Move Along, People! No Unicorn Score to See Here!

On Friday, the Mets defeated the Colorado Rockies by a final score of 14-2.  As blogfather, author and respected Unicorn Score researcher Greg Prince noted, it was the first time in the team's 56-year history that they had won a game by that exact score.  Hence, 14-2 is referred to as a Unicorn Score, which as defined by our fervent Faith and Fear friend is "a score by which the Mets win once and never again."

As of this writing, the fewest runs scored by the Mets in a Unicorn Score game is 11, which they accomplished on May 20, 1999 when they defeated the Milwaukee Brewers, 11-10.  Not only is that the only time in Mets history that the team has won a game by an 11-10 score, but that May 20 affair was the first of two games played by the Mets that day; a day in which Robin Ventura clubbed grand slams in each game, which made him the first - and still only - player in big league history to accomplish that feat.

In addition, the Mets have never won a game by a 12-11 score in franchise history.  That remains the fewest runs needed by New York to win a game by a Unicorn Score.  (They've lost two games by a 12-11 score, but like the numbers of ringzzzz the Yankees have, we don't care about those.)

But what about anti-Unicorn Scores?  Which scores are the most common in Mets history when the team has taken care of business and emerged victorious?  I'm glad you asked.  (Trust me, you asked.  I heard you through the screen.)

The most common score in a Mets victory - an anti-Unicorn Score, if you will - is not surprisingly, a low-scoring game that was decided by one run.  The Mets have won 291 games by the exact final score of 3-2.  In their 1969 championship season alone, the Mets won 11 games by that score.  Incredibly, the Mets have won at least one game by a 3-2 score in each of their first 55 seasons.  However, they have yet to win a 3-2 game in 2017.

There are two other scores that have resulted in happy recaps more than 200 times.  Those scores are 2-1 (Mets have won 247 games by that score) and 4-3 (241 of those).

Want more?  The most repeated final score in Mets victories that weren't decided by a single tally is 4-2.  New York has celebrated 182 of those identical wins.  And the team the Mets have beaten the most by the exact same final result?  That one is a surprise.  Despite never playing in the same division and thereby having fewer games scheduled against them than they would against N.L. East squads, the Mets have defeated the Cincinnati Reds 33 times by a 3-2 score.  All but one of those 3-2 victories happened from 1962 to 2002, as the Mets have only defeated the Reds once in the last 15 years by a 3-2 margin.

Blue and orange unicorns do exist.

In 2015, the Mets won a 14-9 game for the first time in team history, defeating the Rockies by that score.  That Unicorn Score lasted 24 hours, as the following day, the Mets beat Colorado by that twice-in-a-lifetime score.  Last night, the Mets put up another Unicorn Score against the Rockies in their 14-2 victory.  Perhaps this time around, they'll follow it up by winning with the most common anti-Unicorn Score of 3-2.  If they do, it would be the first time they've defeated anyone by that score this year.

As the saying goes, if you watch baseball long enough, you'll end up seeing something you've never seen before, like a Unicorn Score.  Or maybe you'll see something you've seen over 200 times before, like a 3-2 Mets victory.  I wonder what the team has in store for us tonight.

Few Runs, Nine Innings, Lots of Minutes

While staying up until 1:41 AM this morning to watch the Mets drop yet another game at Petco Park, I noticed this question being asked on Twitter by a good friend of the Studious Metsimus posse, Jason Bornstein (you may follow him on Twitter by clicking on his handle, @DyHrdMET).  Mr. Bornstein was wondering...

hey @greg_prince, any idea what the current longest (feeling) 1-0 #Mets game ever was? if anyone would, it'd be you. https://t.co/5sIex21GH0

— Jason Bornstein (@DyHrdMET) May 7, 2016

As you know, @greg_prince, otherwise known as Greg Prince of Faith and Fear in Flushing fame and the author of the recently released book, "Amazin' Again", is a noted Mets historian and one of the go-to guys when it comes to obscure Mets facts.

