The Mets after their Fathers Day walk off win against the Cubs (I was at this game and it was awesome) have now played 162 games since being 35-29 on June 14th 2012.
At that point one year ago they had just been swept by the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, went on the road to Tampa Bay and, swept the Rays. Robert Allen Dickey was in the middle of back to back one hitters and the Mets were headed home to play the Reds.
Since that point in the season, the Mets have been an abject disaster of epic proportions that they haven’t see since the 1993 season when they lost 103 games. Which would be more losses than the expansion Marlins that season by the way.
The Mets finished the 2012 Season after that sweep in Tampa Bay with a 39-59 record. A horrid stretch that once again left us dealing with another second half from hell.
Couple that 39-59 record with the 25-39 record that you see right now and the Mets are a combined 64-98 in their last 162.
Sixty Four and Ninety Eight. Ugh.
The only teams with more losses since June 14th of last season in the span of 162 games since are the same teams that have been actually more awful than the Mets this season. The Marlins and the Astros.
The 2012 Marlins on June 15th (they had an off day on the 14th) were 32-32 after an 11-0 loss to the Rays and went on to go 37-61 the rest of that season. Couple that with their 19-45 record when they reached 162 games since June 14th of 2012 and they had a combined record of 56-106.
The 2012 Astros were 27-36 on June 14th after a 6-3 win over the soon to be World Series Champion Giants. They went on to finish with a record of 28-71 that season. Couple that with the 22-41 they had this year when making the 162 game mark since June 14th, they ended up with a combined record of 50-112.
The Indians and Cubs from that point on June 14th, 2012 have been almost as awful as they were 66-96 and 65-97 in the 162 games they played since that date. But as close as they were, they still could not top what the Mets have done since.
They 98 losses would be the 8th worst season in Mets history, tied with the 1977 Team, and would be the third worst season since 1968.
The 1993 Mets and the and 1979 Mets (99 Losses) would be the only teams worse than the one we have seen in the past 162 games.
The five players who have started the most games in that time frame have been David Wright, Daniel Murphy, Ruben Tejada, Ike Davis and Lucas Duda.
This group was considered by most to be key pieces for this team moving forward as they keep going with the rebuilding process. This is how they have done over this 162 game span. (Click the picture to enlarge it)
David Wright is obviously the best player on this team of mostly sad sacks. It is what he signed up for and I personally feel he will continue to be great no matter what for this team. It is certainly not his fault the team has stunk so much recently.
Daniel Murphy would probably be considered the second best hitter of the players who have played over 100 games in this 162 game example. A serviceable player who is a fan favorite. He is solid enough considering he is not a home run hitter and is clearly a doubles machine. He is pretty much the only competent player Wright can lean on for help.
The other three are where the rebuilding process takes a bit of a turn for the worst as they have either been sent to the minors or gotten injured.
Ike has hit 31 homers, which is nice the past 162 games, but in the 2013 portion of the 162 games we are looking at he only had five and was awful. Duda has almost struck out as much as Davis in the past full season and only has 40 RBI. Most believe for every home run, you should have three RBI. Duda does not have that. I was honestly surprised the strikeouts were as close as they were as well.
Then you have Tejada who also struggled this year before getting hurt with the same injury he had last year. 33 walks in 588 plate appearances doesn’t go with what the Mets want hitters to do in the organization and the slash line of .258/.305/.311 pretty much sucks.
The Pitching for the Mets in this 64-98 run they are on over a full season has also been short on players who have been here the entire time. Matt Harvey, Jon Niese and Jeremy Hefner are the only guys to make 20+ starts in this time and Bobby Parnell is only guy in the bullpen that has seen any regular action. Other than Hefner, the other pitchers are also considered part of the Mets core going forward. (Click the picture to enlarge it)
How good has Bobby Parnell been over a full season? One home run over that time frame from a guy who is now the closer is pretty good. Harvey’s numbers are pretty much his career numbers and they are great, much like himself. Niese has actually done very well, the nearly 200 innings pitched is nice and his stats fall pretty much in line with what most people would expect from him. Jeremy Hefner is basically a 5th starter and has pitched like such.
The moral of this story is that although the Mets have been God awful in what has now been a full season since that sweep in Tampa, they have been let down by a lot of garbage, non core players.
Wright and Murphy have done what they can while Niese and Harvey have done very well considering this is a team 34 games under .500 the past 162.
Its been the decline of Ike and Tejada and the slow development of Lucas Duda that have hurt the offense. While the bullpen has been a carousel of random pitchers and the rotation change over has also been both parts good and bad.
So you might have been wondering just how bad it has been for the Mets recently and as you have seen, it has been pretty bad.
The core guys have done the best they can, now they just need help to move past being a 64-98 kind of the team, and becoming a playoff team again.
