Top nine and bottom nine Mets moments of 2015

What a season! As Matt Williams and the Washington Nationals look bleakly toward the future, the Mets have never been so positive. Through all the twists and turns, from the 90-win prediction of Alderson in 2014 to the innings-limit conundrum from Harvey, this has been a magical season. The Mets have a ton of work to do come Friday, but let’s enjoy what we’ve already seen. Here are the top nine and the bottom nine moments from the regular season.

Ninth Worst: Back-to-back 1-0 losses vs. Nationals (May 2-May 3)

You forgot this, didn’t you? Well, back in early May the Mets seemed to suffer a huge blow to their early division lead when Gio Gonzalez and Doug Fister stifled a soon-to-be embarrassing Mets offense. The Nationals would get early blooper runs in both games and never look back. It looked to be the beginning of the end at that point in the season as John Mayberry Jr. and Anthony Recker started to soak up more at-bats than needed. At the time, it seemed like a death sentence and a hint of things to come- and it would be.

Fun fact: The last time the Mets got shut 1-0 in back-to-back games, Tom Seaver and Jon Matlack were starting on April 17 and 18 in 1973.

Ninth Best: 18-inning Marathon win vs. Cardinals (July 19)

Starting off our list is one of the most painful games that a baseball fan could possibly imagine as it practically epitomizes the boring side of baseball. At this point, the Mets were wrapped up in the middle of their “can’t score for crap” phase. The two proceeding games were disappointing losses to the eventual 100-game winning Cardinals. For twelve heart-breaking innings, the Mets and Cardinals watched their respective teams go scoreless. This all ended when Curtis Granderson and Kevin Plawecki strung together a few consecutive hits. However, the LOLMETS struck again when Kolten Wong tied the game with a solo homerun. The madness eventually ended when two singles, an error, a sac-fly, and sac-bunt gave the Mets a two-run lead. When Carlos Torres put the finishing touches on, the Mets realized they had played nearly six hours and went one for 26 with runners in scoring position. Why is this on the top moments list? Well, the Mets got a W! Also, because the 2015 narrative would be nothing without this game.

Fun fact: Sean Gilmartin picked up his first career hit in this ballgame.

Eighth Worst: Zack Wheeler must undergo Tommy John Surgery

This happened before the season even started, but it seems to be such a punch to the gut that it must be on the list. Wheeler, in 2014, had taken enormous strides toward become an effective strikeout machine. Instead of another season of progression, the Mets got what they usually got: a right-hook to the face by Mike Tyson. It’s not over for Wheeler, as he will likely come back in mid-2016 to rejoin the rotation and once again be an effective starter.

Even though the rotation turned out to be fine, this one was a pretty rough pill to swallow.

Fun Fact: Zack Wheeler led the NL in pitches per inning during 2014.

Eighth Best: 4-2 road trip versus Dodgers and Giants (July 3-July 8)

The Mets were done. After another sweep at the hands of the Cubs, the Mets could not get any hits and were on the brink of falling even further away from Washington. The Mets started a deadly road trip against two playoff contenders: the $270-million Dodgers and the World Champion Giants. It began with the daunting matchup of Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke. The Mets outdueled Kershaw to eventually beat Kenley Jansen in a statistical impossibility. They were then stifled by Greinke during his scoreless streak, but rebounded to shutdown L.A. and win 8-0. The Mets would then head to San Francisco to beat Sergio Romo and Jake Peavy in unlikely fashion. This series might not mean much to many, but this injected hope into the Mets playoff chances by beating two championship-level teams.

Fun fact: Before Jansen faced the Mets, he had gotten ahead of 20 hitters 0-2 20 times- and struck out 17 of them. Lucas Duda, Wilmer Flores, and Kevin Plawecki all fell behind 0-2, but were never retired.

Seventh Worst: Chris Heston makes our worst nightmares come true (June 9)

There are almost no words for this game. At this particular point, if Granderson was held in check, the whole offense followed. Beginning with Granderson watching a 2-2 pitch for strike three and ending with Tejada watching a 2-2 pitch for three, it was a disaster. The good news? I’ll let you find some.

Fun fact: Chris Heston hit three batters, the most ever in a no-hitter.

Seventh Best: Mets improbable comeback vs. Atlanta (September 13)

The Mets had won six in a row, Yoenis Cespedes was still on his remarkable run during this time, but one problem existed – the team played like garbage on September 13, 2015. After giving up numerous embarrassing runs against Atlanta, the Mets came to bat in the top of the ninth. Ruben Tejada and Plawecki both watched 1-2 pitches fly right by them to open the inning. However, Juan Lagares came to bat (and he had to savor his at-bats) and got lucky on a double that Cameron Maybin dropped. After a Granderson walk, Daniel Murphy hit a rocket that cleared the fence and tied the game up at seven. The Mets would later take the lead in the tenth inning, but no one will remember that. The Murphy homerun almost epitomizes the Mets season: the impossible has happened.

Fun fact: Addison Reed picked up his first (and only) save as a Metropolitan.

Sixth Worst: The Mets went 0-14 vs. the Pirates and Cubs

There are more than one million things to say about this embarrassment against the two NL wild-card winners. However, the easiest thing to say is that ten of those games were played B.C. (before Cespedes) and the Mets went to extras twice in the August series against the Pirates.

Also, if/when the Mets appear in the NLCS, one (if not both) will be out of the picture. Nevertheless, it was quite disappointing for the Mets to not muster out a single win against either of the two over fourteen games.

Fun fact: These two teams account for nearly 20% of the Mets losses.

Sixth Best: Mets come from behind thrice to sweep Nats again (September 7-9)

Just like the Heston no-hitter, there are no words. The Nationals watched two curtain calls from Wilson Ramos and Michael Taylor after grand-slams, but neither would do enough to make up for Cespedes. This man had six hits in three games, five going for extra bases- which included seven RBIs.

