This Isn't the First Time an ERA Leader Had Trouble Winning Ballgames For the Mets

Jacob deGrom has been brilliant in his first dozen starts with the Mets this season.  In 72⅓ innings pitched, the right-hander has struck out 98 batters while walking just 21.  DeGrom is also leading the National League with a scintillating 1.49 ERA.  And yet, despite putting up Cy Young caliber numbers, deGrom has earned just four wins in those 12 starts,

DeGrom's low win count is partly due to the team's non-existent offense when he takes the hill.  But mostly, it's been the club's shoddy bullpen that has turned potential victories into frustrating no-decisions.  And it's not the first time this has happened to a Mets pitcher.

Jacob deGrom, meet Craig Swan.

Decisions, decisions.  DeGrom and Swan don't know anything about that.  (Al Bello/Getty Images, Diamond Images)

Forty years ago, the Mets were coming off an embarrassing 1977 campaign, one in which the team posted its worst record in nearly a decade and traded its franchise player, Tom Seaver, to the Cincinnati Reds.  As a result, Craig Swan, who had never pitched more than 150 innings in his previous five seasons with the Mets, was expected to increase his workload for the 1978 campaign.  He did not disappoint, even if his teammates did when he took the mound.

Swan made 28 starts and one relief appearance in 1978, setting a career high with 207⅓ innings pitched.  The team's new ace held opposing batters to a .219 batting average and .597 OPS, which enabled him to win the National League ERA title - something Seaver had accomplished three times as a Met - with a 2.43 mark.  Yet despite his ability to keep his opponents from crossing the plate, he had difficulty adding wins to his ledger, as Swan finished the season with only nine of them.

As unfortunate as deGrom has been, with four wins and eight no-decisions in his first 12 starts of the 2018 campaign, it was far more frustrating for Swan, who managed just one victory in his first 16 starts in 1978 despite a stellar 2.59 ERA through mid-July.  Like deGrom, Swan was occasionally let down by his offense, as the Mets scored three runs or fewer in ten of those appearances, which included three shutout losses.  But on days when the bats showed up, it was Swan's bullpen that let the team down.  In four of those first 16 starts, Swan left the game with a lead, only to see the relievers cough it up before you could say Grant's Tomb.

Swan pitched five complete games in 1978 (winning four of those five contests), meaning he needed help from his bullpen in 23 of his 28 starts.  In only eight of those 23 starts did he leave the game with the Mets trailing, yet he went 5-5 with 13 no-decisions in those affairs.  Incredibly, Swan allowed two runs or fewer in 19 of his 28 starts, but was saddled with a no-decision in 11 of those 19 games.  And perhaps the most frustrating stat of all for Swan was that he pitched better in games in which he failed to earn a decision.  His ERA in those games was 2.16.

Like Swan forty years before him, Jacob deGrom knows what it's like to be at the top of his game only to see a potential "W" taken away from him.  In three of his eight no-decisions this year, deGrom has left the game in the hands of the bullpen with a lead, only to see it vanish within a matter of minutes.  How ineffective has the bullpen been in deGrom's starts in 2018?  The answer to this question deserves its own paragraph.

DeGrom has allowed 13 runs in his 12 starts.  The bullpen has allowed 35 runs in those starts after deGrom was removed from the game.  Somewhere, Craig Swan is saying, "I know the feeling."

In 1978, Craig Swan went 9-6 with 13 no-decisions.  Forty years later, Jacob deGrom is 4-0 with eight no-decisions in his first 12 starts.  At least they can take comfort in the fact that they both had winning records in the games in which they did earn a decision.  It could be worse.  Just ask another former Met, Nolan Ryan, who went 8-16 in 1987 when he led the National League in ERA as a member of the Houston Astros.

Hold my beer, indeed.

"No-decisions are better than losses." -- Nolan Ryan, probably.  (Focus On Sport/Getty Images, Todd Spoth)

Decisions, Decisions: Mets Starters Didn't Get Them

No-decisions.  Starting pitchers for the Mets got quite used to them in 2013.  Dillon Gee led the team with 23 decisions, followed by Jonathon Niese with only 16.  A dozen pitchers started games for the Mets this past season, combining to record 57 no-decisions.

Excluding the strike seasons of 1981, 1994 and 1995, there has never been a season in franchise history in which no starting pitcher earned 20 decisions.  But two teams came close.  In 1982, Mike Scott led the club in decisions with exactly 20, going 7-13 for the last place Mets.  Of course, that was also the year manager George Bamberger decided to use all of his starters out of the bullpen as well.

