M.U.M.'s The Word (Most Underrated Mets): Jon Matlack

In 1966, the Mets had the #1 draft pick in the June Amateur Draft. A certain Reginald Martinez Jackson was there for the taking as the first pick, but instead the Mets chose Steve Chilcott, a left-handed hitting high school catcher from California. Jackson was taken as the second pick by the Kansas City Athletics. 27 years and 563 home runs later, Reggie Jackson was inducted into the Hall of Fame, while the Mets were left wondering what might have been.

One year after drafting Chilcott, who never played a game in the major leagues (Chilcott and Brien Taylor are the only #1 overall picks to retire from baseball without ever making it to the major leagues), the Mets had the #4 pick in the amateur draft. At the time, Chilcott was wallowing in the minor leagues, while Reggie Jackson had already made it to the majors.

Going into the 1967 draft, the Mets' focus was on pitching. Eight of their first 12 picks in the '67 amateur draft were pitchers, including their first round pick. That year, the Mets did not waste their high draft pick on a player who fizzled out in the minor leagues, for 1967 was the year the Mets drafted Jon Matlack.


Jonathan Trumpbour Matlack, despite the high draft pick, took some time to get to the major leagues. The Mets did not feel the need to rush him, being that he was all of 17 years old on draft day.

During the Miracle Mets season of 1969, the 19-year-old Matlack was pitching at AAA-Tidewater, just one step away from the major leagues. But the Mets had a strong pitching staff, with Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Gary Gentry, Don Cardwell, Jim McAndrew and Nolan Ryan all spending time in the starting rotation. Because of the surplus of quality starting pitching at the major league level, Matlack spent the entire 1969 and 1970 seasons at Tidewater as well as the majority of the 1971 season.

Matlack didn't have a spectacular three-year stay in Triple-A, going 37-25, with a 4.09 ERA. However, when Jerry Koosman was placed on the disabled list on July 6, 1971, a spot in the rotation opened up. The time had finally come for the Mets' first round draft pick from 1967 to make the jump to the big leagues.

While Koosman was recuperating on the DL, Matlack made five starts. Unfortunately, his first major league victory did not come so easily, as Matlack was charged with three losses and two no-decisions during his first stint in the major leagues. Koosman returned from the disabled list on August 14 and Matlack was sent back to Tidewater. He was brought back up to the Mets in September, making one relief appearance and one start, where he gave up one run in eight innings of work. However, Matlack did not receive any run support in his final effort, settling for the no-decision in a game the Mets eventually won 2-1. Although Matlack finished with an 0-3 record for the Mets in 1971, he retained his rookie status for 1972, a season that would firmly entrench him in the starting rotation.

When Nolan Ryan was traded to the California Angels on December 10, 1971 in the infamous Jim Fregosi deal, it opened up a spot in the starting rotation. Jon Matlack was now in the big leagues for good and he took full advantage of the opportunity, going 6-0 in his first nine games (eight starts), with a 1.95 ERA. Matlack's sixth victory was a complete game three-hit shutout against the Phillies, defeating Steve Carlton, who went on to win 27 games and the Cy Young Award in 1972.

Carlton was not the only pitcher from that game who won a major award for his outstanding performance in 1972. His opponent took home an award as well, as Jon Matlack became the second Mets player to win the National League Rookie of the Year Award (Tom Seaver was the first in 1967). Matlack finished the season with a 15-10 record and a 2.32 ERA, good for fourth in the National League.

The 1972 season also ended with Matlack playing an important part in baseball history, as he gave up Roberto Clemente's 3,000th hit on September 30. It would be the last hit in Clemente's storied career, as he was tragically killed in a plane crash while delivering aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

When 1973 began, Matlack was no longer the rookie in the rotation. He was now the #3 pitcher on the staff after Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman, the leaders of the 1969 World Champion Mets. Unfortunately, the Mets had not returned to the postseason since 1969. All that changed when the Mets started to believe.

The 1973 Mets were going nowhere fast. After three consecutive third place, 83-win seasons, the Mets appeared headed towards familiar territory - last place. That's exactly where the Mets found themselves on August 30, after a 10-inning, 1-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. Although the Mets were struggling to find their identity and their place in the standings, their poor record was not the fault of Jon Matlack, as the sophomore pitcher had a strong stretch of starts from May to August. Over a period of 18 starts, Matlack held hitters to a .217 batting average and a .300 slugging percentage. The end result for the 18-start stretch was a 2.73 ERA. However, the Mets could not capitalize on Matlack's extended streak of excellence, losing 11 of those 18 starts. But after August 30, everything changed for Matlack and the Mets.

Once Tug McGraw uttered his famous "Ya Gotta Believe" rallying cry, the Mets were nothing but a team that believed. They won 21 of their final 29 games, overtaking every team in the NL East before winning the division on the final day of the season. Matlack was brilliant over his last five starts, holding hitters to a .186 batting average and registering a 1.77 ERA. Despite the fact that his won-loss record was 14-16, Matlack finished the year with a 3.20 ERA and his first (and only) season with 200 or more strikeouts. The Mets were on to the playoffs for the second time in franchise history and this time, Jon Matlack was going to be a part of it.

Matlack was only in his second full season in the major leagues, but you would never know it by how he pitched in the postseason. After the Mets had lost the first game of the NLCS against the Cincinnati Reds, Matlack was called upon to even the series, a tough task for any pitcher against the vaunted hitters of the Big Red Machine, let alone a 23-year-old making his first playoff appearance. Matlack responded by pitching one of the greatest games in Mets postseason history, shutting out the Reds on two hits, while striking out nine. Matlack's performance kept the Mets from falling behind 2-0 in the best-of-five series and served as the catalyst for the Mets' eventual series win.

