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