9
2012
Who Is The Mets First Half Hero?
An article by 
The Mets enter the All Star break today in a position few, if any, fans envisioned. With forty-six wins under their belt, the Mets reside in third place in the NL East and just out of the final wild card spot. How did this happen you ask? Well here are a few of your favorites who are more responsible than the rest for the team’s surprising first half.
Johan Santana
The highlight of the season thus far is without question Johan Santana’s June 1st no-hitter. The first in team history, Santana’s no-hitter caps off what has to be considered a very pleasant surprise for Mets fans. At 6-5 with a 3.24 ERA, his 17 games started to date already outnumber the total several “experts” had predicted before season’s start. Despite the fact that he has been hit or miss since that 134 pitch no-hitter, Santana’s presence in the rotation by itself is more important to this team than most fans would like to admit. His leadership has been, and will remain important for the remainder of the year if the Mets are to continue this run.
David Wright
Folks, your captain has returned! Maybe its the new Citi Field dimensions, maybe its just dumb luck, but David Wright has returned to form. After several seasons of strikeout happy baseball, Wright is hitting to contact and finding holes in the defense. This, when combined with the fact that he has nearly cut his strikeout rate in half, finds Wright hitting .351, good for third in all of baseball. Despite the fact that he is only on pace for 21 home runs, Wright’s 59 RBI also finds him amongst the league leaders in that category which to this point, solidifies himself as an early MVP candidate.
RA Dickey
The biggest surprise in all of MLB has to be RA Dickey’s first half. Leading the majors with 12 wins, his 2.40 ERA ranks fifth amongst starters. Bluntly put, the Mets have won 14 of Dickey’s 17 starts this season and he has been without question the team’s best asset of the year. It appears RA has mastered his knuckleball. Varying speeds and an uncanny ability to find the strike zone has rendered hitters speechless. Should his inspiring season continue, Dickey will not only find himself as the team’s bonafide ace, but he will also in line for the most lucrative deal of his career.
Despite the fact that the team as a whole has picked each other up repeatedly throughout the year, there should be little debate that these three are the Mets most influential players. A case can be made for each, but who has been the most heroic first half Met? Has Johan led the way? Has the resurrection of Wright’s career carried the Mets over the hump? Or maybe the evolution of RA Dickey has been the most inspirational? The Mets have had no shortage of heroics this season, but who is the catalyst most responsible for the team’s surprising first half?
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About the Author: Rob Patterson
Ultimately, I owe nearly thirty years of Mets related torture to my mother, who is the reason I became a fan. I was too young to remember the 86 run, but hope to see one I'll be able to recall much sooner than later. I enjoy writing about the team and welcome your feedback on my posts. Oh..and I am not with 28!
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 24 | 18 | .571 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 20 | .535 | 1.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 23 | .465 | 4.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 24 | .400 | 7.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 32 | .256 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
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I think it should be Terry Collins… He’s not the most smart man in managerial tactics, but he’s got everyone playing hard and the right way to play… It has been fun to watch guys battling back, fighting for every pitch, with that never give up attitude.. Despite great firslt halfs by Dickey and WRight (Maybe playing for that extension always helps), the amazing comeback story of santana and the good play from everyone on the team. the team MVP in the first half IMHO should be collins.
Patterson, i wanted to ask you a quick question, when you said this: “I was too young to remember the 86 run” How old were you??? There’s a guy in here who was 4 years old and was drinking champagne when the mets won…. LOL, so, if you were around that age, Go ahead and say you were celebrating also ok…
I was 3 and some change at the time… Cant remember any of it unfortunately
I’ve been a pretty harsh critic of Wright in recent years, but this team would be 15 games out without his contributions this year.
Santana has pitched a no Hitter folks and really thats about it.
Yes he probably gave you your best memory from the 2012 season and in some cases the Mets in general (for us long and old suffering foggies around here who have seen all those games we didn’t get one)
But he is one game above .500 at the moment and really other than the cG shutout followed by the No No he hasn’t pitched as well as some are making him out to have.
It really comes down to Wright and Dickey.