Seriously, didn't anyone have color TVs back in 1973?

The Mets' opponent in the 1973 World Series was the Oakland A's, led by slugger Reggie Jackson. (Hey, didn't we talk about him about a million paragraphs ago?) Matlack, who had already started 35 games (34 regular season, 1 postseason) was called upon to start Game 1. In doing so, he became only the fourth pitcher in major league history to start a World Series opener with a losing record (14-16) during the regular season. The other pitchers to accomplish this rare feat were Alvin Crowder (9-11 with the 1934 Detroit Tigers), Denny Galehouse (9-10 with the 1944 St. Louis Browns) and Don Drysdale (13-16 with the 1966 Los Angeles Dodgers). Matlack pitched well, but took the loss as the Mets' bats remained silent in the 2-1 defeat.

Matlack came back on only three days rest to start Game 4 and pitched beautifully, holding the A's to one unearned run and three hits over eight innings of work. The Mets also won Game 5 to take a 3-2 lead in the World Series. That's when the decision to start Seaver and Matlack on short rest came back to bite manager Yogi Berra and all those who believed in the 1973 Mets.

Although George Stone had an unexpectedly good season (12-3, 2.80 ERA), he was bypassed for Seaver and Matlack in the final two games. When Seaver lost a tightly contested Game 6, Matlack was tabbed as the Game 7 starter. The World Series finale would be his 38th start of the season, and the wear and tear of the long season on his young arm showed, as he gave up four third-inning runs to the A's. The Mets were never able to recover from the early deficit, losing the game and the World Series to Oakland by the final score of 5-2.

If anything, the postseason experience made Matlack a stronger pitcher. In one season, he experienced the highest of highs (his stellar playoff debut against the Reds) and the lowest of lows (losing the seventh game of the World Series). He was now battle tested and ready to move on to the 1974 season, which was one of the most perplexing seasons for any pitcher in franchise history.

If you look at Matlack's numbers from 1974, you'd think he was a top contender for the Cy Young Award. He finished the season with a 2.41 ERA, 14 complete games, 195 strikeouts, allowed only eight home runs in 265.1 innings and led the major leagues with seven shutouts. Why did Matlack not receive any Cy Young love in 1974? Perhaps it was his 13-15 record that season.

How could someone who had such a brilliant season on the mound do so poorly in the won-loss department? Simply stated, the Mets offense in 1974 was offensive. As a team, the Mets batted .235 in 1974, hitting only 96 home runs and scoring 572 runs (an average of 3.1 runs per game). If the 2010 Mets drove you crazy with their 12 walk-off losses, imagine what it was like in 1974, when the Mets set a franchise record with 14 walk-off losses (10 of them in extra innings).

Speaking of extra innings, the Mets were 4-16 in extra inning games in 1974 and 17-36 in one-run games. Is it no wonder that Matlack couldn't win more games? Either the team couldn't score when he was pitching, or the bullpen blew the game for him once he left the mound. Nowhere was this more evident than during the last two months of the season.

From August 3 to October 2, Matlack made 13 starts for the Mets. He pitched complete games in more than half of those starts (seven), had an excellent strikeout to walk ratio (79 K, 31 BB) and registered an ERA of 1.86 (22 earned runs in 13 starts). Of course, the Mets lost nine of those 13 games, scoring three runs or less in ten of them.

It's actually a wonder that Matlack won as many games as he did in 1974. In winning 13 games, he had to be nearly perfect. He pitched 11 complete games in those 13 victories, and had a stunning ERA and WHIP (0.95 ERA, 0.74 WHIP). The only reward for such a stellar season was his first All-Star Game selection, an honor bestowed upon him again in 1975 and 1976.

In those two All-Star seasons (1975 and 1976), Matlack did much better in the win column, combining to go 33-22 over the two campaigns. In 1976, Matlack won a career-high 17 games, led the National League with six complete games and had a 2.95 ERA. The Mets also recovered in the standings, finishing 86-76, which at the time, was the second-most wins in franchise history.

Uh oh. We're about to begin the paragraph about 1977, meaning the smiles in the photo above are about to turn into frowns.

Going into the 1977 season, Jon Matlack had won 75 games and sported a 2.88 career ERA. He was part of a spectacular starting rotation that featured Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman. But everything changed in that fateful season. The Mets started the season poorly. After a Memorial Day doubleheader sweep at the hands of the Montreal Expos, the Mets' record stood at 15-30, which was good enough for last place in the NL East, 14 games behind the first place Chicago Cubs. Following the losses, the Mets fired manager Joe Frazier and replaced him with first baseman Joe Torre. It would not be the only change the Mets underwent in 1977.

Two weeks after the firing of Joe Frazier, the Mets traded away "The Franchise", as Tom Seaver was traded to the Cincinnati Reds. On the same day, slugging first baseman/outfielder Dave Kingman was traded to the San Diego Padres. From that day forward, June 15, 1977 would always be known as "The Midnight Massacre". Seaver was not the only member of the 1969 World Champions to be traded in 1977, as his batterymate Jerry Grote was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers on August 31.

Jon Matlack, already a veteran at age 27, was spared from all the in-season transactions, but his performance on the mound suffered. His 7-15 record and 4.21 ERA was easily the worst of his career. As a result, Matlack was traded to the Texas Rangers on December 8, 1977, in a four-team deal that also involved the Pittsburgh Pirates and Atlanta Braves. There was a future Hall of Famer involved in the deal (Bert Blyleven), but unfortunately, the man known to Studious Metsimus readers for his love of flatulence was sent from the Rangers to the Pirates.

This photo will never stink.

