It was a strange season for the New York Mets in 2007…
When the season first started you almost had a sense that the Mets were going to haul in a ton of awards by the time the season was over…
We all thought we had a Batting Title in the bag…
At the end of April we had Jose Reyes (.356), Carlos Beltran (.356), and Moises Alou (.349) all leading the National League in batting and they ranked first, second and third. I thought we were on the verge of the greatest season in Mets history. It ended up being the pride before the fall. Only Moises Alou would maintain that average for an entire season, and ironically, he fell short of the minimum at-bats needed to win the Batting Title.
When May rolled around we had not just one, but two Cy Young Award candidates…
John Maine was 4-0 and led the Major League with a 1.35 ERA. In 33 innings he had allowed only 18 hits and was third in the league in strikeouts. Orlando Hernandez was in vintage form and was second in the league with a sparkling 2.02 ERA after seven starts. He could have easily owned a 6-0 record if not for three early blown saves by the Mets bullpen, and he was second in the league in strikeout ratio. Maine’s ERA hovered around 5.00 the rest of the season and El Duque was true to form and went lame at the end of the season.
We had the best closer in the National League…
Yes, it’s true, Billy Wagner was having the best season of his career. At the All Star break he had a league leading 1.64 ERA and he had saved 17 games in 18 opportunities. Check this out… In only 38 innings pitched, Wagner had struck out 51 batters while walking only 10 batters. Nasty! However, in the second half his ERA swelled to 4.00 and he had 4 blown saves.
MVP… MVP… MVP…
When the season first started it was not David Wright that we hailed as our MVP candidates. Instead we were singing the praises of Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes who were both in the top 5 of all the major hitting categories. David Wright was busy trying to extend the teams all time consecutive hitting streak, but was only hitting .234 during his streak. Beltran ended April second in the league in RBI with 23 and he launched 6 homers and stole 5 bases while batting a league leading .356. Reyes, on the other hand, was no less MVP-ish as he not only led the league in steals with 17, but also was tops in runs scored with 26, hits with 37, and tied with Beltran with a .356 average. Most astounding of all was the fact he had 62 total bases in April with a .596 slugging percentage! Everything kept coming up roses for the Mets back then.
As the season drew to an end, Jose Reyes went into a funk and hit only .231 in the last two months of the season, and Carlos Beltran was nagged by injuries, but still managed to finish with a solid season. In the end it was David Wright who finished with an MVP caliber season as he logged the Mets’ first 30 homer, 30 steal season. After hitting his 30th homer on September 16th, he failed to hit another one during the last 14 games of the season, as the Mets fell short of a division title, he may have fallen short of an MVP too.
Almost every championship team has a player or two that usually cops a major award. The Red Sox will have at least a Cy Young in Josh Beckett, while the Rockies have a Rookie of the Year in Troy Tulowitzki and a batting champ and possible MVP in Matt Holliday. Incidentally, I didn’t forget to analyze any of the Mets’ potential Rookie of the Year candidates, the fact was that none of the rookies that debuted for the Mets were worthy of any recognition by the voters. It’s as sad a reality as it was shocking when you consider the hype that accompanied their promotions to the majors.
Maybe it’s best this way.
Maybe we don’t need any reminders of the 2007 season collecting dust in some trophy case.
Still, I would have liked to see one of our players win something… It may have been bittersweet, but at least it would have been something.
