Musings on Mets Mismatches - 1962 Strat Style

As most of you know the 1962 New York  Mets were a bad baseball team. Very bad. They lost 120 games and lost them in spectacular fashion.

(courtesy http://2guystalkingmetsbaseball.com/)

They were the by-product of a miserly National League draft system, allowing the existing NL teams to protect virtually any player of value and guaranteeing that the expansion Mets (and their brethren the Houston Astros, then called the Colt-.45s) would be bad.

Here's Casey Stengel, Mets manager and media distraction, showing the Mets infielders (Don Zimmer, Elio Chacon, Charlie Neal, and Gil Hodges) the way to the stadium. Photo courtesy of NY Times.

These Mets are an entertaining team to play in a Strat-o-matic league. Some players have some skills but, as a rule, they are a deeply flawed group of players. Elio Chacon can draw a walk but can't actually hit and plays a miserable shortstop. Richie Ashburn is a fine outfielder and can hit .300 but is at the end of his career, needs frequent rest, and can't cover ground in the outfield like he did in his heyday. They do not have a catcher who can hit or throw. Pitchers Al Jackson and Roger Craig were serviceable starters who had worthy careers but each needs a good defense behind him to win . . .they were backed by a terrible D and lost. A lot. It's not uncommon for a pitcher to need to get 4 outs in an inning with the 1962 Mets.

They are one of six teams in a long-running league that has morphed over the years to include the 1957 Braves (Aaron, Mathews, Spahn, etc.), the 1954 Indians (Lemon, Garcia, Wynn, Doby, Rosen, etc.), the 1950 New York Yankees (Dimag, Berra, Raschi, Lopat, Reynolds, etc.), a Hall-of-Fame team featuring players of the late 19th century (Ed Delahanty, Sam Thompson, Hugh Duffy, et al) and the 1962 LA Dodgers (Koufax, Drysdale, Wills, Davis, etc.).

Against this assemblage of talented teams, it's not surprising that the Mets are currently 14-68 for a .171 winning percentage. They are routinely mismatched but recently they faced perhaps the most lopsided pitching match-up I've ever seen:

Sandy Koufax vs. Jay Hook.
(11-6)                    (0-12)

That's Jay on the right. Koufax, of course, needs no introduction though one should know that his relatively modest W-L record is the result of the Dodgers having recently played 15 games against the HOF team - his record against the other teams in this league is something like 10-3.

It didn't go well.  The Dodgers jumped on Jay for 6 runs in 2+ innings, then mauled Mets relievers for 10 more runs as Koufax tossed a 3-hitter.  The final score was 16-2. The Dodgers slammed EIGHT homeruns and walked 10 times.

The next day it didn't get any better:






Don Drysdale (10-9)




vs.

Bob Moorhead (1-5)


Drysdale tossed a 5-hit shutout while the LA offense settled for single touchdown in a 7-0 win.

Up next for the Mets? Their 15-game set against the 19th-century Hall-of-Famers who currently sport a 45-15 record!  This could get ugly! Or, uglier . . .