The players that became Mets in the deal were Willie Montañez, Tom Grieve and Ken Henderson. Neither player did particularly well or played much with the Mets, but Matlack rebounded from his awful 1977 season with the Mets to win 15 games for the Rangers in 1978. He also posted career-bests in 1978 with a 2.27 ERA and 18 complete games.

Matlack's 1978 season was his last good year in the major leagues, as injuries cut his once-promising career short. From 1979-1983, Matlack was able to win only 28 games for the Rangers, finishing his career as part of Texas' bullpen. Matlack was only 33 when he retired after being released by the Rangers on October 31, 1983.

Although Matlack only pitched six full seasons for the Mets, his name appears all over the franchise's all-time leaderboard. He's in the top ten all-time in wins (82, 7th), starting pitchers' ERA (3.03, 3rd), WHIP (1.19, 10th), innings pitched (1,448, 6th), strikeouts (1,023, 8th), complete games (65, 4th) and shutouts (26, tied for 2nd).

Surprisingly, despite the fact that he last played for the Mets in 1977 and his name still remains plastered all over the club's all-time pitching leaders, Matlack has not been enshrined into the Mets Hall of Fame. Surprisingly enough, for a team that has always prided itself on pitching, only four of its pitchers have been inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame, three of whom were Matlack's teammates. Tom Seaver was inducted in 1988. He was followed by Jerry Koosman the following year, Tug McGraw in 1993 and Dwight Gooden in 2010.

Thanks to Corbis Images for this sweet photo of the Mets' Big Three (Jon Matlack, Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman).

Perhaps someday Matlack will join Seaver, Koosman, McGraw and Gooden with a plaque of his own in the Mets Hall of Fame. For the short period of time that he was a Met, he established himself as one of the best pitchers in franchise history. It's been 34 years since Matlack pitched his last game in a Mets uniform. If the Mets can't agree that he belongs in their Hall of Fame, perhaps at least their fans can agree with me that Matlack is one of the most underrated Mets of all-time.

Whenever one thinks of the competitive Mets teams from the early-to-mid '70s, it should not just be the combination of Seaver and Koosman that comes to mind. Matlack was just as instrumental as "The Franchise" and "The Kooz" to the success of those teams. Who knows just how high he would have ranked on the Mets' all-time pitching leaderboards had they not given up on him (and everybody else) after his first subpar season in 1977?

Mets "Catch" A Break By Signing Willie Harris

Willie Harris. The name alone is enough to make Mets fans sick to their stomachs. For years, he has been a constant thorn in the Mets' collective sides. Whether making a highlight reel catch in a late inning pressure situation or delivering a key base hit, Harris has been directly responsible for a number of Met losses since 2007.

Therefore, it is with great pleasure that we announce that Willie Harris will not be making any rally-killing catches or producing timely hits against the Mets in 2011. No, he did not retire from baseball to walk the Earth (you know, like Caine in Kung Fu). Willie Harris is now property of the New York Mets.

According to ESPNNewYork.com, the man who played the outfield against the Mets like a modern-day Garry Maddox, will now be doing so for his former enemies. Willie Harris has signed a minor league deal with the Mets and will be invited to Spring Training. He is a clear favorite to become the club's fourth outfielder, providing excellent defense and versatility not seen in the Mets' outfield since the days of Endy Chavez at Shea Stadium.

Harris first became a nemesis to the Mets in 2007, when as a member of the Atlanta Braves, he robbed Carlos Delgado of a potential game-tying home run in the ninth inning. The catch allowed the Braves to hold on to the lead in a game they eventually won 7-6. It was one of many "what might have been" games for the Mets in their infamous 2007 season.

The following season, Harris was a member of the Washington Nationals when he arrived at Shea Stadium for an afternoon tilt against the Mets. Mike Pelfrey carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, but the Mets were putting up zeroes on the board as well.

Washington scored a run in the eighth inning to go up 1-0, which was the score when the Mets came up to bat in the ninth inning. After Carlos Beltran led off the inning with a single, Ryan Church sliced a ball down the left field line that had extra-base hit written all over it. Of course, left field is Willie Harris territory, and he made the spectacular diving catch to preserve the Nats' victory.


The fielding trifecta was made complete this past season, as Willie Harris brought his defensive skills over from Shea Stadium to Citi Field. On April 10, the Mets were rallying against the Nationals. They were down 4-3 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and had the bases loaded for April übermensch Rod Barajas. The Mets' catcher lined a ball to left field that looked like a game-winning base hit.

Um, no. I'll let the photo below describe what happened.


Despite the fact that Willie Harris is a career .159 batter against the Mets, he doesn't just put on his Mets-killer shoes on defense. On July 3, 2010, he helped defeat the Mets with the bat as well.

The Mets were ahead 5-3 going to the bottom of the ninth inning at Nationals Park. Francisco Rodriguez (in his pre-Frankie Knuckles days) was on the mound with one out and a runner on second base. Willie Harris came up to bat as the tying run.

No, he didn't hit a homer (D'oh!), but he did smoke a line drive single to right. He later came around to score the tying run in a game the Mets eventually lost 6-5.


So now Willie Harris is a Met, and stands a good chance to win the fourth outfielder's job out of Spring Training. The staff at Studious Metsimus is torn about how to react to this news. We'll now have to cheer Harris when he takes the field for the Mets after years of hating the ground he walked on.

Harris is hated even more in the Studious Metsimus offices because of one particular fact. We were present for all four games mentioned above, including the game in Washington where his bat did the talking.

Will we attend any games at Citi Field this year when Harris makes a spectacular play? We sure hope so. After all, he owes us for four years of dashed hopes. Of course, with our luck he'll probably do something like this (see photos below) when we see him in person.



