Extra Disappointment

The Mets lost to the Phillies the last two nights — both games at home and both in extra innings.  The last time the Mets lost two straight games at home in  extra innings was during 1986, which was also the Mets’ most recent World Series winning season.   On August 15 and 16 that season, the Mets lost to the Cards at Shea first 4-2 in ten innings and then the next game 3 to 1 in eleven innings.  The Mets have had four other back-to-back home extra inning losses: May 6 and 7, 1980, to the Reds; April 10 and 11, 1979 to the Expos; and twice in 1976 — May 29 and 30 to the Cardinals and July 28-29 to the Pirates.  In both those pairs of 1976 back-to-back extra innings losses, the Mets starters were Tom Seaver and Mickey Lolich.

Downdraft

The Mets’ free agent signing activity this past off-season, has left them in tomorrow’s annual amateur draft with a first selection that is all the way down at the 72nd overall pick of the draft.

Most career MLB ABs by a player drafted in the 72nd spot in the June amateur draft:

Ray Lankford (drafted 1987) 5,747 ABs in the majors
Mike Greenwell (1982) 4,623
Aaron Boone (1994) 3,858
Reggie Jefferson (1986) 2,123
Mitchell Page (1973) 2,104
A.J. Hinch (1995) 953
Rick Ankiel (1997) 789
Bob Didier (1967) 751

Most career MLB games pitched by a player drafted in the 72nd overall spot in the June amateur draft:

Shane Reynolds  (1989) 305 games pitched in the majors
Danny Haren (2001) 175
Roy Smith (1979) 136
Tyler Green (1988) 70
Rick Ankiel (1997) 51

Twice Is Nice

This past month, from May 22 to May 29, Gary Sheffield had both at least one hit and also at least one walk in seven straight games.  That set a new Mets franchise record for consecutive games with both at least one walk and at least one hit.  The previous franchise record of six straight had been held by five guys.  Over the past 50 years, the major leagues’ longest streaks of consecutive games with at least one hit and at least one walk have been 10 games, accomplished by Cleveland’s superb catcher Victor Martinez, from September 15, 2006 to September 25, 2006, and Bobby Murcer (in his first year with the Giants, after being traded by the Yankees for Bobby Bonds) from August 3, 1975 to August 12, 1975.

Although Sheffield set a franchise record last month for longest streak of “a walk and a hit” games, his accomplishment did not come close to the Mets franchise record for games with at least two times on base.  That’s a franchise record David Wright came close to setting last month, but he fell just short.  David had 11 straight games, from May 11 to May 22, in which he was on base at least twice.  The Mets record, however, is still 12 straight games, set by John Stearns in 1977, from June 18 to July 1 that season.  The longest streaks of games with at least two times on base, in the majors over the past 50 years, have been 20 games long, a feat accomplished by two guys:  convicted-of-a-felony Pete Rose (September 3, 1979 to September 22, 1979) and under-a- felony-indictment Barry Bonds  (June 20, 2004 to July 15, 2004)

The Fickle Finger of Fate

Former Met Clint Hurdle was fired this week as manager of the Rockies.  The Rockies had a .461 regular season winning percentage under Hurdle, but despite the distinctly sub-.500 record, Clint can probably consider himself pretty successful, as he led the Rockies to a National League pennant, in 2007.     Sifting through the stats at baseball-reference.com, I get a count of 112 guys in history who have managed at least one team that won an AL or NL pennant (the NL began play as a major league in 1876; the AL in 1901).  Among those 112 guys, 28 have accumulated more regular season career losses as a manager than wins, that is, they have a sub-.500 career regular season managerial records.  Here are the seven lowest career regular season winning percentages  among managers who at some point in their careers managed an AL or NL pennant-winning team:

Darrell Johnson .444
Fred Haney .454
Clint Hurdle .461
Rogers Hornsby .463
Gil Hodges .467
Joe Maddon .468
Jeff Torborg .469

Being on this list does not mean a guy was a poor manager.  Darrell Johnson was the manager of the Red Sox in the thrilling 1975 World Series (with Carlton Fisk’s famous “Body English” home run), but also had the thankless task of managing the expansion Mariners in the first four years of their existence.  Fred Haney had awful teams in the St. Louis Browns just before World War II and the mid-50s Pirates, but when he had the opportunity to manage Hank Aaron in Milwaukee in the late 50s, Hank won his only two pennants and only World Championship.   Gil Hodges took over two of the seemingly most hopeless teams ever, the early 1960s Washington Senators and mid-1960s New York Mets and under his watch they both became competitive, including of course the Miracle Mets of 1969.  And Joe Maddon with Tampa presided last year over a season not unlike that of the 1969 Mets.   Just as winning a pennant doesn’t mean a manager ‘s a genius, neither does a low career winning percentage mean a manager’s a chump.

