2014 METS QUIZ QUESTIONS!
What could be better than starting December with a Flash Quiz!
I thought I'd do a 10 article series (2013-22) involving quiz questions for different Mets' seasons, and started with 2013 the other day.
If you guessed that 2014 follows 2013, you get bonus points, which are redeemable for....well, not much.
Anyway, in 2014, the Mets finished 2nd (yay!), but went 79-83 (boo!) under gipper chipper skipper Terry Collins. No playoffs when you go 79-83, barring a miracle, and the Mets used up all of their miracles in 1986. Back to the quiz:
Questions at the top, answers below, to give you time to see if you can guess the right answers before you actually sneak a peek at the right answers. No peeking.
If you can't guess all 11 answers without peeking, are you REALLY a Mets fan?
1) Who led the team in HRs with 30 and RBIs with 92?
2) What catcher racked up 13 HRs, 41 RBIs in 385 at bats?
3) Who won a Gold Glove despite playing just 117 games?
4) Who came up as an unheralded rookie and hit .263?
5) Who led the team in hitting at .289?
6) Which two Mets' hitters would never measure up to Wyatt Young?
7) Who showed up late to the party (May 15) but still had time to win Rookie of the Year?
8) Who was the Met key acquisition that gave their season credibility?
9) Who went 6-6 with 28 saves?
10) Which other two relievers had amazing ERAs?
11) Besides Bartolo and Jake, which 5 other starters ended up with a collective 5 games under .500, despite a combined ERA well below 4.00?
Answers:
1) Lucas "the Big Lebowski" Duda. Looking like a potential star, he continued IMO to take too many pitches thereafter, instead of listening to Mel Gibson and "swinging away", and went downhill from 2014.
2) Travis d'Arnaud. You know, the guy who has hit like Johnny Bench since they released him to save the Coupons a few bucks. TDA did tie for the league lead with 12 passed balls.
3) The oft-injured Juan Lagares. He played with reckless abandon, and sometimes ended up as an abandoned wreck. In 8 Mets seasons, he was in just 718 games. But in 2014, his glove was Golden.
4) Eric Campbell - he was, however, a flash in the pan. Soup was up - briefly.
5) Daniel Murphy, another guy the Mets inexplicably let get away, hit .289.
6) Two other Young-sters, Eric Young and Chris Young, duo hit a frugal .220 in a combined 500+ at bats.
7) Jacob deGrom, who went 9-6, 2.69, was the ROY. Unlike fading Eric Campbell, Jake only got better and better.
8) The Big Sexy, Bartolo Colon, who at age 41 serenely won 15 games for the Mets.
9) Jenrry Mejia, who it turned out had an affinity to PEDs, leading to his 3-strikes-you're-out career demise.
10) Josh Edgin, who had a 1.32 ERA as a LOOGIE, and Jeurys Familia, who in 76 outings had a 2.21 ERA. Add in very solid pen pitching from Vic Black and Carlos Torres, and the Mets had a heck of a bullpen in 2014, to go along with their heck of a starting rotation, even in the absence of aching Matt Harvey.
11) Starters Zack Wheeler, Dillon Gee, Jon Niese (2 syllables), Daisuke Matsuzaka (7 syllables), and Rafael Montero (who 8 years later just signed that big Astros contract as a bullpen ace) all pitched well, but the Mets' mediocre hitting led to mediocre W-L results for those 5. The team overall had an excellent 3.49 ERA, but was just 21st in scoring (27th in home scoring, and a much better 10th in road scoring).
2015 quiz questions? Thought you'd never ask. Next time up. Keep reading.
8 comments:
"Yeah, Tom, nice quiz questions, but did Jake wake up on the right side of bed today? And if so, will he sign with the Mets for mega millions, or not?" As you can tell by my quizzical expression, I have no idea. Let me know what Jake tells you. Thanks
I was doing well until the last question about the passel of relievers...some things you just try to forget.
Ha Ha. Wilpon Syndrome is best cured by the ability to forget.
Mauricio Update: he is elevating his game right before our eyes. 38 doubles, 4 triples, 30 HRs, 117 RBIs and 28 steals in 160 games this season. Those are star stats. He probably still remains an undervalued prospect, so you can't trade him. You won't get equal value. Get him in the outfield pronto.
The last guy I can think of before Mauricio to play 160 games below the MLB level in a single season was Alonso 2018. And we all remember Alonso 2019.
Speaking of Pete and his 53 HRs: I wonder if he might have hit 60 playing in a hitters' park....that year, his HR totals road and home were virtually the same, but he hit 80 points higher on the road. I wonder how many near-miss HRs in 2019 in Citifield were long outs.
It was so much more fun watching the 2022 Mets score runs after having to suffer from drought seasons like 2014.
And Paul not to sound like a broken record, but I think the park hadn't had its last comprehensive fence shortening at that time.
The Mets in 2014 were 30th (last) in average, 27th in RBIs at home.
On the road, a truer talent indicator, they were 8th in batting average and 10th in RBIs despite not having the DH!
The 2023 fence move in may not help a lot, but every little bit helps, in the park that is stingy to hitters, generous to pitchers.
In 2013 Dom Smith was 11th pick overall, Judge 32nd. After July 2021, Smith hit zero HRs. Judge hit 80 HRs. “Why post that?” you might ask. Because I thought it was so disparate, I just felt like posting it.
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