Top 10 Mets Pitching Performances Of All Time, Numbers 10-6

Throughout the 54-year history of the New York Mets, the team has had a long list of outstanding pitching talent. The tradition started with Seaver and Koosman, it continued with Gooden and Cone, and it remains prominent thanks to the likes of deGrom and Harvey.

It only makes sense that there would be many stellar performances from the mound. The tough part is trying to rank them. Here’s my list of the top ten Mets pitching performances, numbers 10 through six.

10. Teenage Gooden one-hits Cubs, 9/7/1984

Dwight Gooden came to Queens with a flourish—racking up hundreds of strikeouts at the ripe age of 19. His best game in his rookie campaign of ‘84 was a late-season start against the eventual division champion Chicago Cubs. He fanned four of the first six, and his offense soon provided all the support he would need. A five-run bottom of the third gave Doc a 6-0 lead. He surrendered his first hit to Keith moorland in the fifth, but there would be no more. Never losing his velocity, Gooden struck out one batter in each of the final three innings, bringing his total K count to 11. The Mets would never catch the Cubs, but Gooden was on his way to a Cy Young effort in 1985.

9. Harvey greets White Sox with near perfect stuff, 5/7/2013

Like Dr. K, Matt Harvey did not arrive without fanfare. His 2013 season had several stellar moments, including a start at the All-Star Game in Citi Field. But two months prior, he was just about invincible. No Chicago batter reached base through 6.2 innings. Then, Alex Rios weak infield single broke up any hopes of a perfect game. But that didn’t stop Harvey from continuing his dominance. Rios would be the only baserunner in his nine innings of work. However, this 12-strikeout effort didn’t result in a win, because his own club couldn’t dent the scoreboard. The Mets would come through in bottom of the 10th, with Bobby Parnell gaining the victory. Still, everyone knows who owned this night.

8. Cards can’t keep up with deGrom, 5/21/2015

While Harvey made headlines in 2013, it was Jacob deGrom – the former college shortstop – who turned heads in 2014 with an unexpected Rookie of the Year performance. Entering 2015, many wondered if this was a sign of things to come or a flash in the pan. The St. Louis Cardinals would sure know the answer following this Thursday afternoon affair. A first inning single would not be a sign of things to come. DeGrom would go on to retire the next 23 Cardinals he faced as his hitters built up a 5-0 lead. His final line read: eight innings, one hit, 11 strikeouts, zero walks. Over his 104 pitches, 79 were strikes – a fabulous display of precision and power.

7. The magical R.A. Dickey, 6/13/2012

The remarkable story of this late-blooming knuckleballer reached its zenith in the 2012 season. At the ripe age of 37, Dickey found his groove in June – going 5-0 with a 0.93 ERA and winning National League Pitcher of the Month. It seemed he had perfect stuff almost every time he took the mound. That was certainly the case in Tampa, when he came as close as you can get to a no-hitter. A weak ground ball by B.J. Upton was not fielded cleanly by David Wright, but called a single rather than an error. Dickey worked around the early baserunner, and worked over nearly every other Rays hitter. With one hit, no walks, and 12 strikeouts in this complete game effort, Dickey was en route to the NL Cy Young. Amazingly, he followed this up five days later with another one-hitter at Citi Field against the Orioles.

6. Bobby Jones’s steps up in NLDS, 10/8/2000

A common name achieved an uncommon feat in franchise and baseball history. Jones was left off the 1999 playoff roster and was a pedestrian 11-6 with a 5.06 ERA during the 2000 regular season. But he got the ball for Game 4 of the NLDS against the San Francisco Giants with the home-standing Mets looking to clinch. Even this powerful Giant lineup – which featured Barry Bonds and former Met Jeff Kent – was rendered powerless. Jones got a 2-0 lead and held it from there. Kent’s fifth inning single off the glove of Robin Ventura was the only real production out of the San Francisco attack. Jones did not allow anyone to reach base for the remainder from the sixth inning on. The final out was made by Bonds, as just the second one-hit shutout in postseason history (at the time) sent New York to the NLCS.