Clint Hurdle is still a relatively young guy for a manager, and still has a pretty good reputation.  He’s likely to be back managing again (perhaps someday even as a Mets manager – before he got the Rockies job he was considered a likely future Mets skipper), and if he’s lucky he’ll have a talented team to work with and a good opportunity to improve his lifetime career winning percentage.

Utility Service

With Alex Cora down for an extended period and Jose Reyes hobbling at the moment,  ther’s been much talk on the Net and in the media about Mark DeRosa, currently with last-place Cleveland, being a possible trade target for the Mets.

DeRosa is one of only 9 men in the whole history of the major leagues to have played at least 130 career games at 3B and at least 130 games at SS and at least 130 games at 2B and at least 130 games in the outfield.  Three of these nine guys played for the Mets at some point in their careers: Felix Mantilla (the Mets’ sixth pick in the 1961 expansion draft — after Joe Christopher but before Gil Hodges),  Bob Bailor and Tony Phillips.   The others: Jerry Royster (1970s-1980s), Howie Shanks and Jimmy Johnston (1910s-1920s), Woodie Held (1950s-1960s) and Eddie Miksis (1940s-1950s).

The streakin’ Mets

Seems almost like yesterday the Mets were struggling, right? How good have they been this month?

The Mets were 9-12 (.429) in April. They are 9-3 (.750) in May. May’s success has been largely due to the 7 game streak we had going though.

Last year it wasn’t until July 5th when we had a 10 game winning streak going. This year on May 4th (24th game of the year) we already have a 7 game winning streak under our belts. Hopefully we don’t end up like the 1972 Mets who had a 11 game winning streak started on May 12th (22nd game of the year) but went on to have a 83-73 record. Or the 1976 Mets who had a 10 game winning streak started on June 23rd (71st game) but went on to an 86-73 record.  Or the 1991 Mets who had a 10 game winning streak on July 1st (74th game) but had a 77-84 record. I don’t think we have to worry about that. It’s a scenario more or less like the 1998 Mets had which is almost reminiscent of the past two seasons. The 1998 Mets had a 9 game winning streak started May 21st (43rd game) and ended up short with an 88-74 record (1.5 games behind the wild card). Their 12-12 record in September almost got them in.

It’s generally been good news though for teams with long streaks.

The 1985 Mets had two 9 game winning streaks started on July 2nd (74th game) and August 3rd (102nd). Their record was 98-64 which didn’t get them into the playoffs, but I’m pretty sure that record would get most teams into the playoffs in today. Then you have the 1990 Mets who had an 11 game winning streak started on June 17th (60th game) with a 91-71 record which probably gets most teams a wild card spot today. The 11 game winning streak by 1990 Mets was the 2nd time a Mets team had accomplished such a long winning streak. You’ll see who did it the first time.

The 2000 Mets had a 9 game winning streak which started on April 13th (13th game). But even more impressive are the 2006 Mets who had a 7 game winning streak started on April 3rd (3rd game). They had longer winning streak later in the season started on June 7th for 8 games. The 1986 Mets didn’t get a quick start on their first long winning streak, but they made sure to ride out out when they did. They had an 11 game winning streak started on April 18th (6th game). Right after the loss, they went on a 7 game winning streak. If it weren’t for a loss on May 1st to the Braves they would have had a 19 game winning streak. I guess that’s why they were called the Amazin’ Mets. But wait, that’s not all, the Miracle Mets in 1969 had an 11 game winning streak started on May 28th (42nd game) , then on September 6th(136th game) they had a 10 game winning streak, followed by a 9 game winning streak started on September 21st (153rd game). 2 long winning streaks in a month, well now we know where they got their nickname.

If the past is any indication, to make the post-season, you gotta get the streak going early in the season or at least get multiple long streaks going later in the season.

