Mourning the loss of Jose Fernandez who truly dominated the Mets

The baseball world was shocked and saddened to learn of the death of Marlins young ace Jose Fernandez. The Marlins had just adjusted their rotation so that Fernandez would face them in the upcoming series. You hear so much about how Player X performs well against the Mets. This was certainly case with Fernandez. To honor what a tremendous talent Fernandez was, let’s look back at his career against our team.

He made his major league debut against the Mets on 4/7/13, making the leap from Hi-A in which many thought was a reckless move by the Marlins. All Fernandez did that day was throw 80 pitches over five innings, in which he allowed just three hits and one run He walked one and struck out eight and did not factor into the decision, as the Marlins wound up losing, 4-3.

Fernandez faced the Mets again at the end of April and had one of his worst games against them, managing just 4 IP and surrendering 2 ER, including a homer to John Buck. Again he did not get a decision, as the Marlins won in 15 innings, 4-3.

He had two more games against the Mets in 2013, coming a week apart in the beginning of June. In those two games, Fernandez had 13 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 4 BB and 15 Ks. He earned his first victory against New York in the June 1 game and got a no-decision in a game seven days later in which the Marlins edged the Mets, 2-1.

The following year Fernandez did not face the Mets. He made just eight starts before undergoing TJ surgery. And despite appearing in 11 games in 2015, Fernandez did not go up against the Mets that season, either.

But this season, he faced the Mets four times. After being knocked around in his first start of 2016, Fernandez had a strong, but brief, outing against the Mets in his second start of the year. He gave up 1 ER in 5 IP but did not factor into the decision in the Marlins’ 2-1 win.

Then on June 5, Fernandez had his best start against the Mets. In 7 IP, he allowed just four baserunners and struck out 14. He outdueled Matt Harvey and emerged with the win in a 1-0 Marlins victory. The outing earned him a Game Score of 83, the second-best mark of the season for Fernandez.

In July, Fernandez wasn’t quite as dominating, as he allowed a whole 2 ER in 7 IP, but it was more than enough to carry the day in a 7-2 Marlins win. His last outing against the Mets came on August 9, when he hurled six scoreless innings but came away with a no decision.

Fernandez had eight career games against the Mets and in those contests, he was 3-0 with a 1.34 ERA. In 47 lifetime IP against the Mets, he had a 0.979 WHIP and an 11.3 K/9 ratio. He was absolutely dominating and it appeared he was well on his way to torturing the club for years.

After he came up and was such a success, people started connecting the dots and talked about how the Mets had a chance to draft him but opted for Brandon Nimmo, instead. Never mind that no fans politicked for Fernandez at the time and the Mets were not connected with him in pre-draft hype.’

Regardless, it’s a tough time for baseball fans in general and Marlins fans, specifically. Tonight’s game should be an emotion-filled day and it’s impossible to say how either team will react.