On October 1, 2004, I was having dinner with my wife of six months and my new in-laws. As we bantered back and forth I kept one eye on the TV mounted in the corner of Applebee’s. When I saw a basehit up the middle,
I excitedly tapped my wife on the shoulder. “He did it!” My in-laws, who knew nothing about Baseball, asked, “Who did what?” I explained that Mariners’ outfielder Ichiro Suzuki just broke George Sisler’s record for most hits in a season, a record that stood untouched for more than 80 years. My mother-in-law asked innocently, “Are the Mariners a good team?” “No,” I responded. “They suck.” The look on her face was…well, priceless. How a team with such a talented player could suck was mind-boggling to her.
But that’s what makes baseball the most beautiful game ever created. You can’t keep getting the puck to Wayne Gretzky, handing off to Walter Payton or passing to Magic Johnson for a lay-up. The National Pastime, more than any other game, is a team sport. This is a fact we need to remember.
Enter Walter Johnson. Widely regarded as the best pitcher in history, The Big Train was to pitching what The Bambino was to hitting. Over a 21 year career, Johnson won 417 games, second only to Cy Young.
His career ERA was an anemic 2.17. He recorded 3,508 strikeouts. It took another 50 years for a pitcher to even reach 3,000. In the last 50 years only two pitchers—Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan—even came “close” to his record 110 shut-outs. They recorded 61. Johnson led the American League in wins six times, twice eclipsing 30 of them Throw in five ERA crowns and leading the league in strikeouts 12 times.
Yep, that Johnson guy was not bad. However, despite incredible numbers for two decades, Walter Johnson only was a World Champion just once.
The reason is simple. In spite of Johnson’s splendid career, he played for what is generally regarded as a bad team. He had poor defense behind him, and a weak offense provided little, if any, run support. Johnson compiled a .599 winning percentage while his team compiled a 492 winning percentage. Incredibly, in his 279 losses, the Senators were shut out 65 times. Imagine how many more games Johnson could’ve won had he played for a team with some decent hitting.
Matt Harvey made his debut for the Mets on July 26, 2012. In 10 starts he posted a 2.73 ERA and fanned 70 batters in 59.0 innings pitched. His strikeout to walk ratio was nearly 3:1, yet despite such a grand debut, Harvey had a losing record. 3-5.
Having Harvey for an entire season made the fan base cautiously optimistic for 2013. The Dark Knight became the newest member of ‘The Next Tom Seaver’ club. Maybe, just maybe, this time there was some truth to this oft thrown around label.
The hard-throwing righty did not disappoint. Harvey whiffed 191 batters in 178 innings while walking only 31. He became the first Mets pitcher to start an All-Star Game since Doc Gooden a quarter of a century earlier. Harvey was having an epic campaign and yet despite all his gaudy numbers, he won just nine games in four months.
As you all know, Harvey was shut down after being diagnosed with a torn elbow ligament. He’d miss the rest of 2013 and all of 2014 after Tommy John surgery. Barring setbacks, in 2013 Mets fans were not clamoring “wait till next year” but “Wait till the year after next year.”
We widely regarded 2014 to be another ‘throw-away’ year. And it certainly has been. Yes, there have been some bright spots, but by and large the Mets have spent the year struggling to approach 500 and fighting to stay ahead of the Phillies to avoid last place. The general consensus is that next year (2015) when Harvey returns, we’ll be better. Many fans believe with Harvey pitching every fifth day the Mets have a legitimate shot at making the post-season. But do we?
Assuming Harvey returns in 2015 with the same dominance he showed for three-quarters of 2013, you can be sure he will be on an innings limit roughly between 150 and 175. The Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg was capped at 160.
This means that even if the Mets DO find themselves battling for a wild card, it’s unlikely Harvey will still be around in September. Could we compete for the playoffs with our ace on the bench during the month-long stretch run? I hope so, but who knows. I just don’t want to see 2015 turn into another ‘wait until next year’ grind when Harvey will be free of restrictions in 2016. I want to see a serious commitment to winning next season with plans A, B and C firmly in place.
The point here is twofold. The Mets really need to do better than an offense that ranks 29th in batting and 28th in OPS if we seriously intend to make a run for the playoffs next season. And it may be a good idea to have a solid backup plan for Matt Harvey – just in case. Lets be proactive for a change. This is going to be one of the most significant offseasons we’ve had in years. Lets make it happen in 2015. We need the teamwork to make the dream work.
