Maurice Chevalier once sang, "Ahh, yes....I remember it well."
Do you remember from about mid-1984 to mid-1986, when Doc Gooden took the mound? Over a scintillating multi-season stretch when most players are still toiling in the minors, the super-young phenom went 38-5. Bitcoin in the bank. He pitched so well, we knew he was winning. His teammates did, too. It was Domination Time in Queens.
The breeze for Mets' hitters on Gooden days? Always blowing hard - at their back. A hop was in their step. A little giddy, no doubt. OK...a LOT giddy. Easier to hit when you KNOW you're gonna win.
When I was a runner, and ran straight into a strong wind on a frigid January morning, it was no fun at all. At your back, though? Felt like I could take on Mr. 3:51, Jim Ryun.
Mariano Rivera, when he was closing for the Yankees? Bronx aficionados always could "Get ready to party!!" It was usually just a matter of time before the W, and everyone knew it.
When you were a Yankee teammate of Derek Jeter in the playoffs, you knew Mr. Clutch was going to do something to help you prevail. You had to be a lot cockier with Jeter Tailwinds blowing in the Bombers' favor.
In 1998, when the Bombers went 114-48, besides having a killer line up, they had a highly potent bench - Raines, Chili Davis, Girardi, to name 3. It was such a hitting-rich environment, Shane Spencer came in with the wind roaring at his back and stunned the baseball world with 10 HRs in 67 at bats. Boatloads of offense fosters more offense.
Had Shane Spencer been called up instead to join a sputtering Mets' offense, I'm just guessing the result would have been far different. Top to bottom, tailwind offensive potency has to demoralize and negatively affect pitchers.
Koosman and Seaver (hey, let's give Jerry top billing for once, at least - thank you for your service, Jerry)? In 1969, the formerly hapless Mets went 42-16 in the duo's pitching decisions that year. A formerly well-below-.500 team had an almost invincible dual exhaust tailwind behind them, and it helped everybody played like they were 10 feet tall.
Of course, the great Seaver against the great Big Red Machine? 12-20 lifetime. The Big Red Headwind. Had Tom Terrific spent his entire career pitching for Cincinnati, might he have won 400 games due to that hitting tailwind?
Fast forward to 2022, if I am a Mets' hitter, and I know that I have a totally lock-down bullpen to win my team a lot of close games, what do I do? I relax more, confident that my team will win and we'll prevail. Less pressure, I'm thinking, and most will hit better. When you know your team's bats will come through, your bat will come through, too.
Same thing if the real Max and Jake show up in 2022, as we are expecting them to. A great tailwind for Mets' hitters.
So many Mets' teams' hitters have had to face real headwinds. Look no further back than 2021. No one could hit much for most of the season, in large part because their fellow hitting teammates were mostly all struggling, too. The offense was in lockdown in DeBlasioville.
Bottom 3 in MLB team scoring says it all. Has a team ever made the playoffs being that relatively bad in scoring? Doubtful - if you find one, let me know - those offensive-failure headwinds are just too strong.
Remember years like 2013 when, if Murphy and Wright didn't hit, the rest of the line up was like facing a AA line up for opposing pitchers? Headwinds. Hitters pressing.
Simply, this team needs offense-aiding tailwinds. Collective hitting parties are better than collective hitting droughts. Every mediocre piece in the team's hitting armor increases headwinds, and should wherever possible be upgraded.
Message to Mets:
No chinks in the armor can be allowed in 2022.
Put big circulating turbo fans behind the Mets' hitters this year.
Build an unbeatable offense and the winds will be blowing out.
And the wins will be coming in.
To that end, the Wilpon Headwinds are gone - the Cohen Tailwinds are here. Blow, baby, blow.
5 comments:
I had the pleasure of sitting right behind home plate once when Gooden pitched.
The fastball was great but the curve was DA BOMB.
It was like watching a ball run down the hood of a 59' Buick.
Oh... your title made me think of that horrible movie that is playing tonight on one of the HBO channels...
A Mighty Wind
Mack, I am unfamiliar with that movie. Thankfully, we're both familiar with Gooden.
When he was 19-21, there was no one better - perhaps ever.
It must have been a thrill to sit there and watch a young genius at work.
That is what was so frustrating about he and Strawberry -- could have been on the road to Coooperstown but they allowed off-the-field stuff to interfere with their success on the field. You could say the same about big Kevin Mitchell, too.
Drugs and PEDs have keep many from crossing the threshold of the HOF.
Lord Charles was a curve that I don’t remember anyone ever hitting. I sat right behind the plate two years ago to see Forrest Whitley’s great curve and I was impressed! So, I can only imagine what Gooden’s was like…
Post a Comment