The Best and Worst of 2007 (Happy New Year Mets Fans!)
Best’s
Best Catch- Carlos Beltran’s over-the-shoulder-while-running-sideways-up-a-hill catch in Houston. Wow!
Best Pitching Performance- John Maine’s near no-hitter on September 29th. (I refuse to call it a one-hitter because a little 35 foot dribbler off the bat of Paul Hoover does not count as a hit in my book.) This was the best pitching performance I’d seen from a player in a Mets uniform since the days of Doc Gooden.
Best Relief Appearance- Armando Benitez. Ok, I know it’s not for the Mets, but it certainly did us a lot of good when Jose Reyes caused Benitez to balk twice in the 9th inning on a game vs. the Giants in May, setting up a comeback win for Carlos Delgado.
Best Inning- The Mets entered the ninth inning of play against the Cubs on a game in May, down 4 runs. Everyone assumed the game was over, but the players strung together a bunch of hits and came back to win the game.
Best Game- The 13-0 rout of the Marlins on September 29th, complete with 2 thrilling bench-clearing brawls, a masterful “near no-hitter” by John Maine and getting thrust back into the race for the NL East. (Forget about what happened the next day- this was one of the most electrifying games I have ever witnessed live!)
Best Hit - Endy Chavez’s walk off bunt
Best Achievement - Joining the 30-30 club, stealing 78 bases, recording 3,000 career strikeouts or having a 30-game hitting streak are all pretty impressive, but I have to go with Tom Glavine reaching the 300 win plateau. I still hold a grudge, but that doesn’t take away from what a remarkable achievement 300 wins is.
Best Hair - Jose Reyes, before he was forced to shave it.
Worst’s
Worst Pitching Performance - No Question- Tom Glavine on September 30th. In the biggest game of his Mets career, he couldn’t even manage to get 2 outs or keep the Mets in the game. I just hope he’s prepared for the wrath that awaits him when he returns to Shea in a Braves uniform in April.
Worst Relief Appearance - Every time Guillermo Mota took the mound.
Worst Inning - The Inning against the Dodgers, when John Maine surrendered 3 consecutive home runs on 3 consecutive pitches to the 7th, 8th and 9th place hitters, including the pitcher.
Worst Game - September 30th
Worst Hair - Shawn Green’s hair (or lack there of) Please Shawn, never go bald again.
Comments
I've been to a ton of Mets games in my life, and I gotta tell ya, John Maine's game really was the most exciting game I have ever seen. The crowd was fantastic, the team looked like the team we wanted them to be and it was perfect. I still have that ticket stub in my wallet, and I still have the game tivoed at home.
Posted by: nate | December 30, 2007 11:37 AM
Great Article!!! I agree with you on every point, especialy on the worst inning cause I was at that game and personally had to witness Pitcher, Hong-Chih Kuo (AKA I Can Only Beat The Mets)flip his bat when he and everyone else in the stadium knew that third straight pitch was a dinger...I remember very vividly because as he hit it I had just finished saying "Well at least we don't have to worry about a third straight homer with the pitch coming up."...Boy was I wrong!
Posted by: Kevin | December 30, 2007 6:57 PM
Thanks for bringing back the good memories :)
And reminding us that its great that we got rid of Mota, and Glavine for that matter lol
Posted by: Kelly | December 31, 2007 3:24 PM
Wouldn't the worst inning be the Glavine game? Or the game when the Marlins scored 3 in the 9th after Anderson hit that 3-run triple?
Posted by: Fred | December 31, 2007 4:04 PM