Tom Brennan - IMAGINE IF JAKE PITCHED FOR THE 1961 YANKEES

So here’s poor Jake, 71 starts since the start of 2018, only 41 decisions (SO, SO INDECISIVE), and just 23-18, despite an ERA of right about 2.00.  Heck, in 7 starts this year, he is just 2-1 despite an ERA of 1.76 and 58 Ks in 41 IP.

I wrote some stuff last year as to how perhaps Jake could do more to pick up Ws, and not just pitch great and pile up NDs.  

I knew I was splitting hairs.  I knew it was controversial.  I was frustrated, like everyone else, about Jake being screwed out of so many decisions, out of so many WINS.  My theme then was, "you're so great, maybe you can fan less guys, induce more lower-pitch contact, still be great, but go deeper into games due to lower pitch count and avoid the horrid pen).

But, back to point here.  Got me thinking...what if deGrom had pitched instead for the late 1950s, early 1960s Yanks, where, for example, the1961 Yanks went 109-53?  

(Full disclosure: I was (gasp!) a Yankee fan in 1961, but I had a valid excuse: the Mets did not yet exist, and those Yanks were great.  Can you ever forgive me?  I switched to the Mets in 1962, I promise.)

Back now to my "where, for examples"...where, for example, Whitey Ford and Ralph Terry both had virtually identical ERAs of around 3.20 in 1961.  

Heck, combined, they allowed 42 HRs, DESPITE not having to face those 1961 Yankees, who that year shattered the homers-by-team record with 240, including 115 by Messrs. Mantle and Maris.  (Interesting (at least to me) stat: their right fielders and center fielders that year, excluding pinch hitting? Both positions' players clocked 59 HRs).

Heck again, the 3 guys who did the catching for the Yanks that year (Berra, Howard, and Blanchard) combined to hit 64 HRs, although tons of those ABs were not as catchers -  most of Yogi's ABs that year, for instance, were in the OF (you see, the Mets aren't the only ones to play a guy out of position to get his stick in the line up...but Yogi made just 2 errors in the OF in 87 games, so some guys like Yogi may not look the part, but they can get the job done).

For Jake, though, given the severe lack of pen and offensive support he’s experienced, he’d have been about 16-25 over the past 2+ years if all he could manage to do was a 3.20 ERA, just guessing here off the top of my noggin.

In that 3.20 ERA season, though, Ford and Stafford did a little better than 16-25:

They combined to go a blistering 41-7 (Ford 25-4, Terry 16-3).

It is this danged simple: it matters who you work for. 

Jake should definitely sue in the courts for run support - he sure is being short changed.

If Jake had 71 starts for that late 1950s, early 1960s Yanks team, he probably would have been (well, you go ahead and guess before you read on.  Got your guess?  OK).  

Now let me guess - I'd say 52-6, not 23-18. Which, by derivative, would make him a slam dunk Hall of Fame candidate.

Before I go, that was some game last night, and it could be a turning point.  Gsellman, not to my surprise, failed again, going 1.2 IP and allowing 4 hits, 4 walks, and 4 runs (on a scale of 1 to 10, his performance was less than a 4).

But the brief, recent epiphany of Amed Rosario continues.  After 2 games with walks, after not having walked in about 45 straight games, he goes 3 for 4 with 3 "KEY, CLUTCH" RBIs, Todd Frazier had 2 doubles and a HR, shutting me up, a bunch of hits by the team with RISP (sweet).

And Pete Alonso had a picture-perfect swing on an inside fastball to launch his first game-winning walk off hit of his career and said his hands through the zone felt very fluid.  Maybe, just maybe, he is ready to hit...well, like Pete hits when Pete hits the way Pete can hit.  McNeil is back, too, to hitting like it is 2019 again.

And Edwin Diaz crushed the Yanks, as he went 2 scoreless with 4 Ks for the (rare for him) win.  I am still pulling for him to dominate the rest of 2020.

Lastly, just as we should appreciate those like Seaver while we still have them around, think about this about the current Mets that we can so easily get disgusted with:

Alonso, Ramos, Rosario, Hamilton...all have hit poorly...and Jeff McNeil is having an "underpowered even for Dave Magadan" type of year so far...that's true...

Yet the Mets LEAD THE MAJORS IN TEAM BATTING AVERAGE (.271) AND OBP (.351).

Imagine if those 5 actually start hitting like it's 2019 again?  This team could be a TRUE offensive juggernaut.  Very few times in Mets history could you come close to saying that. 

This team almost has to be able to make the playoffs with that hitting.