Can I Have The 1978 Mets Back?

By Shannon Shark
Posted Monday, August 31, 2009

So I write this weekly column here on Flushing University. Should be a piece of cake, right? New stadium, team heading to the playoffs. Plenty to write about!

Here I am at the start of September wondering how I will fill column space. Sort of like Jerry Manuel trying to come up with 8 healthy names and a pitcher. Nearly impossible.

So I can't write about how awesome the team is, because it isn't. I can't write about the stars or the core or the Fab 4 or 5 depending on your perspective because they aren't around.

Prospects - hey how about that Jon Niese? Oh he's hurt. Hey how about that fernando Martinez he could be the centerfielder for years? Oh he's hurt. How is that Bobby Parnell experiment coming?

We must have some cool September call-ups right? Yep Josh Thole mania is right up there with Ya Gotta Believe. Maybe Thole will be a Hall of Famer, but his first appearances won't be enough to get me to tune in.

The rotation? Imagine trying to win with Mike Pelfrey as your ace, and then some combination of Figs, Misch, Parnell and Redding. Let me get 1978 on the phone, I would take a rotation of Jerry Koosman, Nino Espinosa, Mike Bruhert, Craig Swan and Pat Zachry over the September 2009 guys any day. It takes guts to lose 35 games in two years like Kooz. No 2009-10 Met could do that because for one thing, you need to actually pitch every 5th day without getting hurt.

Let's look at the lineups.

1B: Willie Montanez or Dan Murphy. Willie in a heartbeat.
2B: Doug Flynn or a guy who dropped a popup with 2 out against the Yankees. I'll take the guy we traded Seaver for.
SS: Tim Foli or the cast of clowns. I would take Cora over Foli but the 2009 Mets have started guys I can't even remember now.
3B: I will not insult you by comparing Lenny Randle to David Wright.
LF: Steve Henderson vs seemingly 15 guys. 10 homers and 65 rbi. Them there's Sheffield numbers. Plus we traded Seaver for him.
CF: Lee Mazzilli vs anyone. I like Lee Mazzilli. You can put Willie, Mickey and the Duke plus Joe D and I'm taking my boy.
RF: Elliot Maddox vs Francoeur. I like this Francoeur, which means he's due to go down for the season.
C: John Stearns vs Santos/Schnedier. You'd cream your pants if a Mets catcher hits .264 with 15 and 73 plus 25 steals.

The minors? The '78 Tides had Mike Scott (who would stink as a Met and scare the Cy Young out of us in the 1986 Playoffs), Neil Allen who we would trick St. Louis into giving us Captain Keith Hernandez for, and a bunch of other guys who made the majors - but making the majors as a 1979 Met is kind of like Lance Broadway being called up because he isn't dead.

There you have it. I have scientifically proven that the 1978 Mets were better than the September 2009 Mets. Shea Stadium was only 15 years old then and about to be renovated. Soon we'd have cool plastic seats, a Diamondvision, a picnic area and a Frusen Gladje ice cream stand. I think I'd take a Frusen Gladje over a Shake Shack about now. Shorter line anyways.