Schwei's Mets Notebook: Little-Known Facts, Odd Stats And Strange Records
By John Schweibacher
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The New York Mets were officially eliminated from the National League East race by the Washington Nationals this past weekend, but this week they face a pair of division rivals they could still finish ahead of as they take on the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves.
The series loss to the NL East-leading Nats was the Mets' first series loss this month. In fact, since July 4, the Mets now have 35 wins. The only National League teams with more wins than the Mets since Independence Day are the three current division leaders: Washington (39), St. Louis (37) and Los Angeles (36).
Dillon Gee has now made over 100 starts for the Mets, something only 22 other pitchers have done in club history. Only 10 of those other pitchers were homegrown Mets, like Gee:
Tom Seaver: 395
Jerry Koosman: 346
Dwight Gooden: 303
Jon Matlack: 199
Bobby Jones: 190
Craig Swan: 184
Mike Pelfrey: 149
Jon Niese: 146
Gary Gentry: 121
Jim McAndrew: 105
Dillon Gee: 101
The Mets have managed only nine wins in Gee's 20 starts this season, the fewest among any of the Mets starters who have made that many starts:
Bartolo Colon: 15-13
Jon Niese: 14-14
Zack Wheeler: 14-16
Jacob deGrom: 10-10
Dillon Gee: 9-11
Other Starters: 10-14
Former Met Chris Young, who went deep eight times with the Mets earlier this season, became the second player to homer for the Yankees and the Mets in a single season when he hit three long balls for the Yanks this past week.
The only other player to hit home runs for both the Mets and Yankees in the same season was Dave Kingman, who homered for four different teams in 1977: the Mets (nine HR) and the Yankees (four HR in just eight games), the Padres (11 homers) and the Angels (two HR's).
After Jacob deGrom earned a win with eight scoreless innings in the Mets' 2-0 win vs. Colorado on Tuesday, Rafael Montero continued the trend, blanking the Rockies for 5 and 1/3 innings to help the Mets record their second consecutive shutout, 2-0, against Colorado.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that marked the second time in franchise history in which the Mets won back-to-back shutouts in games started by rookies. Jim McAndrew and Jerry Koosman were the only other Mets rookie duo to achieve that feat, having done so in September of 1968.
McAndrew threw 8 and 1/3 shutout innings in a 1-0 Mets win against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on September 11, and two nights later Koosman threw a complete-game shutout, beating the Pirates, 2-0, at Shea Stadium.
The Mets' 3-2 win last Monday night against Colorado was an unusual one. It was the first time in team history the Mets had five-or-more hits in a game with no singles (four doubles and two triples).
The Mets had never had a game with five total hits that were all extra-base hits, but have had five games without any singles and four extra-base hits:
5/18/12 at Tor, 14-5 Loss (Hairston HR & 2B, Wright 2B, Murphy 2B)
7/9/11 at SF, 3-1 Loss (Beltran 2B, Murphy 2B, Thole 2B, Turner 2B)
9/24/00 vs Phi, 3-2 Win (Alfonzo 2B, Piazza 2B, Zeile HR, Perez HR)
9/28/85 at Pit, 3-1 Win (Hernandez 2B, Santana 2B, Wilson 3B, Foster HR)
7/16/67 at Stl, 2-1 Win (Davis 2B, Buchek 2B, Harrelson 3B, Kranepool HR)
Schwei's Runs, Hits and Errors:
Runs: Jacob deGrom -- The rookie tossed eight scoreless innings in the Mets' 2-0 win over the Rockies last Tuesday night, lowering his ERA to 2.62 in 20 major-league starts. Elias says that the only pitchers to debut for the Mets and post lower ERAs through 20 career starts are Matt Harvey (2.30 from 2012 to 2013) and Koosman (2.42, 1967-1968).
Hits: Juan Lagares -- The rookie is hitting .333 (18-for-54) with seven stolen bases in September.
Errors: Capital Punishment -- The Mets are now 5-28 in their last 33 games against the Nationals at Citi Field after losing three of four to Washington this past weekend.
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