One of the reasons I hated Bobby Valentine is that his teams always got off to a bad start.
It seemed like every year the Mets would be way back and then have to kill themselves to get back into the race. They
Going back to the V years, the Mets have had a standings lead on May 1st only once. Care to guess which year it was?
Mets Standings On may 1st:
The V Years (not a single first place finish, some wild-card ass-saving and even a play-in game):
1996 5 back
1997 8.5 back
1998 4.5 back
1999 1.back
2000 4 back
2001 4.5 back
2002 ironically tied for first. This team lost 10 games in the standings in June and wound up over 20 back.
The Rest:
2003 7 back
2004 6 back
2005 3 back
2006 Up 6. Funny how much easier seasons go when everyone else is chasing YOU.
2007 .5 back – just about right. A near miss. Except they were trailing the Braves.
2008 .5 back of the Phillies.
So the next time someone tells you that it’s cool that the Mets are 10 and 13, and “only” 4 back – it’s time to start worrying and time to start winning games.
MetsPolice forgets that any other manager on the planet could not have gotten more out of those very average clubs than Bobby V. Braves had far superior talent. 99 Mets won 97 games, go run the numbers and tell me since division play how many other years that total would have won the division. Friggin Braves won 103 games, you want the Mets to win 104?? gimme a break.
2000 Mets won 94 games with Agbayani, Bell and Payton in the OF. Enough with the Bobby V bashing. If he managed this much talent from 2005 – 2008 they would have won the division 3 of the 4 years.
The 96 and 97 teams? How can you count them? 97 was the first year since 1990 that was over .500 – we were ecstatic they didnt suck anymore. 1998, I’ll give you, they blew it when they had the WC wrapped up.
Give Bobby his dues, he helped turn it around and his teams were genuinely entertaining – he got the most out of what he was given.