Willie Harris is now property of the New York Mets. Maybe he'll be Citi Field's version of Endy Chavez. At the very least, he won't be breaking our hearts (hopefully) in the ninth inning of ballgames.

Mr. Harris, we hope you brought your "Catch-22" glove with you to Flushing. If not, the same fans that booed you when you wore the uniforms of the Braves and Nationals will do the same when you're in orange and blue.

From Angel Pagan's Mouth To God's Ears

Angel Pagan might have been heaven sent over the past two seasons, but now he seems to have his head up in the clouds. According to today's Daily News, Anthony McCarron reports that the outfielder still believes the Mets can compete with the Phillies for the NL East division title, despite the fact that the Mets have done very little to upgrade the team during the offseason, while the Phillies now have the Four Horsemen in their rotation with the December acquisition of Cliff Lee. Pagan goes on to say the following:

"If we have health, we can give them a fight. Everyone is counting on Philadelphia, but they have to do it. I got my money on my team, bro. I love challenges and that's why I'm looking forward to it. I believe in surprises."

We all know Angel Pagan is not going to say that the Mets' goal for the 2011 season is to hold off the Washington Nationals for fourth place, especially now that Jayson Werth is there because he wants to win. But to say that the Mets can be part of the same stratosphere that the Phillies currently inhabit, although commendable for its optimistic perspective, is a little bit of a stretch.

Has Angel Pagan become aware of a top secret radical realignment plan by Bud Selig that would put the Mets in the NFC West for the 2011 season? If so, will Carlos Beltran be assessed a 15-yard penalty the next time he tries to take out Chase Utley at second base with a hard slide? Does R.A. Dickey have to trade in his Thesaurus for shoulder pads? Will Ruben Tejada be declared ineligible because he isn't three years removed from his high school days?

I'm sure there's a player on the Pirates who believes his team is going to win the NL Central, when the more realistic goal should be to just finish at .500. That's something the Bucs haven't done since 1992, when Barry Bonds* was a skinny MVP candidate who was feared on the bases and Bobby Bonilla still wasn't collecting his Millionaire For Life winnings from the Mets.

For now, getting over .500 would be a good start for the Mets. If they go from 79-83 to 83-79, that would be a good stepping stone. The 2005 Mets improved to 83-79 after suffering through three consecutive losing seasons. The year after their rise above .500, they went to the postseason. The 2011 Mets can plant the seeds that will begin to bloom in 2012. Angel Pagan shouldn't expect the moon this year. But he can be a part of the team that gets blasted off in 2011, with the potential to land in the playoffs in the coming years.

It's one thing to expect great things for your team, but it's another thing to say that the Mets are ready to compete with the team that finished with the best record in the National League in 2010, a team whose victory total has improved every year since 2006. The Phillies have their own version of the Fantastic Four (with Cole Hamels playing the role of the Invisible Woman), while the Mets have their Fantastic One (Johan Santana) out for a big chunk of the season.

Angel Pagan should just concentrate on being the best player he can be, giving 100% on the field, and not making 100% unreasonable predictions off the field. With Sandy Alderson having a definite plan on how to improve the team without doling out contracts that come back to bite him in the Bor-a$$, the competitive team Pagan wants will be there eventually. Just don't expect it to be an overnight success.

M.U.M.'s The Word (Most Underrated Mets): Sid Fernandez

When you think of the best trades in Mets history, a few of them immediately come to mind. Who can forget the 1983 trade that brought Keith Hernandez to the Mets for Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey? How about the deal that netted Gary Carter from Montreal prior to the 1985 season for Hubie Brooks and a bevy of not-ready-for-prime-time prospects? More recently, there was the 1998 deal in which the Mets traded three minor leaguers (including Mookie Wilson's stepson) for Mike Piazza.

However, one trade that doesn't always make the list of "best trades ever" was a deal pulled off by Frank Cashen in December of 1983. The trade between the NL West champion Dodgers and the NL East cellar dweller Mets hardly registered a blip on the baseball radar when it occurred, but when all was said and done, the exchange of utility man Bob Bailor and pitcher Carlos Diaz for infielder Ross Jones and Charles Sidney Fernandez became one of the biggest steals in franchise history.

Whether in color or in black and white, Sid Fernandez was one of the best pitchers in franchise history.

The 1983 Mets finished the season in last place with a 68-94 record. Although the team didn't do well in the standings, it did plant the seeds for improvement in 1984. With the promotion of rookie sensation Darryl Strawberry in May and the trade for first baseman Keith Hernandez in June, two key pieces of the offense were in place. Now it was time to upgrade the pitching staff.

The starting rotation at the end of the 1983 season featured Tom Seaver, Mike Torrez, Ed Lynch and two young pitchers who had been acquired from the Texas Rangers for fan-favorite Lee Mazzilli. Those two pitchers were Walt Terrell and Ron Darling.

Terrell was a hard luck pitcher for the Mets, starting 56 games in his three years with the team, but only winning 19 of them despite a 3.53 ERA. Darling, on the other hand, became a mainstay in the Mets' rotation for the remainder of the 1980s.

The Mets still needed starting pitchers once the 1984 season began. They fully expected Tom Seaver to be part of their 1984 rotation, but he was left unprotected in the free-agent compensation draft and was claimed by the Chicago White Sox. Also, Mike Torrez was reaching the end of his career. After making his major league debut during the same season that Seaver broke in (1967), Torrez lost a career-high 17 games in 1983. But he was still a Met in 1984, hanging on by a thread to his spot in the starting rotation.

