I thought I'd do a series of 10 posts, starting this very self-same day, involving quiz questions for different Mets' seasons, arbitrarily starting with 2013, when the Mets went a scintillating and sizzling 74-88 under skipper Terry Collins, and finished a mere 22 games behind Atlanta, and working my way up to 2022.
It was a race in that 2013 season - until the end of April, perhaps. Anyway...
Questions at the top, answers below, to give you time to see if you can guess the right answers before you actually read the right answers.
If you can't guess all 11 answers without peeking, then c'mon now, are you REALLY a Mets fan?
1) Which Mets pitcher won the most games in 2013?
2) Which excellent 2013 pitcher also had a very solid year in 2022?
3) Which hitter led the Mets with a .462 on base %?
4) Which 1st baseman lost his starting job to the mighty tandem of Josh Satin and Lucas Duda?
5) Which SS who'd never make you forget Mr. Lindor played in 95 games in 2013?
6) Why is having a guy named Buck on your team always a good idea?
7) Which excellent current player hit .202 with 5 RBIs in 2013?
8) Which outfield clowns made Andrew Brown (remember him?), who hit .227 with 7 HRs, 24 RBIs in 150 at bats, look like a superstar?
9) Which player showed you can spend 13 years in the minors (including having a 6-26 W/L record in your first 4 minor league seasons) before your MLB rookie debut and have a great year? And also qualifies in Asia as a key food group?
10) Which acquisition shocked us by playing more games and having more HRs and more RBIs than the Captain?
11) Which closer had a 2.65 ERA and 35 saves?
See Answers Below.
(Keep going, I said BELOW!)
Answers:
1) Dillon "I can't get no respect" Dillon Gee led the staff with 12 wins, as he went 12-11. No one else won 10, although Sean Marcum went 1-10.
You know your team is in doubly deep doo-doo when one of your pitchers goes 1-10. Gee was a nifty 51-48 in his career as a 21st rounder. Nice.
2) Zack Wheeler was 7-5, 3.42 in 2013. Still very tough.
3) Zach Lutz had a .462 OBP, although he did not get up very much. It's just good to have two guys who are named Zack/Zach be the answers to consecutive questions. Especially if you've ever been to beautiful Zach's Bay.
4) Ike Davis bewildered Mets' fans again by hitting a desultory .205. Ike's YIKES!
5) Omar Quintanilla got up 359 times and hit .222 with 21 RBIs. You know your team is in deep doo-doo when you get non-offense from a starter like that.
6) Catcher John Buck hit 15 HRs and knocked in 60 in just 368 at bats. Man, who wouldn't have loved that from the Catchers' Department in 2022?
7) The man too many fans (and the Wilpons) loved to hate, hitter Travis d'Arnaud. He's just been excellent for someone else. In 1,098 post-Mets at bats, 63 doubles, 50 HRs, 187 RBIs.
8) Outfielders Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Matt den Dekker, Colin Cowgill, and Rick Ankiel had 280 combined ABs and produced 53 hits (.189). You know your team is in doubly deep doo-doo when you get non-offense like that.
9) Lefty Scott Rice got in a whopping 73 games as an age 31 rookie and went 4-5, 3.71!! Never give up! Condoleeza Rice agreed.
10) Marlon Byrd went a terrific .285/.330/.518 with the Mets that season, with 21 HRs and 71 RBIs in 117 games. On the other hand, he probably cost them a better draft pick.
11) Trick question - the bullpen closer tandem of LaTroy Hawkins and Bobby Parnell combined to do it. And Hawkins did that at age 40.
How many of the 11 questions did you get right? 12?
Next article, I move on to 2014 quiz questions.
11 comments:
Grasping onto the last gasp of Rick Ankiel was probably the best example of Wilponia...almost a fatal symptom.
What an arm
Ankiel was fading faster than a Sutter splitter when the Mets got him. A guy who could have been the Ohtani of his time if he hadn’t gone full Steve Blass.
Tom any article that you can get Condoleeza Rice in has to be noteworthy and as usual great job. Highlighting the Wilpons ineptitude brings back scary memories and a reminder that it wasn't that long ago and chants of Go Steve Go. The main issue I have is that I really hope they play the kids this year and Buck doesn't go TC on us. Epplier did a fine job building the team but the Ruf trade at the deadline was horrible and the question why not use Alvy or Vientos at DH earlier to find out was never answered.
Gary, that Ruf trade deprived us of 3 arms that would have showed up in Queens in 2023. And there aren’t enough of those. In that trade, we got ZWACKED.
head scratching move
I didn't get any of the questions right because I have already blocked out that entire NYM season. Ten games back at season end? Geesh, they could have been like the 2022 Philadelphia Phillies, if only they could have climbed ahead of the Nationals and Braves.
Newey was my favorite player back in that season. Kirk had all the skills to become outstanding. But perhaps went sort of "garage band" instead, not having that special motivation for baseball.
Somethings remain best in the past.
Captain Kirk was the Wilpon type role player. The Yankees used to have guys like Shefiield, Raines, and Strawberry in that role. I prefer the non-cheap approach.
Gary, that one went past head scratcher to butt scratcher
Didn't Nieuwenhuis hit 3 home runs in a game that year? That's pretty extraordinary.
Paul, he indeed have a career one day, but that 3 HR power surge was in 2015.
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