'06 METS REMINISCENT OF '86

NY Post ^ | 8/19/06 | Evan Grossman

[qam1]

August 19, 2006 -- The Mets will honor the 1986 championship team tonight in a pregame ceremony that will feature the majority of that memorable squad. It has been 20 years since the Mets last won the World Series and many believe this year's team has the ingredients to end a 20-year title drought in Flushing.

Tonight's ceremony, set to begin around 7 p.m., will welcome back many familiar faces from that memorable team, and the energy inside Shea could serve as a reminder to this year's team what they're playing for. It will be the first time in years that Gary Carter, Darryl Strawberry and Keith Hernandez on the field together.

The Mets went into last night's game against Colorado 13 games up in the NL East and could get a midseason jolt from tonight's festivities.

"That team, to me, was the ultimate team," David Wright said.

Among the notable no-shows tonight will be Dwight Gooden, manager Davey Johnson and Ray Knight. The Mets will wear throwback uniforms tonight and tomorrow to honor the 1986 team. Wright is looking forward to tonight's celebration and expects the home-field advantage at Shea Stadium to be at a season high.

"It's going to be a special ceremony. Obviously the fans will be into it, and I think that when the fans get into something, that rubs off on the team," Wright said. "When the fans come out in full force, they get into it, they bring a lot of energy, a lot of passion, and we can definitely use that to our advantage."

[HitmanLV]

Gotta like those 108 wins. Even Gary Carter ('The All-American Out') had like 104 RBI I think that season!

Still, not the ultimate team. A damned good pitching staff, though.

[LdSentinal]

1986 Mets pitching is light years better than the 2006 staff.

[HitmanLV]

A fine, well rounded pitching squad. Who was that sidearm pitcher they added in 1987? Leach? I liked him a lot too - I love that pitching delivery! 1987 had Randy Myers in the bullpen, also. Mets had some very good pitching in the mid-80s.

[LdSentinal]

Yup. Terry Leach.

[garv]

Oliver Perez, the throw in in the Roberto Hernandez for Xavier Nady deal pitched seven no hit innings with 11 strikeouts for Norfolk in his last start.

Oliver Perez was considered Johan Santana-like in 2003. A 96 MPH lefthander would look good in the rotation if Glavine goes down.

[frankiep]

LINEUP

CF Lenny Dykstra .295, 8 HR, 45 RBI, 31 SB

2B Wally Backman .320, 1 HR, 27 RBI, 13 SB

1B Keith Hernandez .310, 13 HR, 83 RBI, 94 R

C Gary Carter .255, 24 HR, 105 RBI, 81 R

RF Darryl Strawberry .259, 27 HR, 93 RBI, 28 SB

3B Ray Knight .298, 11 HR, 76 RBI, 24 2B

LF Mookie Wilson .289, 9 HR, 45 RBI, 25 SB

SS Rafael Santana .218, 1 HR, 28 RBI, 36 BB

ROTATION

P Dwight Gooden 17-6, 2.84 ERA, 200 K

P Bob Ojeda 18-5, 2.57 ERA, 148 K

P Sid Fernandez 16-6, 3.52 ERA, 200 K

P Ron Darling 15-6, 3.52 ERA, 200 K

P Rick Aguilera 10-7, 3.88 ERA

Looks like a hell of a lineup and rotation to me. Their bench was also the best in the game. There was hardly a single weakness on that team; a rarity in any sport.

http://mets.scout.com/2/192750.html

A study of individual performances from the '86 Mets squad is bound to provoke the question: How did they win so many games with such mediocre stats? To answer that is to understand that the balance between pitching and offense was very much different in 1986 than it is today. That year, the Mets led the league with a .263 team batting average. By contrast, the 1999 Mets batted .279 and didn't even lead the National League. In '86, three Mets pitchers were among the top 5 in ERA, all under 3 runs per game. Today, aside from Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, and Greg Maddux, you would be hard pressed to find a team whose ace has an ERA under 3.5 and whose staff average is under 4. Darryl Strawberry led the '86 Mets in homers with 27. That was tied for 5th in the league. Today, that would be closer to 15th. Gary Carter was third in the NL in RBIs with 105. RBI machines like Manny Ramirez today can reach that total by the All-Star break.

[KneelBeforeZod]

(link) Pedro Martinez Credits Success To Lucky Midget, Sun God, Magic Beads

[HitmanLV]

I'm pretty sure they platooned 2nd base with Tim Teufel.

That's a heck of a year for Gary Carter, but I still consider him 'The Rally Killer' or 'The All-American Out' because of his performance in the seasons after 1986.

Carter's greatest strength was in knowing all the opposing batters and calling a great game. He made their great pitching staff even better, in my book.