The Mets filled one of their rotation spots with rookie phenom Dwight Gooden. They decided to go with another promising prospect, Tim Leary, to fill the role of fifth starter. That experiment ended in early May, after Leary faced 19 Reds batters and allowed 11 of them to reach base (six hits, five walks). A month later, Mike Torrez was released by the Mets, after going 1-5 with a 5.02 ERA in eight starts. That opened up a spot in the rotation, a spot that was filled by Sid Fernandez.

Sid Fernandez had been one of the Dodgers' top minor league prospects. In three minor league seasons from 1981-1983, El Sid went 32-11 and was virtually unhittable. In 60 starts, he struck out 560 batters in 401.2 innings, while allowing only 268 hits. After he was traded to the Mets prior to the 1984 season, he continued to confound batters at Tidewater, allowing only 69 hits in 105.2 innings over 17 starts. Soon after Torrez's release, the Mets called up Sid Fernandez and he was immediately inserted into the starting rotation, making his Mets debut on July 16, 1984.

Fernandez had an Amazin' start to his Mets career, winning his first three starts. He had a good, but not great, half season for the Mets in 1984, finishing the year with a 6-6 record and a 3.50 ERA. He also only struck out 62 batters and allowed 74 hits over 90 innings with the Mets. The dominant Sid Fernandez from the minor leagues had been reduced to a mediocre major league pitcher. That would not last very long.

Although Sid Fernandez finished the 1985 season with a 9-9 record, don't let his .500 winning percentage fool you. He was one of the most dominant pitchers in the major leagues that year. In 26 starts, spanning 170.1 innings, Sid struck out 180 batters. However, what was more incredible was the 108 hits he allowed.

Sid Fernandez gave up five hits or less in 21 of his 26 starts. Only once in those 26 starts did he give up more than four runs in a game, and when he did so against the Reds on July 22, he struck out 13 batters in the same game.

Unfortunately, the Mets wasted many of Sid's great performances in 1985, scoring three runs or less in half of his starts. Despite his lack of run support, Sid's mark of 5.7 hits per nine innings was the best in the major leagues in 1985. In fact, at the time, it was the sixth lowest mark in major league history, not much higher than Nolan Ryan's 5.3 H/9IP when he set the major league record in his first season with the Angels in 1972.

Sid Fernandez was here to stay in the big leagues. However, the Mets had fallen short in their quest to reach the postseason in 1984 and 1985. Fernandez needed to step up in a big way in 1986 if the Mets were finally going to play October baseball. He responded with his best season yet.

According to Davey Johnson, the Mets were not only going to win the division in 1986; they were going to dominate. One player who was particularly dominant in 1986 was Sid Fernandez. Prior to the All-Star Break, Sid was having a Cy Young Award-caliber season. In 16 starts leading up to the Midsummer Classic, Fernandez rolled to a 12-2 record and a 2.67 ERA. In 118 innings, he struck out 103 batters and gave up only 74 hits. Opposing batters hit only .180 against him. For his efforts, Sid was picked for the first time to represent the National League in the All-Star Game.

If Sid Fernandez wore #50 in honor of his home state of Hawaii, was he wearing #10 in this picture to honor his time at Tidewater? (Virginia was the 10th state to join the union.)

Sid Fernandez finished the 1986 season with a career-high 16 wins (against six losses) and 200 strikeouts. It was on to the NLCS against the Houston Astros, where Sid drew the unenviable task of facing the man with the right scuff, Mike Scott, in Game 4. Scott won his second game of the series against the Mets in Game 4, but Fernandez pitched very well for the Mets, allowing three runs on three hits in six innings of work. The Mets eventually won the NLCS in six games and moved on to the World Series against the Boston Red Sox. It was there that Sid Fernandez had perhaps the most important pitching performance of his career.

Despite his good outing in Game 4 of the NLCS, Sid was relegated to the bullpen for the World Series, as the Mets went to three starters (Ron Darling, Dwight Gooden, Bob Ojeda) against the Red Sox. His first World Series appearance did not go very well, as he faced four batters in Game 2 and gave up one run on three hits. However, the Red Sox already had a comfortable lead at the time, so Sid's performance did not affect the game's outcome.

In Game 5, Dwight Gooden started for the Mets and was hit hard, giving up four runs (three earned) on nine hits and two walks. The Mets were down 4-0 when Gooden was removed from the game for Sid Fernandez. Sid pitched the last four innings for the Mets (the Red Sox did not have to bat in the bottom of the ninth inning), allowing no runs on three hits. He struck out five batters and walked no one. His Game 5 performance did not lead the Mets to victory, as they lost 4-2, but did show that the dominant Sid Fernandez was back on top of his game, and that was most evident in the seventh and deciding game.

After the Mets rallied for three improbable runs in the bottom of the tenth inning of Game 6, it was on to Game 7. Because of a rainout, the game was pushed back from Sunday night to Monday night, allowing the Red Sox to scratch Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd from his start and replace him with Bruce Hurst, who had defeated the Mets in Game 1 and Game 5. The Mets responded with Ron Darling, who had pitched well in his Game 1 loss and his Game 4 victory. Game 7, however, was a different story.

Darling struggled early, giving up three runs on six hits in 3.2 innings. The key blows were back-to-back home runs by Dwight Evans and Rich Gedman to lead off the second inning. Darling hit Dave Henderson with a pitch to lead off the fourth inning. After Spike Owen flied out to right field, Henderson was then sacrificed to second by pitcher Bruce Hurst. That was all for Darling, as Davey Johnson replaced him with Sid Fernandez.

Fernandez walked Wade Boggs, but then retired Marty Barrett on a fly ball to right field to end the inning. The Mets were still down 3-0, but Fernandez was able to stop the bleeding. His next two innings gave the Mets all the confidence they needed to make one final comeback.

