Mets are no Flukes!

By Evan Pritchard
Posted Wednesday, February 21, 2007

As a cartoon character used to say on TV, “Allow me to introduce myself…” I really am a professor, in a variety of subjects, lecturing at a variety of colleges and universities, but until now, I have never received a contract for “services rendered for adjunct lecturer on the humanities focusing on BASEBALL.” In fact, I still haven’t received my contract from Flushing University, but it seems that I have this weekly Wednesday column to do anyway…but it’s about baseball, so I’m in. The history of baseball is one of my favorite subjects, and in fact I tie it in with all my classes, so get out your textbooks and let’s get started.

I write a lot of books. People ask how many, I throw up my hands and say, “Fifty…” in reference to a joke about a manhole cover. (For the punch-line, send $50 to….(or a free catalogue) Evan Pritchard, PO Box 1028, Woodstock, NY 12498) The latest book is called “Joy in Metville: The Story of the Unforgettable 2006 Mets.” It is a 233 page literary statement about a great year in Mets baseball, based on my blog http://Amazine1.blogspot.com. This blog is also featured on MLBlogs as http://amazine1.mlblogs.com. I should start updating that site in April.

Last year was a great year for the Mets, but it was not a fluke. People say all these old guys all had “career years,” but this isn’t exactly true! These old guys all had youthful years, which is a different thing. If we keep pumping them with the Geritol-like elixir of our cheers and applause, they should be able to do it again, and wouldn’t that be amazing?

Let’s compare our merry Mets of '06 with their '03 former selves. Jose Reyes batted .300 last year, which is a seven point drop from 2003. Julio Franco of 2006 had 3 less homers and 21 less points batting average than 2003. Carlos Delgado last year had 4 less homers and 37 less points batting than he did in 2003. Carlos Beltran had a great home run year, his best, but he shaved 32 big points off his 2003 batting average to do it. Cliffy Floyd really only played half a year and was badly injured most of the time, so it's not too surprising to learn he hit 7 less homers and gained 46 less points batting than in 2003. Ramon Castro? He batted 49 points less last year than in 03 and the homers were off by one. Chris Woodward was great in 2003 by the way, and so last year’s performance showed 4 less homers, and 50 less batting average points. Anyone who calls these guys “flukes” is number than a hake! (To borrow a Red Sox expression)

The only position player who had a career year was Xavier Nady and we traded him and got Endy Chavez, who also had something of a career year. Xavier Nady’s BA was 11 points higher than 03 with 8 more homers! We dumped him, and got Chavez who raised his average from 2003 by 55 points.

LoDuca had a great year last season, but was it a career year? He raised his batting average 45 points from 2003 when he was playing with the Dodgers, but with 2 less homers, not that his homers matter that much. But LoDuca played for the Dodgers from 1998 to 2004, and had some fabulous years, of which last year was typical. In 2001, for example, LoDuca batted .320, with 71 runs scored, 147 hits, 28 doubles, 25 homers, and 90 ribbies. Last year’s .318 was not even a personal best!

So let’s not hear any more of this “fluke year” spring effluvia. The Mets have a good lineup of players. In a future column, I will show how the “best bullpen in baseball” and its backup, the starting staff, (LOL) actually had off years as individuals, with the exception of Heilman and Feliciano, and maybe Sanchez. Maybe they’ll try harder this year.

Happy Washington’s Birthday Eve, by the way, and how do I tie that in with the Mets…I’m working on it. I think he managed for New York in 1789.