No starting pitcher made more than 24 starts for the Mets in 1982, as Charlie Puleo (24 starts, 12 relief appearances), Pete Falcone (23 starts, 17 relief appearances), Mike Scott (22 starts, 15 relief appearances), Craig Swan (21 starts, 16 relief appearances), Randy Jones (20 starts, 8 relief appearances), Pat Zachry (16 starts, 20 relief appearances) and Ed Lynch (12 starts, 31 relief appearances) were all used by Bamberger in every possible way, including save opportunities.  Of the seven pitchers listed above, only Randy Jones failed to earn a save.

The only other team in Mets history to have only one starting pitcher record exactly 20 decisions in a non-strike-shortened season was the 1980 squad.  Like Scott two years later, Ray Burris went 7-13 for the 1980 Mets.  But unlike Scott and his fellow moundsmen, all of Burris' 29 appearances in 1980 came as a starting pitcher.

For the record, Bobby Jones led the 1994 Mets with only 19 decisions, but that season came to an abrupt end in mid-August due to a players' strike.  In each of the other two strike-shortened seasons (1981, 1995), one Met did reach 20 decisions.  Pat Zachry went 7-14 for the 1981 club, while Bobby Jones finished 10-10 for the 1995 squad.

With 57 no-decisions in 2013, the Mets finished way up in the top ten for most no-decisions for a starting staff in team history.  Below is the current top ten.

Year	No-Decisions	Starting Pitchers With The Most Decisions
1980	65	Ray Burris (20), Mark Bomback (18)
1979	57	Craig Swan (27), Pete Falcone (20)
2013	57	Dillon Gee (23), Jonathon Niese (16)
1978	56	Nino Espinosa (26), Jerry Koosman (18)
2008	56	Mike Pelfrey (24), Johan Santana (23)
2004	55	Tom Glavine (25), Steve Trachsel (25)
1992	54	Sid Fernandez (25), Dwight Gooden (23)
2000	54	Mike Hampton (25), Al Leiter (24)
1997	53	Bobby Jones (24), Rick Reed (22)
2010	53	Mike Pelfrey (24), Johan Santana/R.A. Dickey (20)

The 2013 Mets tied the 1979 squad for second-most no-decisions in franchise history, surpassed only by the 1980 team.  Dillon Gee was the only pitcher to earn more than 16 decisions for the Mets in 2013, making this year's club the only one in team history to have just one hurler with at least 17 decisions in a season that wasn't curtailed by a strike.

No-decisions are the result of many things.  Sometimes they occur because starting pitchers don't go as deep into games as they used to, allowing for a reliever to vulture a victory or ten.  Bullpens also aren't as good as they used to be, causing starting pitchers to reach for antacid tablets every time a potential "W" turns into an "ND".  And occasionally a faulty offense doesn't give a starting pitcher much run support, causing him to leave a 2-2 game, 1-1 game, or scoreless pitching duel for a pinch-hitter.

This year's team was a victim of all three.  Matt Harvey pitched well enough to be among the league leaders in wins.  But a dozen no-decisions said otherwise.  Jeremy Hefner has to know how Matt Harvey feels, as he was saddled with 11 no-decisions in 23 starts.  And Dillon Gee was brilliant after his start against the Yankees on May 30.  But even a 2.71 ERA over his last 22 starts wasn't been able to prevent him from earning five losses and seven no-decisions in that time period.

Decisions, decisions.  This year's starting pitchers struggled to earn them.  And their drought was surpassed by just one team in team history.  It's tough to win many games when the starting pitchers aren't getting the Ws for the team.

Decisions, Decisions: Mets Starting Pitchers Aren't Getting Them

No-decisions.  Starting pitchers for the Mets are getting quite used to them in 2013.  As of this writing, Dillon Gee leads the team with 17 decisions, followed by Matt Harvey with only 14.  A total of 11 pitchers have started games for the Mets this year, combining to record 49 no-decisions.

Assuming he doesn't start racking up no-decisions over the last five weeks of the season, Gee appears to be the only starter with a realistic shot of recording 20 decisions in 2013.  Because of Matt Harvey's innings limit, he will probably not make enough starts to have a chance of making it to 20 decisions (and that's assuming he doesn't continue to pile up the NDs).  Jeremy Hefner, who is third on the team with 12 decisions, is out for the season, thereby freezing his decision total at an even dozen.