The Hits Keep Comin’

How does the Mets’ team hitting this season compare to past Mets seasons?

The best full season batting average for a Mets team in franchise history has been .279, in 1999.  The Mets so far (through yesterday’s game) in 2009 are batting .287 as a team.

The best full season on-base percentage for a Mets team in franchise history has been .361, in 1999.  The Mets so far (through yesterday’s game) in 2009 have a .368 OBP as a team.

The best full season OPS for a Mets team in franchise history has been .795, in 1999.  The Mets so far (through yesterday’s game) in 2009 have a team OPS of .797.

By the way, that 1999 team had a grand total of 14 triples all season.  After Castillo’s triple in today’s game, the 2009 Mets have 15 triples, with only a  fifth of the season complete.

HOFers who played as Mets

The Mets have the one lone HOFer in Tom Seaver representing the franchise in Cooperstown, NY. How many other players have played as Mets and made it to the HOF?

10 HOFers were Mets at one point or another (and their Win Shares):

Willie Mays (642)
Rickey Henderson (534)
Eddie Murray (437)
Warren Spahn (412)
Tom Seaver (388)
Yogi Berra (375)
Duke Snider (352)
Gary Carter (337)
Nolan Ryan (334)
Richie Ashburn (329)

Mike Piazza (325) will most likely join that list as well, hopefully as a Met.

Edit: Someone pointed out to me that Tom Glavine and Pedro Martinez are just about guaranteed spots into the HOF whenever they become eligible. Carlos Delgado and Gary Sheffield also have a shot, Delgado moreso than Sheffield. Then there are guys like Jeff Kent and Roberto Alomar who both excelled at 2B. I like Kent’s chances better than Alomar. None of these players will go in as Mets though that much is for sure..

Honorable mention to Casey Stengel who managed the Mets and is in the HOF. Joe Torre will probably one day go into the HOF as well, but most likely as a manager. His track record includes: 6 pennants, 4 world series titles, and a .539 W% in 4038 games.

Mets Birthdays

I was asked a week ago, how many Mets players are Geminis?

If we look at the current roster it’s just two Mets players: Jose Reyes (6/11/83) and Jeremy Reed (6/15/81). That’s a little too easy though. Let’s make things a bit more interesting. How about we look at all birthdays? I would try to divide by Zodiac sign, but it varies from year to year. Still, there is interesting information to look at when we dissect the birthdates of every player who has been a Met in the past.

I’ve used Sean Lahman’s database and Baseball-Reference to compile the birthdays so the data is current as of this year. The following are some of the results worth noting based off the 859 players who played games as Mets:

Most birthdays in a month: 96 in November
Least birthdays in a month: 51 in July
August is the month that has all the days filled with birthdays of former Mets. September, October, and November are tied with 1 day each in which one day is not taken up by a birthday.

Most birthdays on the same day: 8 each on October 1^st and December 9^th.

December 9th	October 1st
Jerry Cram	Bob Myrick
Doc Medich	Pete Falcone
Bruce Boisclair	Jeff Reardon
Juan Samuel	Chuck McElroy
Mike Fyhrie	John Thomson
Tony Tarasco	Brandon Knight
Jeff Duncan	Chuck Hiller
Del Unser	Buzz Capra

Only 2 players were born on December 11^th: Jay Bell and Derek Bell. No relation.
No players were born on December 7^th, but one was born on September 11^th: Dave Roberts

One day close, twenty years apart:
The two pitchers who have had some of the best pitching seasons in Mets history had birthdays one day apart and yet were born 20 years away from each other: Dwight Gooden (11/16/64) and Tom Seaver (11/17/44).

The Young and the Old:
Gene Woodling (8/16/1922) is the oldest player (living or dead) to have worn a Mets uniform.
Jonathon Niese (10/27/86) is currently the youngest player to have worn a Mets uniform. That is also the day the Mets won the 1986 World Series.

Leap A Year:
Of 177 players born on a leap year, Terrence Long is the only Mets player to be born on February 29^th. He spent 4 years with Oakland and split up another 4 years over with 4 different teams in separate seasons (Mets, Padres, Royals, and Yankees). Unfortunately, he did not get drafted on a leap year or get called up on leap year.