Jay-Z said it best: “I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, man.”

This series put a staple in the Nationals season and propelled the Mets even further towards a division title. It was a crazy sight to watch the bullpen fail three times in a row.

Fun Fact: Kelly Johnson hit solo homeruns off Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg in that series- both to give the Mets their second run.

Fifth Worst: Jenrry Mejia gets suspended…….. twice.

Easily the biggest disappointment of the season, Mejia lost the respect of every Mets fan out there. Watching him close in 2014 was one of the most exciting finishes to a ball game that anyone could ever imagine, but he ruined his chance to pitch again.

There are no fun facts for this one.

Fifth Best: Trio of Mets hit three homeruns in a game

In the first 53 years of Mets baseball, no player had ever smashed three bombs in a single game at home. Out of every hitter on the roster, the only player less likely to break the streak than Kirk Nieuwenhuis was Tejada. Nieuwenhuis hit three rockets en route to the hearts of Mets fans. Duda would later do the same thing in a matter of weeks, but it was overshadowed by a different event.

Of course, the most memorable was Cespedes’ introduction to Coors Field. He hammered three pitches over the fence for a historic night. These three moments are wrapped up in the 2015 story and were vital to the rejuvenation of this team.

Fourth Worst: Mets lose five of final six games which included a no-hitter (September 29-October 3)

The Mets had already clinched at this point, so one could understand that the young players might have mentally checked out for the year. However, losing this many games right before the playoffs sends the wrong message to the fans. The veterans on this team should have stopped this streak right after getting swept by Philadelphia. Still, it doesn’t make sense after Terry Collins preached that this team wanted home field advantage.

With regard to the no-hitter, it was Scherzer. He’s a top-five starting pitcher. At least it wasn’t Dallas Braden or Philip Humber.

Fun fact: Max Scherzer was a strikeout away from tying Seaver for most consecutive strikeouts at 10.

Fourth Best: Mets sweep Nationals in a balance of power (July 31-August 2)

Fresh after learning the news of Cespedes, Matt Harvey took the hill and pitched 5.1 hitless innings before Jose Lobaton ended Harvey’s no-hit bid. A mere two innings later, the Nationals would tie the game and send it to extras. We all know the rest of the story – Flores took a 1-1 fastball over the railings. This propelled two more wins en route to the most satisfying series ever played at Citi Field. It shifted the momentum in the NL East as the Mets would take the division lead only days later.

Fun Fact: Mets starters went 21.2 innings in this series, and posted a 2.12 ERA.

Third Worst: Mets lose seven in a row (June 17-24)

Fresh off beating the Toronto Blue Jays in two thrilling games at home, the Mets would head into Panic City. They would score a mere nine runs during a seven game losing streak (four of them coming in one game). The Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers would have their way with the Metropolitans and the Mets looked defeated. It was certainly a low point in the season with the Mets falling below .500.

Fun fact: Both of Travis d’Arnaud’s injuries have come during streaks. In both cases, he would leave and the Mets would continue the streak for three more games.

Third Best: Mets manage to win eleven in a row (April 12-23)

Heading into the season, there were doubters across the board especially after a disappointing 2-3 start. However, this group is a resilient bunch. The Mets would go on a run in which they never scored more than seven, but never allowed more than six. This set the tone early for the team in Queens and would serve as a safety net for much of the season.

Fun Fact: After standing ten games over .500, the Mets played only eight games over .500 the rest of 2015.

Second Worst: The Wilmer Flores conundrum and the blown lead.

This will go down as one of the defining moments in Mets history as homegrown talent Wilmer Flores shed tears upon finding out he was traded along with right-hander Zack Wheeler. What confused so many at the time was why Flores stayed on the field.

Only days later did the Mets face their worst nightmare. The bullpen wasted seven runs in the final innings to fall short to the Padres. They blew a six run lead and fell three games behind the Nationals.

Fun fact: It took two rain delays spanning over three hours to finish this atrocity of a game.

Second Best: Sandy “the Maverick” Alderson pulls off the impossible at the trade deadline (July 24-31)
Alderson had been accused of two things during his tenure as GM: he never actually drafted any of the young pitching and he was never active in the trade market. He, in a way, solved both of these problems during the trade deadline. Alderson gave up nearly all of his top homegrown pitching prospects to land four impact players: Johnson and Juan Uribe arrived in exchange for John Gant and Robert Whalen; Tyler Clippard arrived in exchange for Casey Meisner; and Yoenis Cespedes arrived in exchange for Michael Fulmer and Luis Cessa.
This was easily the biggest deadline that Alderson had as the GM of the Mets and it pleased the fans (for a little while).

Fun Fact: The ERA of the traded pitchers range from 1.99 to 5.97.

The Worst Moment: Mets almost get no-hitter and promptly lose 3-0 to Dodgers.

Many might not consider this game the worst moment of 2015 or even in the bottom nine. However, this game was the epitome of the Mets first half. They couldn’t hit for crap and, when the opportunities presented themselves, nothing happened. As a fan, I look at this game as “rock bottom” and hope that this never happens again.

Fun fact: Colon pitched a gem that day (8 innings, one run)

The Best Moment: Mets cry tears of joy

After nine years of heartbreak, dropped pop-ups, and bankruptcy the Mets finally put it all together for a division title. Of the 88 “experts” at ESPN, only one actually picked the Mets to win the division. Obviously, this run was mostly inspired by the arrival of players at the deadline, but it doesn’t matter. Bring on the Dodgers!

Fun fact: this makes the Marlins the only team to have not clinched the East in the 2010’s (they’ve never clinched the East).