Being the buttinski that I am, I joined the conversation and suggested a game that oddly enough is not an SNY classic - a 1-0 loss to the Colorado Rockies in 2012 that ended three hours and ten minutes after the first pitch was thrown.  And after doing some extra research, I can confirm that this is indeed the longest nine-inning, 1-0 game in Mets history.  It's also one of only four 1-0 nine-inning contests the Mets have participated in that made it to the three-hour mark.

But of course, last night the Mets did not lose by a 1-0 score.  After Mr. Bornstein's question made the rounds on Twitter, the Mets allowed a second and final run in their 2-0 defeat at the hands of the San Diego Padres.  Despite the low score, the game took exactly three hours to complete.  So I did more research (because like everyone else, that's how I spend my Saturday mornings and afternoons) and determined that it was just the 13th time in team history that the Mets needed three or more hours to play a nine-inning game in which they and their opponent combined for no more than two runs (i.e. a 1-0 or 2-0 final score).  The Mets have won five of the 13 games, taking two 1-0 decisions and three 2-0 affairs.  They've also lost two 1-0 games that lasted 3+ hours and dropped six others - including last night's contest - by a score of 2-0.

Here is a complete list of all the 3+ hour, nine-inning games involving the Mets in which the hours outnumbered the runs scored.  (You may click on the links in the final score column to see the full boxscores of each game.)

Opponent	Date	Final Score	Time of Game
vs. Philadelphia	Sept. 8, 2000	Mets lose, 2-0	3:13
vs. Washington	Sept. 12, 2012	Mets lose, 2-0	3:12
@ Florida	July 3, 2000	Mets lose, 2-0	3:11
vs. NY Yankees	July 9, 2000	Mets win, 2-0	3:11
vs. Colorado	Aug. 23, 2012	Mets lose, 1-0	3:10
@ Milwaukee	July 27, 2014	Mets win, 2-0	3:10
@ San Diego	May 17, 1988	Mets win, 1-0	3:07
vs. Montreal	May 3, 1987	Mets lose, 2-0	3:06
vs. NY Yankees	May 15, 2014	Mets lose, 1-0	3:04
vs. Tampa Bay	June 3, 2000	Mets win, 1-0	3:01
@ NY Yankees	June 15, 2007	Mets win, 2-0	3:01
vs. San Francisco	May 4, 2011	Mets lose, 2-0	3:00
@ San Diego	May 6, 2016	Mets lose, 2-0	3:00

It should be noted that the Mets' 2-0 victory over the Yankees on July 9, 2000 would have been the longest game on this list had the Mets needed to bat in the bottom of the ninth inning, which they didn't because the game was played at Shea Stadium.

Also of note, three of the 13 games were Subway Series matchups.  Those are the only interleague games on the list.  In addition, the Mets only played two low-run, nine-inning games in their first 38 seasons (from 1962 to 1999) that took a minimum of three hours to complete, but in their last 17 campaigns (from 2000 to 2016), a total of 11 such games have taken place, including last night's affair against the Padres.

Usually, Mets games that have been seemingly interminable have also been accompanied by tons of runs.  But in some rare instances, pitchers' duels have also taken their sweet time to complete.  Last night was the 13th time in club annals that the Mets participated in a game that featured no more than two runs and took at least three hours to complete.  And for viewers in the Eastern Time Zone, the game didn't end until 1:41 AM.

It was certainly a case where lots of zeroes on the scoreboard led to lots of zzzzzzz's in New York.

Bears On Books: Amazin' Again

Just like Mets baseball, your favorite bears who like to sit on books are back!

Happy Opening Day, everyone!  We're Joey and Iggy Beartran and we couldn't think of a more fitting way to celebrate the beginning of the 2016 campaign - a year the Mets open as defending National League champions - with a review of the book that gave us a happy recap of the previous season that the late Bob Murphy would be proud of.

Today, we'll be reviewing "Amazin' Again: How the 2015 New York Mets Brought the Magic Back to Queens" by Greg Prince.  It was a season Mets fans won't soon forget, just like this book is one Mets fans won't soon put down.

Mr. Prince, whose Faith and Fear in Flushing blog inspired the book of the same name and also laid down the blueprint for his second book, The Happiest Recap, wrote his latest work almost as quickly as it took the Mets to erase the Washington Nationals from the postseason picture.  But just because this wasn't a book that was painstakingly put together over a period of several years doesn't mean the quality suffers.  In fact, it's quite the contrary.

