By Brian Joura December 29, 2020
It’s been said that in a few days, at 12:01 a.m. on January 1, we’ll all have perfect 2020 hindsight. Until then, we’ll have to rely on faulty memories about this most challenging of years. Baseball-wise, next to nothing happened for over three months and there were only 60 regular season games played. Still, good things happened for the Mets in the past 12 months. Here’s my take, what jumps to mind, as the 10 most memorable/important positive moments or events or streaks that happened for the club in 2020.
10. David Peterson fans 10 against the Braves on 9/19
At the beginning of the year, Peterson was a depth starter at the alternate site. It didn’t take long for him to get the call to the majors and he immediately put up good results. One thing that was lacking from him, though, was the ability to make hitters miss. In theory, we all want a guy who can get the other team to make weak contact early in the count and keep his pitch count down. In reality, you’ve got to be able to strike guys out at a strong clip to survive in the 21st Century. Peterson showed this ability late in the year. That it came against the Braves only made it that much better.
9. Yoenis Cespedes homers on Opening Day against the Braves on 7/24
No one who was a Mets fan in 2015 will forget the impact that adding Cespedes to the team made. And we’ve wanted to see that type of production from him again. It looked like injuries were going to keep us from ever seeing that, though. Then came stories about how he was hitting and running as Spring Training approached and it seemed like maybe the Mets could add another power righty bat to the lineup. And for one moment, it actually happened. Cespedes supplied the only run of the game in the opener to 2020, lifting the Mets to a 1-0 win. The euphoria was short-lived but it was there and it was fun to imagine.
8. Edwin Diaz pitches three straight one-inning games and fans eight versus the Phillies on 9/15-9/17
The Mets got Diaz to be a shutdown closer, so that their starters wouldn’t lose any more games due to reliever blowups. Then he proceeded to lose the closer’s job in both 2019 and 2020. But he earned his way back into the ninth-inning role, thanks in large part to some cartoonish strikeout rates. And while they didn’t all come in save opportunities, Diaz showed he could pitch, and pitch well, in consecutive games with this dominating performance against the Phillies, where eight of the nine outs he recorded came via the strikeout.
7. Robinson Cano suspended for the 2021 season on 11/18
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