Author: Shannon Shark @metspolice

Now that the pancakes have kick-started my brain….when I was growing up there were two groups of Mets teams talked about, 1969 and 1973.  Then 1986 happened and we had three teams to talk about.

As time has gone on, 73 (fair or not) has merged into a subset of the 69 team, and a third team circa 2000 has come into the discussion.

Let’s leave the Seaver years and the Gooden years in the distant past, where unfortunately they now are.

I want to look at the franchise’s pitching for the last twenty years.  There’s not much.

This will be unscientific, but I’m going to throw out anyone that my brain associates with the Seaver teams or the Gooden teams, and start roughly around 1990.

Most Wins: Leiter with 95.  Next are Bobby Jones and Steve Trachsel.   That’s not exactly Seaver/Koosman or Gooden/Darling.  The next two are Tom Cylon Glavine and then Rick Reed with 59.  Your next “modern day” winningest pitcher is Franco out of the bullpen.

Shutouts: Leiter’s 7 and Bobby Jones with 4.  That’s 20 years of stats folks.

Strikeouts: Leiter again, then Bobby Jones.

I just find it interesting…it doesn’t mean that the Mets haven’t had any good pitchers (that Santana guy seems good), but it’s just  further reflective that the franchise really hasn’t had anyone stay for a full 15 years.  Even The Franchise left the franchise, twice.

This post isn’t meant to be negative.  I just find it interesting that the two best Mets pitchers of the last TWENTY years are Leiter and Bobby Jones.

Fox News’ headline “Mets are confident but deluded” is too juicy to pass up.  However, once you get into the meat of the article, it’s much more reasoned.

Wright may believe it’s now his job to serve as the Mets’ spokesman, given that Carlos Delgado has moved on. The other elder statesman, Carlos Beltran, will be on the disabled list for the first six weeks of the season. And he was hardly Winston Churchill.

But Wright loses much of his credibility when he says the 2010 Mets are “basically the same core group of guys (from) 2006” who got to within one pitch of the World Series.

Actually, this year’s edition bears no resemblance to the ’06 team. All that’s left are Wright, Beltran and Jose Reyes. There’s not much corporate muscle-memory of the better times. More recently, the Phillies have done more than just catch and pass the Mets in the East, they’ve become the league’s most fearless team.

More here.

Good morning…I slept in, have to run out, and I see lots of incoming searches for “Mety job fair”…check out the story in the Daily News which tells us the despite the picture of the long line, you haven’t missed your chance

Another job fair will be held today from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and two more will be held Feb. 26 from 1 to 9 p.m. and Feb. 27 from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. The club also will hold auditions for the Pepsi Party Patrol and 2K Sports Fanfest staff on March 4 and March 5 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Citi Field.

I’ll have some original thoughts in a few…the pancakes are working.

An idea from Jesse:

Hi here’s an idea to pass on to the site. You know the yankees have (has) that big bat in front of the stadium and many fans used as a meeting place. Mets should set up a eight foot wide outfield wall replica exactly where the 410 foot centerfield wall was at shea. Could be a meeting place and maybe a concession area. Also be another nice marker of shea. What you think?

I like it.  Anything that remembers team history is cool.  I’d like to meet at the Seaver statue, but I wouldn’t mind meeting you at the 410.  What’s everyone think?

Nothing revolutionary here, but Adam Rubin posted the Mets spring training numbers, and I like to look carefully to see what numbers are not issued.

8. Not issued.  The great Mets by the Numbers tells us the last Met to wear #8 was coach Matt Galante in 2002, and player Desi Relaford in 2001.  Since then it is parked.  Obviously someone is thinking long-term about possibly retiring it for Hall of Famer Gary Carter.  Gary was elected to the Hall of Fame in January 2003

17. Once again issued to Fernando Tatis, best known for threatening to punch Jesse Orosco in the face in Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS.   That was him, right?

21. Last worn by Carlos Delgado.   I guess there’s no reason to rush handing this one out.  You never know.  Conspiracy theory: the Mets know that all of baseball will retire #21 to honor Roberto Clemente.

24. I really don’t get this one.  Retire it or use it.  This one has been mostly parked since Willie Mays, who is great and all but not a great Met, and then Kelvin Torve got to wear it for 10 inexplicable days in 1990, then only Rickey Henderson got to wear it.

31. Last worn by Mike Piazza, and before that the best Met of the 1990’s John Franco (sad but true).   The belief is the Mets are waiting to see which cap the Hall of Fame assigns Piazza before pulling the trigger on hanging a 31 on the fence…but then again, Carter is an Expo and they are holding 8.

All other numbers through 51 are either retired or in use.  (Thanks to Walter for the idea)