Solo dates (notable Mets and/or dates):
David Wright is the only Met to be born on December 20^th.
Fernando Tatis is the only Met to be born on the first day of the year.
Rick Aguilera is the only Met to be born on the last day of the year.
Kelly Stinnett is the only Met to be born on Valentine’s Day.
Robin Ventura is the only Met to be born on July 14^th.
Jose Oquendo is the only Met to be born on Independence Day.
Steve Trachsel is the only Met to be born on Halloween.
Rickey Henderson, Tom O’Malley, Al Jackson, Jack Hamilton, and Ruben Gotay were born on Christmas.
Bret Saberhagen, Wally Whitehurst, Trot Nixon, and Bobby Jones were born on April 11^th which was the day the Mets played their first baseball game.

That’s all I could notice. But you can feel free to look for other patterns by downloading the Excel spreadsheet.

EDIT: I’ve been told there are some pitchers missing from this data. Unfortunately, I cannot complete the list. I was unable to automatically query all players who played for the Mets in Sean Lahman’s database so I had to actually input the names manually for some players using Baseball-Reference. So the list grew from 659 to 859 players. However I only got around to the batters. There are still pitchers missing. If you feel compelled to finish the list feel free to do so. Some if not most of the facts above still hold true. The only one I can spot is that Warren Spahn is the oldest player to have played for the Mets (alive or dead).

Unjust Deserts

Already for the second time in this still young season,  Johan Santana has lost a start in which he pitched at least six innings and surrendered zero earned runs.  How unusual are such losses for a starter?

In Mets history only one other starting pitcher has had, in a single season, as many as two losses in in which he pitched six or more innings and surrendered no earned runs.  That was Roger Craig back in the Mets Dark Ages of 1963.  Craig pitched an 8-inning complete game, without allowing an earned run, on July 4, 1963, but was victimized by three  Mets errors in a 2-1 loss to the Cubs (the Mets also lost the second game of a doubleheader to the Cubs that day, by a score of 3-0).  Then on September 25 of that same season, Craig pitched seven fine innings against Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers.  Unfortunately for Roger, with two out and men on first and third in the very first inning, Craig himself   threw the ball away on a pickoff attempt, allowing the run to score from third, and that was all Koufax needed in the 1-0 Dodger victory.

Besides Johan’s two losses, there has been in the majors this season only one other game in which the starter was credited with a loss despite 6 or more IP and no ERs — that was a Ted Lilly loss to the Reds on April 22.

Over the past 50 years, only one MLB pitcher has lost three such starts in a single season — Don Drysdale in 1964 (the year Gene Roddenberry came up with the idea of Star Trek).

2 Runs Per Start Streaks,Cont.

As mentioned earlier, Johan Santana has allowed two or fewer ERs in his last 12 starts. Is that the longest such streak in the majors this decade?

Rolando Arrojo and Tom Glavine had thirteen game streaks back in 2001-2002.  However, Arrojo’s was really not comparable, as he was only a spot starter for the Red Sox during that period and the “streak” included a couple of games in which, although he was technically the “starter”,  he only pitched three innings or less.  If you add in a requirement that each start last at least 5 innings,  Glavine has the only 13-game streak this decade, and the only other 12-game streaks (besides Johan’s current streak) during this decade of the 2000s have been by Edinson Volquez last season, Danny Haren’s in 2007, and two in 2005, one by Dontrelle Willis and one by Roger Clemens.  Clemens also had a 21-game streak that ran from July, 1990 to May, 1991, the longest such streak of the last 50 years.

Quality and Consistency

Johan Santana now has 12 consecutive starts (going back to last season) in which he has given up no more than 2 earned runs.  Is that a Mets record?

The Mets record for consecutive starts surrendering no more than 2 earned runs is 15 starts in a row: Dwight Gooden from August ’85 through May ’86. The only other Mets streaks as long as Santana’s current one were two 13-game streaks by Tom Seaver: July to September 1973 and July to September 1971.

Two hits gets a win

When was the last time, before last night, that the Mets won a nine inning game despite only two hits by their hitters?

The last time the Mets won a game with their hitters getting only two hits in a full nine-inning game was all the way back on April 7, 2000.  Rick Reed and Armando Benitez combined to beat the Dodgers 2-1 — future Mets Gary Sheffield and Shawn Green each had an extra-base hit for LA in a losing cause. Bobby Valentine was the Mets manager and Davey Johnson was the Dodgers skipper.