I know, I know, I still hang my head in sorrow after that NLCS series, but this is a good read about the Mets during that time. My favorite part is a description of Darryl Strawberry's wife was not like: Unlike the typical ballplayer wife -- a petite, large-breasted, dumb-as-a-shoe platinum-blond trophy with an extensive Hooters background -- Lisa was big, hard, and loud. In the ocean of beautiful, submissive young women who hungered for ballplayers, this was Strawberry's grand find? "She was a tough girl," says Vinny Greco, an assistant equipment manager. "His wife could probably knock out half the guys on the team." http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=pearlman/040603
That was a great read... stories about that team are now reaching mythical (satanical) proportions, as it seems that every year, you hear something worse that they did. The scary thing is... they were the best team, had the best talent, and won it all despite their off the field antics. Imagine how good they would have been if they were a disciplined bunch!
Here's another article on that team: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=neel/040603 Here's a part I particularly liked:
Mike Scott was unhitable in that NLCS. No doubt they would've made it to the World Series with him pitching in Game 7 if they didn't blow that 3-0 lead in the 9th.
A friend of mine and I were talking the other night about Scott in 86. I think that might have been the most dominant season by a starting pitcher in my lifetime. He brought up a season that Welch had with the A's that I didn't recall very well. But teams didn't just have trouble beating Scott...they had trouble hitting him. Really a remarkable season.
Clemens had a superior season in almost every way in 1997. Scott was only better in BAA, K, and K/inning (by 5 thousandths of a strikeout per inning). In some of the most common measures: ERA, ERA+, win%. He is also better by a much wider margin than the things Scott is better at.
Sounds good. I am in now way saying that Scott is a better pitcher than Roger. I just seem to remember that Scott was about as tough on hitters that season, and particularly late in the season, as any pitcher I've ever seen. But part of that is the familiarity of getting to see him pitch night in and night out that I don't have with other pitchers playing for other teams.
Probably Welch's 1990 season (I believe the A's won the title that year). Welch was something like 27-8 with an ERA around 2.60. (in the last 30 years, has any pitcher had more wins than 27 in a season??) I remember that well because that was the first year I joined a fantasy league and he was on my team. Too bad the rest of my team sucked.
Well.....I was all of about 4 months old when that season ended so I don't recall a whole lot of that season either. Still,it's relatively recent,and I was surprised no one mentioned it. On a side note,I'm always amazed at the apparent lack of respect Carlton gets.