With the Mets still struggling at the plate against Bruce Hurst, Fernandez made sure that they would not have to come back from more than a three-run deficit. He pitched a perfect fifth inning, striking out two of the three batters he faced, then repeated the feat in the sixth inning. The Shea Stadium crowd was rejuvenated by Sid's electric performance. The electricity finally reached the Mets' bats in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Fueled by Sid Fernandez's yeoman-like effort, the Mets tied the game with three runs in the sixth inning. They followed that up with three more runs in the seventh inning and two insurance runs in the eighth inning. The offensive outburst led the Mets to an 8-5 victory and their first World Championship since 1969.

Although Sid was not credited with the victory for his performance (that honor went to Roger McDowell, who allowed the Red Sox to close to within a single run in the top of the eighth inning after the Mets had taken a 6-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh), it was his masterful work that set the stage for the Mets' comeback. Without Sid cauterizing the Mets' wounds with his blazing heater, the Red Sox might have been the ones to celebrate on the Shea Stadium field that night instead of the Mets.

Sid Fernandez had pitched the game of his life under the biggest spotlight. He did it just weeks after turning 24. Although Sid had his World Series ring, he still had the majority of his career ahead of him. What he did over the next seven seasons is what made him one of the best pitchers in Mets history.

Fernandez followed up his spectacular 1986 season with a solid year in 1987, winning 12 games against eight losses. After winning nine of his first 12 decisions, he was selected to his second All-Star Game. Then in late July, the injury bug that struck the Mets pitching staff all year found its way to Sid Fernandez. Sid missed nearly a month of action on the DL before returning to the team in late August. He went on to make seven more starts for the Mets in 1987, but was a shadow (albeit a large shadow) of his pre-injured self, compiling a 5.34 ERA after his return from the DL.

After his injury-plagued 1987 season, Sid went on to record one of the best prolonged stretches of excellence since Tom Seaver's first stint with the Mets. From 1988-1993, Sid pitched to the tune of a 2.98 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. He led the league in winning percentage once (1989, when he finished with a 14-5 record) and was the league leader in fewest hits allowed per nine innings twice (1988, 1990). In fact, during the entire six-year period from 1988-1993, Sid Fernandez pitched 964 innings and allowed only 694 hits. Over those six years, Sid made 151 starts. That averages out to 4.6 hits allowed per start OVER A SIX YEAR PERIOD!

I've heard of guys pitching from the stretch, but this is ridiculous.

One of the reasons why this long stretch of dominance over National League batters has been overlooked was Sid's won-loss record over the period. From 1988-1993, Sid's record was only 55-49. In fact, if you take out his 1989 season, when he went 14-5, Sid actually had a losing record over the other five seasons (41-44).

Despite the mediocre record, Sid still finished his Mets career after the 1993 season with 98 victories, placing him fifth on the all-time list behind Tom Seaver (198 wins), Dwight Gooden (157 wins), Jerry Koosman (140 wins) and Ron Darling (99 wins). His victory total is also second on the all-time list for left-handed pitchers behind Koosman.

If you look at the Mets' career leaderboard, you will find Sid Fernandez's name everywhere. In addition to the wins, Sid finished in the top ten in ERA (10th, 3.14), WHIP (3rd, 1.11), H/9IP (2nd, 6.6), innings pitched (5th, 1584.2), strikeouts (4th, 1,449), games started (4th, 250) and shutouts (8th, 9).

Sid Fernandez was also one of the best Shea Stadium pitchers of all-time. In 124 games at Shea (123 starts), Sid was 58-31 with a 2.52 ERA and a WHIP of 1.00. He also struck out better than a batter per inning (825 Ks in 821.2 IP). In those 124 games at Shea Stadium, opposing batters hit only .182 against him (531 hits in those 821.2 IP). To beat Sid Fernandez at Shea Stadium, teams had to outpitch him because they surely weren't going to beat him with the bat.

When you think of the best Mets pitchers of all-time, the obvious names that stand out are Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden and Jerry Koosman. But given his overall numbers and his extended period of dominance against National League hitters, would it be unreasonable to suggest that Sid Fernandez is the fourth-best pitcher in franchise history? Without question, he is the second-best left-handed starting pitcher in Mets history after Jerry Koosman.

The Mets had Sid Fernandez on their team for ten seasons (1984-1993). His arrival coincided with the revival of the franchise and his departure occurred simultaneously with their return to the bottom of the National League East standings. During his decade at Shea, fans were treated to one of the best pitchers they'd ever see in a Mets uniform. Unfortunately, he was never the ace of the staff and was never treated like one. But he had an ace of a career, a career that is unquestionably one of the most underrated careers in franchise history.

An Amazin'ly Stupid Article In Today's NY Post

Normally, I have a lot of respect for New York Post sportswriter Phil Mushnick. For years, his columns have been among the first I turn to whenever I buy the Post. But today, I feel like he gave the Mets a cheap shot without doing any research on the topic he was blasting them for.

In his weekly Sunday feature, Equal Time, Phil Mushnick discusses the scheduling of an April night game at Citi Field. You can read the entire article here, but if your link-clicking finger is on the disabled list, I will copy and paste the article below. The title of the post is "April Night Game is Amazin'ly Stupid":

"The Mets' 2011 schedule perfectly fits the Bud Selig Era.

For example, if logic were applied what time would you schedule a home game against Washington on Saturday, April 9th? Early afternoon, 1 p.m., right? It's a night game. A night game on Saturday, April 9th. Now get this: Starting May 14 through Sept. 10, the Mets are not scheduled to play an early afternoon Saturday game, not home or away. There are a few 4:10 starts for FOX, but the rest are night games. Not even one traditional (sensible) 1 p.m. Saturday start for 18 consecutive Saturdays!"