When Casey Stengel "perfessed" that the first words spoken by children in the 1960s had changed from "Mama" or "Papa" to "Metsie, Metsie, Metsie", he was clearly referring to Mr. Prince.  The foremost authority on all things Metsie could have written this book in one sitting and we'd believe it.  His love of the Mets permeates throughout the 215 pages dedicated to the 2015 pennant winners.

One thing that rivals Mr. Prince's love of the Mets is his love of the English language.  His pun-tastic wordplay is evident in each chapter, making a story every Mets fan remembers as if it occurred yesterday (or 155 yesterdays ago, if you want to be precise) seem fresh and new.

If a band performed at Citi Field in 2015, Mr. Prince would find a way to reference as many song titles into his review of the game that preceded each show.  Yes, this isn't just a by-the-numbers recap of the season (although numbers do find a way into the story in a way that non-mathophiles can enjoy).  Then again, it's to be expected that Mr. Prince would entertain you even when he's discussing the otherwise somber truth of the team's injury announcements.  You know, the ones that begin with "He's not going to throw today as scheduled" and end with "The Mets haven't yet announced whether they will wear a patch in his memory in 2016."

In an era where people's attention spans get shorter and shorter by the minute, it didn't take too many 60-second intervals to finish reading this book.  In fact, we devoured page after page as if they were bacon on a stick and were done with Amazin' Again less than 36 hours after we started, or about 36 hours longer than the Cubs held a lead in the National League Championship Series.  (And just wait till you get to the chapter on the NLCS.  It's totally Murphalicious.)

So as you get ready for the 2016 campaign with the memorable 2015 campaign still visible in your rear view mirror, take time out to read a wonderful work dedicated to that most recently completed campaign.  Don't be surprised if you end up shedding tears of joy after finishing Mr. Prince's book (even if you weren't just traded for Carlos Gomez).

As the subtitle of Amazin' Again says, the Mets brought the magic back to Queens.  And Mr. Prince certainly brought the magic back into our minds with his amazin' book.  We give it two very enthusiastic paws up.

Amazin' Again was so well-written, we may just have to read it again.

Studious Metsimus Presents The Happy/Crappy Recap For 2013

It's that time of year again, Mets fans.  It's time to say goodbye to another year that didn't feature the Mets parading up the Canyon of Heroes.  But it's also time to say hello to a year that should bring us one step closer to that festive march up Broadway to City Hall.

The 2013 season had its share of memorable moments and not-so-memorable moments.  We got to see the first All-Star Game in Flushing in nearly half a century.  We also witnessed one of our own pitchers start the Midsummer Classic.  But in addition to the good, we also had to put up with Shaun Marcum becoming just the fourth pitcher in Mets history to finish a season with double-digit losses and fewer than two victories.  And of course, we saw opposing hitters get giddy whenever Aaron Laffey took the mound for the Mets.

As far as the hitters went, we saw various everyday players end up in Las Vegas.  We also saw Jordany Valdespin end the year with more selfies than base hits.  But we also got to say "Byrd is the Word" more times than we thought we would.  And if we blinked, we missed a stolen base champion wearing a Mets uniform not named Jose Reyes.

We were happy this year.  We were crappy as well.  Let's take a look at what made us happy in 2013.

The Mets traded away a Cy Young Award winner in R.A. Dickey, leaving what appeared to be a gaping hole in the rotation.  But that hole was filled quickly by Matt Harvey, who turned in a Cy Young-caliber season of his own.  Harvey took three no-hitters into the seventh inning, including a near-perfect game against the Chicago White Sox.  He also became the third Met pitcher to start an All-Star Game, doing it in front of his blue-and-orange-clad fans at Citi Field.

Another reason to be happy was the emergence of Daniel Murphy as a offensive threat.  Prior to 2013, Murphy was just known as a doubles machine.  But by hitting a career-high 13 homers and stealing 23 bases (after pilfering just 19 in his first four seasons), Murphy became a complete player on offense.  (Murphy also set new highs in runs scored and RBI.)  Oh, and he continued to rack up two-baggers, reaching 38 for the third time in his career.  Only David Wright has more seasons with that many doubles in a Mets uniform.

