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New York Mets were established in 1962 to replace the departed Giants and Dodgers, giving the New York a National League team. Like many expansion teams, the first few years were a struggle, with team losing 120 games in their first season and finishing last or next to last in the franchise’s first seven years.The Mets were not booed off the field though. Ownership had taken to signing beloved players from past New York teams and convincing Casey Stengel, the former Yankee manager, to come out of retirement to manage the team.
The “Lovable Losers” were stuck in a rut until 1969. The team began the season miserably enough, but pulled it together to come back from third place in mid-August and ten games back to overtake the Cubs and win the National League East.
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About The New York Mets
The real strength of the team was its pitching. The staff combined for a 2.99 ERA and 28 shutouts. Tom Seaver went 25-7 and Jerry Kooseman went 17-9. Cleon Jones was the offensive spark plug, hitting .340. The “Miracle Mets” swept the Braves in the NLCS and took the Baltimore Orioles out in five games to win their first World Series.
The Mets were competitive for the next few years, winning the NL Pennant again in 1973 and finishing in third in six of eight seasons. The team finished off its slow demise with the trade of Tom Seaver and power hitter Dave Kingman in 1977 on June 15, otherwise known as “The Midnight Massacre” to locals.
The Mets began at the bottom again and would not climb out of the hole until the mid-80s. Manager Davey Jones coached a team with pitcher Dwight Gooden, MVP first baseman Keith Hernandez, catcher Gary Carter, outfielder Lenny Dykstra, Darryl Strawberry, and Mookie Wilson.
The club would dominate throughout the 1986 season, taking the NL East title with 108 wins, defeating the Astros in six games in the NLCS, and taking the Red Sox to seven games before winning the series.
Again the Mets management lost key players from a championship team. World Series MVP Ray Knight left for Baltimore and Kevin Mitchell was traded to the Padres. Worst of all, Gooden admitted to drug use.
The Mets would not fold this time. Gooden came back from his trip to the clinic, Strawberry and third baseman Howard Johnson went for 30 home runs and 30 steals each, and the Mets rebounded from what could have been a return to the bottom of the heap with a second place finish in the East. The Mets would come back to title from with 100 wins, but lost the NLCS to the Dodgers in 1988.
Two second place finishes in the East followed. The team started to break up and the front office tried to compensate with high priced free agents like Eddie Murray, Bobby Bonilla, Bret Saberhagen, and Frank Tanana. The moves failed and the team was nicknamed “The Worst Team Money Could Buy.”
Eventually the club recovered and won back to back wild card berths in 1999 and 2000. The 2000 playoff run ended in an all New York World Series. The Yankees ended the surprise playoff run by the Mets with a 4 games to 1 defeat of the cross town rivals.
The team has looked good as the 21st century has moved on, with promising youngsters like David Wright at third base building a team to contend for the NL East once again.
Mets fans can forgot last season’s disappointing end where the team was on the cusp of winning the wild card, but fell just short of a postseason appearance with a new beginning new field, Citi Field.
The club was and is not far off from making a move on either the Philadelphia Phillies or the wild card spot. The pitching is strong. Johan Santana is the ace. John Maine is necessary for a run, so if the team and the player can reach a deal through arbitration then 2009 has some exciting moments ahead. Mike Pelfrey needs to continue to blossom as a young pitcher and either Brandon Knight and Jonathon Niese have to have remarkably better seasons or somebody else has to step up for the rotation to be as solid as the offense.
It seems funny to say that the batting lineup is the strength after the bats were so quiet in the first half of 2008 that many wondered if a move was necessary to score any runs at all. In the end the bats not only awakened, but erupted.
David Wright is the team MVP at third base. He can run, hit, and field. He needs players like Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, and Ryan Church to get going right away instead of making a late season run for the ages. This group of hitters has plenty of power and the team has some speed with players like Reyes, Beltran, and Luis Castillo.
This might actually be one of the most complete offenses in baseball and if they can perform immediately then the New York Mets may have playoff tickets if not an NL East crown in their future.