Although scheduling a Saturday night game for early April in a cold weather city is unusual, there is a simple reason for this.

Look at the date. It's Saturday, April 9. When is Opening Day at Citi Field? Friday, April 8. Most teams schedule a day off after their home opener. They do this because Opening Day is usually the only game they can count on to be a sellout. Therefore, if the game is postponed because of poor weather, the game can be made up the following day, where it would still be the home opener and the team can still capitalize from the expected high attendance. Without that day off after Opening Day, the league would have to make the game up as part of an in-season doubleheader or find a mutual day off for the two teams to play the game.

Attendance at makeup games is usually far below sellout status. With attendance at Citi Field dropping in 2010, any game that has the potential to be a sellout becomes quite important to the team from a financial standpoint. Other than the Subway Series games against the Yankees, Opening Day might be the only guaranteed sellout at Citi Field in 2011.

However, with the league deciding to move away from its usual Monday Opening Day, the Mets will now be opening up the season in Florida on Friday, April 1. Their home opener is scheduled for one week later, also on a Friday. Scheduling a day off after the home opener would create a Saturday without a baseball game at Citi Field. Since teams always play on the weekends (the majority of scheduled off-days are on Monday or Thursday), the Mets would not be able to schedule an off-day on Saturday, April 9.

Therefore, the Mets had to make their first Saturday game at Citi Field a night game. In the event that the home opener is rained out (or snowed out), the game would more than likely be made up as part of a day-night doubleheader the following day (Saturday, April 9). The regularly scheduled night game would go on as scheduled at 7:10pm, but the rescheduled home opener would be played during the day on Saturday. It would still be the first home game of the season for the Mets, maintaining its Opening Day status, and would still attract a sellout crowd.

Had Phil Mushnick put some thought into his article before writing it, he would have realized what took me just a few minutes to explain. The Mets are not Amazin'ly stupid for scheduling a night game on April 9. They're actually doing the right thing, from both a business standpoint and for the sake of the fans who still want to go to Opening Day. It's too bad Mushnick couldn't do the right thing before submitting his article.

After Strawberry, It's Been 20 Years of Musical Chairs In Right Field

Ask any Mets fan who the greatest rightfielder in franchise history is and before you get to the word "franchise", you'll get your answer - Darryl Strawberry. Now ask them who the best rightfielder is after the Straw Man and you'll hear crickets.

It's no surprise that no one can name the second best rightfielder in Mets history. After all, since Darryl planted his Strawberry Patch and claimed the position for his own, the Mets have auditioned a plethora of candidates for the job and none of them has been able to make the position his own.

Here's a trivia question for you. Since Darryl played his last game as a Met in 1990, who has started the most games in right field for the team? Whatever answer you say, you're probably wrong. The correct answer is... wait for it... Jeromy Burnitz!


Burnitz had two short stints with the Mets. He played for the Mets briefly in 1993 (86 games) and 1994 (45 games), but never made much of a splash. He showed some promise in 1993 by hitting 13 home runs in 263 at-bats, but his uppercut to end all uppercuts (except his own) led to many strikeouts and a poor batting average. He paid the price for those home runs by hitting .243 during his rookie season. He fared worse in the strike-shortened 1994 season, hitting three home runs and striking out 45 times in 143 at-bats. (Meanwhile, his replacement in right field, Joe Orsulak, struck out 21 times in 292 at-bats in 1994.)

The Mets gave up on the man they thought would replace Strawberry as their left-handed power-hitting rightfielder after the 1994 season, trading him to the Cleveland Indians for pitchers Paul Byrd, Jerry DiPoto and Dave Mlicki (whose claim to fame is the 1997 shutout of the Yankees). The three pitchers combined for a total of 38 wins during their time with the Mets. Burnitz did a little better than that after leaving New York.

Once Cleveland traded Burnitz to the Brewers in 1996, his career took off. In his first full season in Milwaukee, Burnitz hit 27 HR and drove in 85 runs. The 27 homers were two more than he had hit over his first four big league seasons combined. He then had a stellar 1997 season for the Brewers, collecting 38 HR and 125 RBI. The RBI total is higher than any Met has achieved in nearly half a century of the franchise's existence (Mike Piazza had 124 RBI in 1999, a mark equaled by David Wright in 2008).

From 1997-2001, Burnitz averaged 33 HR and 102 RBI per season for Milwaukee, which made him a top target for the Mets in 2002. The Mets re-acquired the man they gave up on nearly a decade earlier to team up with fellow new acquisitions Mo Vaughn and Roberto Alomar in the hopes of pushing the Mets back to the top of the NL East. Let's just say that once Jeromy returned to New York, his career crashed and burn-itzed.

Jeromy Burnitz played one and a half seasons for the Mets after his return to New York in 2002. The one-time sure bet for a 100 RBI season was only able to drive in 99 runs in his year and a half with the team. However, his tendency to strike out did not abandon him the way his other skills did, as he fanned a total of 190 times in 2002 and the first half of 2003.


Despite his two short unsuccessful stints in New York, Burnitz's 290 starts in right field are the most since Darryl Strawberry left the Mets after the 1990 season to play for his hometown Dodgers. By comparison, David Wright has started 297 games at third base over the past two seasons. That's seven more games than any Mets player has started in right field over the past 20 years! And David Wright actually spent time on the disabled list in 2009 after suffering a direct hit from Matt Cain's head-seeking missile, yet he still started more games at third base over the past two years than any player has started in right field in 20 years.

