Last week I finally made it out to Flushing for the first time this season. I had just finished teaching (and grading papers) for the semester and it was my birthday, so I treated myself to some back-to-back Mets tickets. I suited up and hopped the subway to Queens; I was so excited to be back at Citi Field. The problem was I happened to be attending games two and three of the home series against the Nationals.
On Wednesday night, Colón had his worst start of 2016, and it was all downhill from there—the Mets pitchers walked 11 batters across nine innings, and Mets’ hitters were stayed by the Nationals’ Gio González for a 7-1 loss. In the rain.
But Thursday was the darkest night, when Harvey gave up eight hits and walked two with six earned runs, all in the span of 2.7 innings. By the end of the third inning the Nationals led 9-1, at which point the Jumbotron promptly blacked out and had to be rebooted. Perhaps the tears of its operator shorted the circuit board.
Watching those games was unpleasant. But as I got back on the 7 train Thursday night, I found in me a certain nostalgia attached to taking such a beating. I came to consciousness in the early 90s—I was in first grade in 1993 when the Mets went 59-103. The Mets of my childhood were terrible. I remember once asking my Dad what did a team have to do to get into the playoffs. “You have to win more games than you lose,” he said. It seemed simple when he put it like that. And yet.
Of course, the 2016 Mets are heads and shoulders above those teams of the early 90s, but the history is ours nonetheless, so here are five sad Mets moments and their corresponding bright sides from within my lifetime to remind us where we came from, and that it could be worse.
Anthony Young Breaks a (Bad) Record (1992-1993)
So Colón was liberal with his walks on Wednesday; so Harvey imploded on the mound in a matter of minutes the following night—they’ve still got nothing on Anthony Young, who managed 27 consecutive losses in 1992-93, going 0-14 as a starter and 0-13 as a reliever. Young broke the previous record of 23 straight losses, which had been recorded by Cliff Curtis in 1910-11. The bright side? He’s a record-holder now! And, interestingly, Young didn’t pitch as badly as one might expect from such a streak, with his ERA for that period at 4.36, and a career average of 3.89. Plus, after he beat the Marlins in July 1993, Young—who had become nationwide comedic fodder over the course of the streak—appeared on “The Tonight Show,” where Jay Leno offered him the chance to make fun of his chin as payback.
Timo Perez and the 2000 World Series
2000 was a nice, round number, the perfect year, it seemed, to make some history. It was the first Mets-Yankees World Series meetup, with the last postseason Subway Series occurring 1956, between the Yankees and the Dodgers. But when Todd Zeile’s almost-home-run bounced back into play, Timo Perez didn’t seem to notice, slowing down to a light jog only to be thrown out at home. It wasn’t a series-losing blunder in itself—it was only Game 1, after all—but it was a stupid way to lose a run in a close game, and for me reminiscent of the Mets’ wild throws, ball drops, and other silly mistakes that paved the way to Royals’ victory in 2015. Back in Game 1 of the 2000 series, the Yankees ended up winning in extra innings, and won the World Series in five games. The good news for those early aughts Mets is that after a brief stint in the minors in 2001, Perez returned to bat .276 with 114 RBI until he was traded to the White Sox before the 2004 season.
Carlos Beltran and Mike Cameron Break Each Other’s Faces (2005)
In August 2005, Carlos Beltran and Mike Cameron, both center fielders at heart, made one of the nastiest collisions in modern day baseball when they both went after a ball in right center. Cameron took the brunt of the damage—he was removed from the game on a stretcher, and later had surgery on his nose and cheekbone fractures—while Beltran was concussed with a more minor fracture to the face.
If an optimistic thread can be gleaned from such serious injuries, it’s that neither suffered long-term damage to their fielding stardom—Cameron won a Gold Glove in 2006, was fifth and then third in fielding percentage for National League center fielders in 2007 and 2008, with the second and third-most double plays turned in the National League in 2006 and 2007. Beltran won three-straight Gold Glove Awards from 2006-2008, and was an All-Star in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013. And the collision makes a lot of top ten lists of worst sports injuries, a baseball rarity.
Luis Castillo Drops the Ball (2009)
Or, Luis Castillo being a Met in general. The team signed Castillo, by then past his prime and prone to injury, for a too-big, four-year, 25-million-dollar contract that, (surprise!) he couldn’t play through. He played well in his first 50 games as a Met in 2007, rode the bench for a good part of 2008, then started off 2009 with an offensive bang, until …
Bottom of the ninth; the Mets led the Yankees 8-7. With two outs and runners on first and second, the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez hit what should’ve been—what was—an easy out pop-up, which Castillo just…dropped. Jeter scored, and by the time Castillo decided to pick up the ball, he was so removed earth’s reality that he threw to second base to out Rodriguez, apparently forgetting about Teixeira, who was homeward bound. Final score: 9-8 Yankees.
If you type “Luis Castillo” into an internet search bar, Google auto-completes “drop.” Because there is no silver lining to this one, except maybe that post-Madoff the Mets don’t have the money to make a stupid deal like this again.
Scott Kazmir (2004)
I wasn’t alive when the Mets traded Nolan Ryan (and more!?) to the Angels for Jim Fregosi, or when they gave away Tom Seaver for four random Reds. But I was around for another sad pitcher trade—Scott Kazmir to the Rays for Victor Zambrano and Bartolome Fortunato, both of whom were pretty lackluster, and then injured, during their time as Mets, while Kazmir went on to achieve pitching stardom. Kazmir was an All-Star in 2006, 2008, and 2014, led the AL in strikeouts in 2007, and is currently first in the NL in fielding percentage as a pitcher. One can only hope that the Mets have learned their lesson as far as trading star pitching prospects goes, especially after seeing how far a good rotation can take the team.
So, the next time I sit through a nasty defeat this year, I’ll remember that it could be worse, a lot worse. It’s a long season; we can’t win them all, and so on. And, however heartbreaking they were at the time, thinking back on how good the team looks in comparison now does make me feel better—though not quite as good as that sweet, Bartolo-flavored revenge of the Mets’ own 7-1 victory in DC on Monday night.
Photo Credit: Sara Novic (double threat!)