Excluding the strike seasons of 1981, 1994 and 1995, there has never been a season in franchise history in which no starting pitcher earned 20 decisions.  But two teams came close.  In 1982, Mike Scott led the club in decisions with exactly 20, going 7-13 for the last place Mets.  Of course, that was also the year manager George Bamberger decided to use all of his starters out of the bullpen as well.

No starting pitcher made more than 24 starts for the Mets in 1982, as Charlie Puleo (24 starts, 12 relief appearances), Pete Falcone (23 starts, 17 relief appearances), Mike Scott (22 starts, 15 relief appearances), Craig Swan (21 starts, 16 relief appearances), Randy Jones (20 starts, 8 relief appearances), Pat Zachry (16 starts, 20 relief appearances) and Ed Lynch (12 starts, 31 relief appearances) were all used by Bamberger in every possible way, including save opportunities.  Of the seven pitchers listed above, only Randy Jones failed to earn a save.

The only other team in Mets history to have only one starting pitcher record 20 decisions in a non-strike-shortened season was the 1980 squad.  Like Scott two years later, Ray Burris went 7-13 for the 1980 Mets.  But unlike Scott and his fellow moundsmen, all of Burris' 29 appearances in 1980 came as a starting pitcher.

For the record, Bobby Jones led the 1994 Mets with only 19 decisions, but that season came to an abrupt end in mid-August due to a players' strike.  In each of the other two strike-shortened seasons (1981, 1995), one Met did reach 20 decisions.  Pat Zachry went 7-14 for the 1981 club, while Bobby Jones finished 10-10 for the 1995 squad.

With 49 no-decisions through games of August 24, the 2013 Mets are poised to crack the top ten for most no-decisions for a starting staff in team history.  Below is the current top ten.

Year	No-Decisions	Starting Pitchers With Most Decisions
1980	65	Ray Burris (20), Mark Bomback (18)
1979	57	Craig Swan (27), Pete Falcone (20)
1978	56	Nino Espinosa (26), Jerry Koosman (18)
2008	56	Mike Pelfrey (24), Johan Santana (23)
2004	55	Tom Glavine (25), Steve Trachsel (25)
1992	54	Sid Fernandez (25), Dwight Gooden (23)
2000	54	Mike Hampton (25), Al Leiter (24)
1997	53	Bobby Jones (24), Rick Reed (22)
2010	53	Mike Pelfrey (24), Johan Santana/R.A. Dickey (20)
1998	52	Rick Reed (27), Al Leiter (23)

The Mets have 35 games left before the curtain falls on the 2013 season.  If the starting pitchers fail to earn decisions in just nine of them, they will have recorded more no-decisions than every team in club annals but the 1980 squad.  And 17 no-decisions (or slightly less than half of the remaining games) will make this year's starting pitchers tops when it comes to not finding Ws or Ls next to their names in the morning paper.  Also, if Dillon Gee earns just two more decisions this year, it will make the 2013 Mets the first team in the 52-year history of the club not to have a starting pitcher with 20 decisions (not including strike-shortened seasons).

No-decisions are a result of many things.  Sometimes they occur because starting pitchers don't go as deep into games as they used to, allowing for a reliever to vulture a victory or ten.  Bullpens also aren't as good as they used to be, causing starting pitchers to reach for antacid tablets every time a potential "W" turns into an "ND".  And occasionally a faulty offense doesn't give a starting pitcher much run support, causing him to leave a 2-2 game, 1-1 game, or scoreless pitching duel for a pinch-hitter.

This year's team is a victim of all three.  Matt Harvey has pitched well enough to be among the league leaders in wins.  But a dozen no-decisions say otherwise.  Dillon Gee has been brilliant since his start against the Yankees on May 30.  But even a 2.27 ERA since that date hasn't been able to prevent Gee from earning six no-decisions in his last 11 starts.

Decisions, decisions.  This year's starting pitchers are struggling to earn them.  And their drought is threatening to shatter team records in that department.  That will most certainly happen if the NDs don't end soon.

