3/14/18

Tom Brennan – WINNERS AND LOSERS


Tom Brennan – WINNERS AND LOSERS

In life, things often come down to a certain dichotomy:

WINNERS AND LOSERS.

The Mets, like any team, have had both.

When one thinks of a pitcher who is a winner, winning 20 games in a season certainly is a gold standard of pitching excellence.  Which Mets to date have won 20 in a season as a Met? Six have, including Tom Seaver FOUR TIMES:

TOM SEAVER - in 1969 went a sensational 25-7, 2.21 ERA, 208 strikeouts in 273.1 IP

TOM SEAVER – in 1971, after managing a mere 18 wins in 1970, Seaver returned to 20 win form, going 20-10, 1.76 ERA, 289 strikeouts in 286.1 IP with 21 (not a misprint) complete games.

TOM SEAVER – in 1972, not skipping a year this time, the Terrific One went 21-12, 2.92 ERA, with 249 strikeouts in 262 IP, a league-leading ratio of 8.6 Ks per 9 IP.

TOM SEAVER - in 1975, Tom dazzled again at 22-9, 2.38 ERA, 243 strikeouts in 280 IP.  Of course, in one of the great common-sense moves in baseball history, the Mets traded Seaver early in the 1977 season, a year in which he pitched mostly with the Reds and won 21 games.

JERRY KOOSMAN – having almost won 20 games for a truly miserable hitting Mets team in his rookie season in 1968, Jerry finally broke the 20 win barrier in 1976, going 21-10, 2.69 ERA, 200 strikeouts.  He also won 20 as a non-Met in 1979.

DWIGHT GOODEN in 1985 had a season for the ages at age 20, going 24-4, 1.53 ERA, 268 strikeouts.  Fans probably thought there would be several more 20 win seasons, but that was his one and only.

DAVID CONE in 1988 was very economical, going 20-3, 2.22 ERA, 213 strikeouts.  Nice.

FRANK VIOLA – Frankie V in 1990 put up a stellar campaign with 20-12, 2.67 ERA, 182 strikeout results.

After 8 twenty win seasons from 1969-1990, Met fans figured it would happen once every few years…NOT!  The 9th and final 20 game winner was an extreme dark horse:

R.A. DICKEY, 2012 - 20-6, 2.96 ERA, 222 strikeouts, and a Cy Young Award too.  If Phil Rizzuto had not died in 2007, he would have called Dickey a Knuckleberry.

But the Mets have had five hurlers hit the LOSERS’ gold standard – 20 losses – and those infamous notables are below.  Friends, check out those low ERAs – they should have sued for non-support!

ROGER CRAIG, 1962 10-24, 4.51 ERA, 118 Ks – poor Roger!

AL JACKSON, 1962 8-20, 4.40 ERA, 118 Ks – poor Al!

ROGER CRAIG, 1963 5-22, 3.78 ERA, 108 Ks – poor Roger!  Better teams matter - Whitey Ford in 1962 went 25-4 despite only a somewhat better 3.21 ERA.

TRACY STALLARD, 1964 10-20, 3.79 ERA, 118 Ks – poor Tracy!

AL JACKSON, 1965 – Al loved that 1962 8-20 record of his so much that he did it again, going 8-20, 4.34 ERA, 120 strikeouts – poor Al!

JACK FISHER, 1965 – those 1960’s starters had it rough, I tell ya.  Jack went 8-24, 3.94 ERA, 116 strikeouts – poor Jack!

Amazingly, the 6 instances of 20+ losses were accompanied by strikeouts in a very narrow range of 108-120, and none of the ERAs were bad.  Lastly:

JERRY KOOSMAN, 1977 – having won 21 in 1976, he pitched for a LOUSY Mets team in 1977 and went 8-20, 3.49 ERA, 192 strikeouts. 
Poor Jerry!

Only 2 major leaguers, I believe have lost 20 in a season since, which is a big reason why no other Met has since 1977.

So there you have it, friends – winners and losers, Mets style.

4 comments:

Mack Ade said...

Craig went out of this game in a miserable way.

Moved here to the Hilton Head area and refused to talk to anyone in the press.

Had listed his home phone number in the phone book so I called him when I was still a member of the working press.

He hung up on me.

Tom Brennan said...

Sad about Craig.

Had he pitched for the Yanks and not the Mets in 1962 and 1963, he likely wins a minimum of 20 more games over those 2 years. Instead of 15-46, 35-26 instead. And he would be taking calls.

Reese Kaplan said...

Granted, it was over the course of a few seasons, but the late Anthony Young deserves a mention on a loser list. After all, 27 straight starts without a win merits something.

Tom Brennan said...

Young was in a losing class all by himself...with a decent ERA to boot!