Zack Wheeler proved he could pitch in the major leagues.  Two seasons after coming to the Mets in a trade for Carlos Beltran, Wheeler made his debut on June 18, pitching six shutout innings against the eventual division champion Braves.  Although the Mets finished 14 games under .500, Wheeler posted a winning mark (something Harvey couldn't do in ten starts with the Mets in 2012) in his first go-round in the majors.  After posting a 5.06 ERA in his first three starts, Wheeler rebounded to post a 2.85 ERA in his next 13 starts.  The Mets won nine of those 13 starts.  Wheeler will now seek to have a Harvey-like season in a Harvey-less 2014.

There was very little fanfare when Eric Young, Jr. was acquired by the Mets in June for Collin McHugh.  But Young provided a much-needed spark at the top of the order after his acquisition.  Young displayed his versatility by playing all three outfield positions and second base for the Mets.  No matter where he played, Young ran.  And ran.  And ran some more.  The 28-year-old stole a league-leading 46 bases in 2013, with 38 of those steals coming in just 91 games with the Mets.  Meanwhile, Jose Reyes stole just 15 bases in 93 games with the Blue Jays.

Finally, Bobby Parnell became the first homegrown closer to record more than 20 saves for the Mets since Randy Myers in 1989.  Before a neck injury ended Parnell's season, the fireballer posted a superb 2.16 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and recorded 22 saves.  Opposing hitters posted a Mendozian .211/.260/.294 slash line against Parnell.  Because of Parnell's success, they felt no need to rush their $6 million man, Frank Francisco, back from his injury.

It seems like there were a lot of happy times in 2013.  But like every other year that didn't end with a victory parade, there were also plenty of crappy moments.  Time to break out the orange and blue toilet paper.

Someone in the front office must have used a monkey's paw to wish for success for Matt Harvey.  How else can you explain the Tommy John surgery that will wipe out Harvey's 2014 campaign after his tremendous 2013 season?

Isaac Benjamin Davis had a season that wasn't even worth a single Benjamin.  The Mets gave Davis $3,125,000 in 2013 to have a Jason Bay-like season.  And we're not talking about a Jason Bay in Boston type season.  Heck, the Mets would have taken a Jason Bay in Seattle type season from Davis.  After all, Bay hit two more homers for the Mariners in 2013 than Davis hit for the Mets, even though Davis had 111 more at-bats than Bay did.

Lucas Duda does two things well.  He walks and he strikes out.  Although Duda only played 100 games with the Mets in 2013, his 55 walks were just two off the team lead.  But Duda also struck out 102 times in just 318 at-bats.  David Wright, who is the team's all-time single-season leader in strikeouts, fanned 23 fewer times than Duda even though he had 112 more at-bats than the left fielder/first baseman.

The Mets pitching staff finished the year with a respectable 3.77 ERA.  (It has been over 20 years since the Mets finished a season with a team ERA under 3.70.)  But it could have been much lower if Shaun Marcum had never taken the mound.  Marcum, who had an excellent 57-36 record and 3.74 career ERA before joining the Mets, finished the year with a career-worst (and that's the understatement of the year) 1-10 mark and 5.29 ERA.  Marcum, along with Aaron Laffey, Collin McHugh, Jenrry Mejia, Aaron Harang and Jeremy Hefner (who was by far the best pitcher of the six) combined to make 47 starts for the Mets in 2013.  They won six of them, or one less than Zack Wheeler won in 30 fewer starts.

Ruben Tejada.  He had a lower batting average (.202) and on-base percentage (.259) than Jonathon Niese (.205 and .279, respectively).  Enough said.

And that's it for this year.  We hope you enjoyed all the stats and silliness which Studious Metsimus has been happy to provide for almost five years now.  Without you, we'd only have three-and-a-half readers, so your loyalty is very much appreciated.

