Back in 1986, the Mets, hands down, had the best team in baseball.
Which never guarantees you a World Series win.
Just ask the 1969 Orioles about that.
Some David (a/k/a the Mets) slayed their Goliath.
Some David (a/k/a the Mets) slayed their Goliath.
Anyway, in 1986, the Mets had the play the Houston Astros (currently in the 2019 World Series) and face Astros killer pitching.
A guy named Nolan Ryan - maybe you hear of him. He made his Mets debut in 1966, and 21 years later, was a pitching legend still going extremely strong. So strong, in fact, that he went 7 more killer seasons after 1986.
Let's continue. Lefty Bob Knepper had been tough on them. He had 41 career regular season outings against the Mets, 2.94 ERA, including 6 shutouts.
And then, there was the Beast of 1986:
Cy Young Mike Scott.
Mike was a so-so pitcher during his tenure with the Mets. 14-27, 4.54 ERA, a bad record partially the result of incredibly weak Mets hitting at the time, Jake deGrom just reminded me.
And astoundingly, considering his 1986 season to come, just 151 Ks in 365 innings (4.6 per 9) through 1982.
In 1986, Scott started off the season kind of like Zack Wheeler circa 2019 in his first 7 starts:
45 IP, 43 Ks, 20 earned runs, ERA slightly north of 4.00.
Then the next 31 incredible starts came:
230 IP, 263 Ks, 1.88 ERA.
306 Ks over the entire season.
And he was even tougher down the stretch:
In his last 14 regular season starts, 8 of them had 10 or more Ks: 10 Ks twice, 11 twice, 12 once, 13 twice, and 14 once.
The 14 also included 3 shutouts, one a no hitter, and FIVE starts where he allowed 3 hits or less.
The 14 also included 3 shutouts, one a no hitter, and FIVE starts where he allowed 3 hits or less.
BEAST.
BUT IT GOT WORSE:
In playoff game one against the 108 win Mets, he threw a complete game shutout and fanned 14.
In game 4, he threw a complete game, one run, 3 hit win.
And the Mets were slated to face him in game 7, if there was one. That would have caused dread in Mets' fans heart, because this fireballing, split finger BEAST was making the best, the 1986 Mets, look feeble.
Of course, most of us know what happened in game 6. Bobby Knepper had the Mets shut out through 8, and the Mets trailed 3-0 heading to the 9th.
The Shadow of the Beast loomed ever larger.
But, the highly resilient 1986 Mets squad came miraculously alive, tied it at 3 with 3 runs in the 9th, and then won several innings later in one of the greatest baseball games ever played.
They figured out how to beat Mike Scott.
Simple.
Never let him pitch that game 7. NOPE!
The Beast remained in its cage. The Mets were safe.
It took an amazing World Series win over the Red Sox to not allow this to be the crowning moment of the Mets' World Series run. On to an incredibly thrilling World Series.
1986 was some treat for Mets fans. We need to have another great treat, having gone 33 years since that World Series without winning it all again.
All I can say is - GREAT SCOTT!!
8 comments:
Man, that was a wild playoff ride in 1986! Not just the Mets, but pretty much all of the
playoff series that year were crazy.
Anyway, Mike Scott was indeed a freaking beast that year.........I guess it didn't hurt that he
was scuffing the crap out of the baseball to enhance his split finger fastball, but he still had to
locate and execute.
IF they had a Game Seven that year, who knows what would have happened? Maybe the Mets
never make it to the WS and maybe Billy Buckner fails to become a punch line?
Mike the Mets had done NOTHING against Scott those first two complete games. As good as those Mets were, I was scared out of my mind about facing Scott in a game 7.
Had it gone to a game 7, we might be celebrating 1969 as our last and ONLY WS.
I think that I may have just come up with a good idea for bringing the "Seinfeld Gang" out of prison and back to television next season.
Okay.
Jerry. Elaine, George, Newman, and Cosmos do a jailbreak. They steal an old Ford Pinto and end up somewhere in the state of Georgia not too far from the ocean. Jerry legally changes his last name to Coffin and with the help of the other four jailbirds open up a water park. Thus "Coffin's Water Park", bring the kids!
How's that?
I just read online that Jerry Springer could be the mystery manager we all have been hearing about. The article also mentioned that Steve Wilkos will be Springer's bench coach.
Sometimes it isn't the talent level of any given players that most severely holds back a good team from ever being a great one, but rather our own expectations for them.
The players that we want to become these stars can often just simply not be. So is the problem then the player himself or our own unjustified expectation of him?
With these type of unrealistic expectations, sometimes objectivity can be sacrificed.
And yet we wait.
We wait (forever) to be proven correct in our own estimation for any given player that we once thought could be something consistent, special, and even great.
Fools gold.
It's been a very memorable WS thus far. Great pitching, great hitting, two very good and wise managers.
It comes down to one simple human trait...HUNGER. The WS has a way of defining this.
Houston in seven.
To me, it's just adding in on a more minor level a backup catcher, an MiLB reliever maybe named Blackham (who knows), a couple of new utility guys, and maybe Luis Rojas as the bench coach (grooming).
On a more significant level, maybe a young homerun up and comer third baseman like a Bobby Dalbec from Boston, a younger version lefty late inning reliever like an Andrew Miller once was, and a young acquirable power hitting right fielder like an Austin Meadows. One who can hit for both power and batting average on a consistent basis.
As far as the 2020 free agent market goes?
I wouldn't.
Rethinking the Bullpen one more time.
Instead of making a pitcher who clearly isn't good enough to start a reliever..Why? If he cannot get people out consistently, does any team really need him as a long reliever or middleman? Is this really a solution to winning ballgames?
This is precisely the logic and reasoning behind the two units of three relievers who really can get batters out consistently, has sound pitch speed, pitch selection, and control. Three that are basically interchangeable. Two right-handed, one left-handed.
Then one preferably lefty flexible reliever. Maybe here like a Kevin Smith type young arm.
This is exactly what Boston did in 2018 when they won the dance. Evidence enough.
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