I think that's a good lineup, but it pales in comparison t a great lineup, like the mid-late 1970s Yankees, or even the 2006 Yankees. ;-)

[frankiep]

Backman and Teufel did split alot of their time. You can't compare their stats based on teams in the 70's or 90's. While their stats wouldn't be anything special in other times, they still had what was statistically by far the most potent lineup in the league at the time. And their pitching was terrific. There wasn't a 20 game winner but everyone in the rotation was very solid at the least. How many teams can say that they had three pitchers with 15 or more wins on their staff.

As for the 2006 Yankees. Puhlease :-) Although, unfortunately I do think that they will win the Series this year.

[HitmanLV]

Fine pitching staff, no question. As for their offensive potency, I don't know. They made the post season twice in the 1980s, and in their 'power years' between 1984-1989. They won it all once in 1986, and fell to the Dodgers in the 1988 post season. Not a lot to show for their their potency in their league, in their era.

I liked HoJo a lot, particularly in 1987, when he became (at least at the time) one of the few 30-30 men. Hernandez dominated the NL in his position in his era - good guy. Guys like Strawberry could usually be counted on to strike out a lot, and hit his home runs when the team was ahead or way behind. Lenny Dykstra tring hard to hit for power starting in 1987 wasn't good, and neither was Gary Carter mastering hitting into a double play 1987 and beyond.

HoJo also mucked things up at 3rd base as a fielder, if I recall. Also after the 1988 post season (what was he, 1 for 20, or 0 for 20) the shine was off him for good.

I remember their home-grown golden boy, Gregg Jefferies was supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread. Never really worked out, though. Good player, but all that batting practice in a pool never amounted to world-class MLB stats.

A good team, but not an all-time great team. Their pitching staff in that era was tippity tops, Bob Ojeda cutting his own hedges notwithstanding! ;-)

[Mr. Bird]

I'll put the '76 Reds lineup, position by position, up against any...The '86 Mets squad was hardly a team of the ages. They are remembered mainly for being the beneficiaries of the Buckner bungle (and for being a NY team).

Teams within my lifetime that were better: The 70's A's, Reds, Yankees; the 80's A's, the 90's Braves and Yankees, and the '00's Yanks and Red Sox. I'd even throw the 70's Orioles and Dodgers in for good measure, although they didn't win it all in that decade.

[HitmanLV]

I agree - the mid-late 80s Mets were good, but they weren't great. It's funny I was going to bring up the mid '70s Reds as a clearly superior team, also.

[nutmeg]

Belated CONGRATS to the Mets for clinching their division title! The Yanks just clinched the AL East title (because my Dead Sox lost tonight), but we won't talk about that...

I would love to see the Mets win the WS again, but there are some pretty fierce teams in the AL. Should be interesting...

[Clemenza]

Mets could walk over Detroit, but the Twins or the Yankees could be trouble. The problem is the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation. Trachsel needs to go.

I'm not worried about El Duque, however. He always hits his stride in the post season.

[Clemenza]

The Yank-offs (fave team of Metrosexual transplants, tourists, and Mafioso) will NOT win the World Series. The curse of Hillary lives!

I still remember Giuliani begging everyone to root for the Yankees if they wanted to "show their support for New York" following 9/11. They went on to get spanked by the D-Backs and I was a happy man.

LETS GO METS!!!

[nutmeg]

The Twins are astonishing. Red Sox were swept by them earlier this season - when most of the Sox players were healthy, and the Sox were #1 in the AL East for several weeks running, if memory serves me right.

The Red Sox lost last night and tonight to the Twins at Fenway (we were at last night's game). Tomorrow's matchup is the amazing Johan Santana vs. Josh Beckett, the pitcher with the recurring "blister problem". I want the Red Sox to win, but if I were betting, I'd bet on the Twins to win tomorrow night.

We went to ONE Mets game this year at Shea... Saturday, July 22. Saw El Duque vs. Brandon Backe (Houston Astros). Nice game... Mets won 4-3! ;-)

[nutmeg]

The Yank-offs (fave team of Metrosexual transplants, tourists, and Mafioso)

And don't forget young women who actually know little or nothing about baseball. They just come to the games / watch on TV to gawk at Derek Jeter and/or Johnny Damon... ;-)

[nutmeg]

The curse of Hillary lives!

Oh yeah... thanks for the reminder... ;-)

[Clemenza]

Always been the case. My grandmother said that the Yankees attracted women because their players looked like movie stars (hard to believe with such sex symbols as Ruth, Maris, and Dimaggio/sarc), whereas the Dodgers and Giants looked like shape up time at the docks.

[nutmeg]

See #8... can you help? I don't know enough about Shea Stadium...