Wright helps us every day and Dickey every 5. Advantage Wright but when it comes right down to it I have to give it to Dickey because he is the one who has snapped the losing streaks consistently which is key to why we have not dropped more than 4 games in a row this season!
This team hasn’t had a chance to get really down in the dumps mostly because Dickey always brings them back from oblivion every 5 days!
Earlypost there sorry…
If he was replaced with a .500 pitcher we would be right around the same Win Pct we were at this time last year!
That makes him the hero so far!
Wright is having a great season and will probably win the MVP should we go all the way and if Dickey keeps on doing what he is doing a Cy Young will be his consolation prize for not being MVP.
I disagree, Santana has had an awesome season, I can think of two bad starts off the top of my head, the Yankees game after the nono, and this recent Cubs game where he just didn’t have it. Those two games aside he’s pitched far better then his record shows. He’s been the leader the rest of the staff looks to.
I Guess you forgot the game in Atlanta. The one he went only 2 innings.
Since the No No he has gone over 6IP just once vs the Dodgers and went 4.2 inning the last pouting due to the ankle. And lets face facts he wasn’t doing all that well even before the ankle.
Compare that to Dickey who has never pitched less than 6 innings, Consecutive 1 Hitters and has the record he does?
No contest here!
If Santana has pitched great then Dickey is off the charts!
If I had to pick 1 person on the Mets that is most responsible for where they are right now, I have to pick Santana.
I think his competitiveness rubs off on every player in that clubhouse. I think the fact they know they have him “healthy” gives them a boost. His no hitter erased 50 years of history. Guys like Dickey, Niese seem to feed off of Johan’s outings.
Nothing taken away from Wright, Dickey, TC, or even Tejada but I think it has to be Johan.
BTW I mention Tejada because even though he was injured, replacing a star SS is not an easy thing to do. He has exceeded many expectations both in the field and at the plate and he’s frankly making the Mets look like they made the right call with Reyes.
Yet Santana is just that one no Hitter away from being .500!!!
It was a special moment but he has hardly been the guy that drives the team.
Yes he brings some leadership to the Rotation.
The rest all one or two games over .500 as well.
Dickey would be undefeated if the one game he was truly horrible in got rained out!
You know who I think the hero of this first half should be? The one who said “Mr. Wilpon, Tear Down This Wall”.
But as far as the players are concerned, my vote goes to – Ruben Tejada. Of course, he is too young to provide the veteran leadership in the clubhouse or lead by example on the field but he is also the one who faced the pressure of filling the shoes of the face of the franchise – a move hotly debated by the media and by fans – and has come through admirably. Who at this juncture of the season thought we couldn’t care less about Jose Reyes (putting aside the disagreements on why he is no longer a Met)? Not mention how much his bat was missed when on the disabled list.
Ruben is doing what was unexpected of him – and more! He was placed in the middle of a heated fan crossfire regarding the front office and the player some felt wanted to leave and others felt he was no longer welcome – and didn’t succumb to it. On guts alone, this kid is my choice.
That’s who I was thinking too! Huge shoes to fill and he’s doing it his own way. Not trying to replace Jose, but to make his own mark and he’s doing a helluva job.
I think and Dickey, Wright, Santana and Collins all deserve accolades too.
As far as Santana goes, sometimes the contribution goes beyond numbers, wait unless you’re a sabregoon right, or is it Wright when it’s all about numbers?
I think it’s great that we are even having this conversation, and having to decide between a few different players, been a while since that has happened.
“… sometimes the contribution goes beyond numbers, wait unless you’re a sabregoon right, or is it Wright when it’s all about numbers?”
Very clever.
Nice to talk about heroes, but what about the disappointments? Bullpen, Duda, Davis, Flores, Thole, Bay, lack of power, no speed, errors. To make the playoffs, the team needs help!
Flores? The 20 year old kid batting .390 in AA?
Probably means Torres but he’s been very good vs LHP. 286/425/429 854 OPS Vs LH starters and 266/413/375 788 OPS vs LHP overall. As a platoon against LHP, at the top of the order getting OB at an over 400 clip is outstanding. And Nieuwenhuis vs RHP is 299/346/459 805 OPS. That’s pretty damn good producton from CF and that’s with Kirk Slumping. It was even better than that.