Matt Harvey Is The Bizarro Bobo Newsom

When Matt Harvey left Friday night's game after pitching seven outstanding innings, it appeared as if he had a great chance for a victory.  After all, the Mets were nursing a 4-1 lead and only needed six outs from the bullpen to wrap up their 33rd win of the season.  But how quickly things changed.  The Nationals scored five runs in the final two innings to complete a 6-4, come-from-behind victory, denying Harvey his eighth win of the year.

The not-so-shocking turn of events gave Harvey his ninth no-decision of the year.  Going back to his major league debut last July, Harvey now has more no-decisions (11) in his career than wins (10), despite posting a spectacular 2.25 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 202 strikeouts in 176⅓ innings.

Eventually, Matt Harvey will get his share of wins.  But seeing spectacular performance after spectacular performance wasted by a lack of offense or a faulty bullpen has got to be weighing on him.

Harvey is not the first pitcher whose win total doesn't jibe with his other statistics.  In fact, there was one particular pitcher whose numbers were so awful, he should have lost 20 games.  But he won 20 instead.  Such was the 1938 season of Bobo Newsom.

Everything Matt Harvey has been, Bobo Newsom wasn't - except for one thing.

Bobo Newsom was a well-traveled pitcher nearly four decades before the advent of free agency allowed players to change teams at will.  Newsom played for nine teams during his 20-year career, a rather impressive feat considering there were only 16 teams in the majors at the time.

When Newsom was good, he was very good, as evidenced by his 211 career victories and four All-Star Game selections.  When Newsom was bad, he was downright awful (222 defeats, led the league in losses four times).  And at times, the Jekyll and Hyde-like Newsom was both.  Never was that more evident than in 1938, when Newsom was a member of the St. Louis Browns.

Seventy-five years ago, Newsom became a 20-game winner for the first time in his career.  He also led the league in starts (40), complete games (31) and innings pitched (329⅔), making his first All-Star team and finishing fifth in the MVP vote.   Most pitchers would love to have those numbers and accolades.  But not if they had to take some of Newsom's other numbers.

In addition to his many impressive statistics, Newsom's bizarre 1938 season also saw him lead the league in hits allowed (334), earned runs allowed (186) and home runs allowed (30), while posting an unsightly 5.08 ERA.  In doing so, Newsom became the first pitcher in American League history (and third pitcher overall) to cough up 30 dingers in a season in the modern era of baseball (post-1900).  And to this day, his 5.08 ERA remains the highest ever for a 20-game winner, while his 186 earned runs allowed are still the most given up by a pitcher since 1900.  You read that right.  The most runs yielded by a pitcher in a single season was accomplished by a pitcher who won 20 games in that season.

Newsom's season can be summarized by a start he made on June 19 against the Yankees.  In that start, Newsom allowed a whopping nine earned runs.  A total of 17 Yankees reached base against Newsom, with eight of them drawing a walk.  Of course, Newsom was the winning pitcher in that game, a 10-9 victory for the Browns.

That brings us back to Matt Harvey.  (Remember him?)  As mentioned before, Harvey has started 27 games in his career, receiving credit for a win in ten of them, while getting socked with a no-decision 11 times.  Harvey has allowed three earned runs or less in 24 of those 27 starts.  The Mets have lost 11 of them.

This year alone, Harvey has allowed one run or less in 11 of his 17 starts.  He has five no-decisions and one loss in those games, meaning that he has less than a 50-50 chance to earn a win when he allows no more than one run.  Meanwhile, Bobo Newsom allowed three runs or more in 31 of his 40 starts in 1938.  He earned a win in 11 of them.  That's one more win than Harvey has in his career.

Matt Harvey is not the first pitcher to have a low ERA and a smaller-than-expected win total.  He's not even the first Met to do this.  In 1978, Craig Swan led the National League with a 2.43 ERA, but only won nine games.  Swan was victimized by 13 no-decisions.  Nine years later, a former Met wished he had a few more no-decisions when he won an ERA title.  In 1987, Nolan Ryan finished atop the Senior Circuit with a 2.76 ERA.  But Ryan only had an 8-16 record to show for it.  He allowed two runs or less in 22 of his 34 starts for the Houston Astros, but was the losing pitcher in nine of those games and received a no-decision in six others.

In 1938, Bobo Newsom had a season in which he was easily hittable and allowed more runs than any pitcher in the modern era of baseball.  His reward for a lousy year was his first 20-win campaign.  Matt Harvey is doing everything better than Bobo Newsom did 75 years ago.  He's just not being rewarded for it in wins.  It's a bizarre story indeed.