As always, we'd also like to thank our fellow bloggers/authors for inspiring us and for giving Mets fans other outlets to get news and opinions about their favorite team.  Sites such as Mets Merized Online, Metstradamus, Remembering Shea, The Daily Stache, The Real Dirty Mets, The Apple, Mets360, On The Black, MetsBlog, Rising Apple, Kranepool Society, Metszilla, Mets Police and MetSilverman are among the best in the Mets blogosphere.  There are also two other sites that deserve their own special mention.

Studious Metsimus, and mostly every other site dedicated to the Mets, should all doff their caps to Greg Prince and Jason Fry, who are the co-authors, co-conspirators and co-ol cats behind Faith and Fear in Flushing.  If you've never read FAFIF, then you probably just never learned how to read.

The other site is one that is very special to me, and I'm not just saying that because I'm married to its author.  Taryn Cooper (or "The Coop", if you're into that brevity thing) is the mastermind behind A Gal For All Seasons.  She's not just the best female blogger/podcaster in the Mets bloggerati, but if you rub her the wrong way on anything Mets-related, she won't be afraid to rip you a new ... well ... let's just say it's another word for Cole Hamels, and you get the picture.

From Ed Leyro, Taryn Cooper and the critters of Studious Metsimus (Joey Beartran, Iggy Beartran and Ballapeño), we'd like to wish you all the best for a happy and healthy 2014.  And remember, Mets fans, if you see an elderly man waiting for the light to change to cross the street, help him across.  You may just get an autograph from Scott Atchison as a reward.  See you next year!

Song Parody: "Been Caught Stealing" (My Blog Post)

Photo by Suzanne Bird/QMI Agency

If you've been following us on Facebook and Twitter (and if you haven't, it won't be held against you ... much), you may have noticed a little problem we had recently with someone who thought one of our recent blog posts was so interesting, he had to copy and paste it onto another site as his own work.

The "author" in question is Luis Tejeda, and the piece he wrote as his own was one originally posted here on Studious Metsimus (and later brought over to Mets Merized Online by yours truly).  For the record, the owner of the site Tejeda "wrote" the blog for, MLB Nation, did take the piece down after they were notified by our Gal For All Seasons of the purloined post.  (We'd also like to thank Greg Prince, of Faith and Fear in Flushing fame, for notifying us about the plagiarizing pilferer.)  In addition, all of Tejeda's posts have been removed from the site, as a quick Google search let us know.

Yes, we received an apology from MLB Nation, but we just had to get in the last (non-plagiarized) word.  And what better way to do it than with a song parody.

In 1990, Jane's Addiction put out an album called "Ritual De Lo Habitual", that featured the song "Been Caught Stealing".   If that's not a perfect song to parody for this situation, then we don't know what is.  For the record, the original lyrics to the song were written by Perry Farrell and Eric Avery.  We can't forget to give credit where credit is due, right, Mr. Tejeda?

Here's our version of "Been Caught Stealing".  The original video is posted underneath our revised lyrics for your viewing pleasure.  Enjoy!


You've been caught stealing
Words you plagiarized
You enjoyed stealing 
Just to further your craft
Well, you're just a piece of crap
When you write something and you don't want to give credit
Just don't write anymore
Just don't write anymore
Hey, I mind
You plagiarized
What's mine - the words are mine!

Hey!

Yeah, my words you latched to
Didn't think it would hurt
But you're lower than dirt
By you not crediting me
Well, it's you that has no tact
Cause you wrote something and you gave me no credit
Just don't write anymore
Don't write anymore
Hey, I mind
You plagiarized
What's mine - the words are mine!

Just go!

Tejeda's dumb, dumb dummy, dumb, dumb, dumb
Tejeda's dumb, dumb dummy, dumb
Tejeda's dumb, dumb dummy, dumb, dumb, dumb
Tejeda's dumb, dumb dummy, dumb
So, so dumb

MLB Nation
Had a problem
Had a problem named
Luis Tejeda
He's a no good, filthy rat
Cause he stole from me and he gave me no credit
He can't write anymore
Can't write anymore
Hey, I mind
You plagiarized
What's mine, mine, mine, mine
Mine, mine, mine
All mine, all mine
It's mine!