Third base used to be the musical chairs position for the Mets. Through the end of the 2010 season, a total of 142 men had played at least one game at the hot corner. Third base has been replaced by right field as the position where long-term careers go to die. From 1962-2010, a total of 197 men have played at least one game in right field. If Carlos Beltran moves over to right field in 2011 (which he should), he would become the 198th Met to be player #9 on your scorecard.

Of those 197 men to play right field, only Darryl Strawberry (1,062 games) and Rusty Staub (535 games) have started more than 500 games at the position. Right field has been such a revolving door for players that the 290 starts made by Jeromy Burnitz in right field make him fifth on the all-time Mets leaderboard.

Finally, in the twenty seasons since Darryl Strawberry signed with the Dodgers, the Mets have used 102 players in right field, or more than half of the men who have played the position in franchise history. Now it's Angel Pagan's turn to be the Mets' rightfielder. (Or is it Carlos Beltran?) Given the recent history in right field, neither Pagan nor Beltran will probably keep the position for long.

Most successful teams have stability in their everyday lineup. Since Darryl Strawberry last played for the Mets in 1990, right field has been anything but stable. Isn't it time the Mets found someone they can feel comfortable with as their rightfielder? After all, twenty years is an awful long time to be conducting tryouts for the job.

Joey's Soapbox: The Joey Jinx Strikes Again!

Chris Carter, the man known as "The Animal" to Mets fans, has become the latest player to fall victim to what is now known as The Joey Jinx. What, pray tell, is The Joey Jinx? I'm Joey Beartran and if you're not afraid of my jinx, I will get on my soapbox to tell you all about it.

Take a look at the photo below. That's Chris Carter holding me in the Mets' press conference room.


The photo was taken after the Mets' last regular season game in October. It was also the last time The Animal (not me...I'm talking about Chris!) was photographed as an employee of the Mets. In the offseason, the Mets decided to non-tender him, making him available to sign with any other team.

The Tampa Bay Rays have decided to fill the role of "any other team", as they have signed The Animal to a minor league contract.

If you haven't been able to figure it out yet, The Joey Jinx strikes whenever a Mets player holds me in a photograph. Carter is now the third former Met to fall victim to the Joey Jinx.

The first one was Eddie Kunz (see photo, right). Sweaty Eddie was invited to Port St. Lucie in February, after a brief cup of coffee with the Mets in 2008 and a full season at AAA-Buffalo in 2009. Then he met me in Spring Training and agreed to hold me for a picture. You can imagine what happened next.

Not only did Eddie Kunz fail to break camp with the Mets, he didn't even make it back to Triple-A. He played his entire 2010 season at AA-Binghamton and had the type of season that only his mother and Oliver Perez could be proud of.

He pitched in 42 games, of which 12 were starts. In 111.1 innings, Kunz recorded a 5.34 ERA, 1.65 WHIP and actually walked more batters than he struck out (68 walks/63 strikeouts). The only positive thing to come out of our meeting was his great Wikipedia photo (taken by Sharon Chapman).

The second player to be victimized by my jinx was Pedro Feliciano. He may have been known as Perpetual Pedro, but once he put his hands up my...I mean, once he was photographed holding me, his stay with the Mets was no longer perpetual.

Feliciano was a mainstay in the Mets bullpen for almost a full decade. He set the franchise record for appearances in each of the last three years. His 86, 88 and 92 games pitched from 2008-2010 also led the National League. Pedro has a solid 2009 season for the Mets, finishing the year with a 6-4 won-loss record, to go with a tidy 3.03 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP.

Then in between the 2009 and 2010 season, our photo op occurred. During the ensuing regular season, Pedro's record dropped to 3-6, while his ERA increased slightly (3.30) and his WHIP increased dramatically (1.53).

The Mets decided not to re-sign Pedro during the offseason, and he signed with the crosstown New York Yankees for two years and $8 million. Just between you and me, I hope he brings my jinx over to The House That Juice Built.

Chris Carter and Eddie Kunz were probably never going to be big stars in New York, while Pedro Feliciano, although important to the team, was only a middle reliever. I've been careful not to spread The Joey Jinx to one of the Mets' everyday players...or have I?

It is with great regret that I must inform you that this past December, I attended the Mets MVP Reception at Citi Field. Numerous players were in attendance that afternoon. I went for the food and the opportunity to discuss team politics with new GM Sandy Alderson and new manager Terry Collins.

Except those weren't the only people I ran into.

In a faraway corner of the Caesar's Club, one lone figure stood. I couldn't help but notice his unshaven face. He had the look of a man wise beyond his years and appeared slightly exhausted, perhaps due to months of throwing his body around into immovable objects, like a dugout railing or three.

I felt sorry for the bearded fellow, so I walked over to him and asked him if it would make him feel better if I took a photograph with him. He thought to himself for a moment, then smiled as he answered (and I quote) "uh...sure, why not?" It was then that I realized who this hirsute Metropolitan was...


Ladies and Gentle-Mets, the lonely bearded man in the corner was Mets first baseman Ike Davis.

It is unknown whether The Joey Jinx will cause Ike Davis to have a Sophomore Slump in 2011. He did finish the 2010 season well, hitting .330 and compiling a .427 on-base percentage after the calendar turned to September. But we have already seen the negative effects of being photographed with me.

Three times a Mets player has posed with me for a photo. Three times that player's production suffered and he was either demoted or signed with another team.

So to all you Mets fans out there, I would like to apologize in advance for going over to Ike Davis on that cold December day in the Caesar's Club. Had he been standing next to a railing instead of alone in the corner, perhaps I would have recognized him before I had the chance to jinx his 2011 season.

I promise that if I am ever photographed again with another baseball player, it will either be with Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay or Chase Utley. The Joey Jinx doesn't discriminate.