitters coming up to the plate, Dickey reduces them to fish sticks, especially over the past two seasons.  Pass the tartar sauce.