Just a reminder that I was a sportswriter in New York during Dwight Gooden's heyday in 1984.

I don't think it's completely crazy to put deGrom in the Hall of Fame, but Mike Lupica doesn't make the case:

"What Yankees fans saw with deGrom back in the big city on Wednesday night is what Mets fans saw across town at Citi Field when his starts were known as deGrom Day and you didn’t want to miss one of them; when they were as much a pitching event as Dwight Gooden’s starts once were at Shea Stadium when he was young, and he was the Mets ace who looked like the best pitcher in the world."

DeGrom wasn't that good vs. the Yankees last week, by the way. It wasn't must-see TV.

As for aces that energized Mets fans, let's put Matt Harvey and R.A. Dickey in the Hall of Fame.

"Jacob deGrom pitched seven innings against the Yankees and looked as if he were on his way to a win before Cody Bellinger took him out of the park in the seventh and made the game 2-2. But while he was out there, he looked like everything he ever was as a Met: Nine strikeouts, one walk, three hits. He was the same dazzling presence on the mound that he has always been when blessed with good health, something that hasn’t happened nearly often enough."

He looked like he was on his way to a win until he gave up a home run.

In that case, he really does remind me of Dwight Gooden.

"But look at what deGrom has been able to do when he has been injury-free, the laundry list of achievements that nearly give off a beam of light: Two Cy Young Awards, a season when he finished with an ERA of 1.70, the all-time leader in K/BB at 5.40. He’s twice led the world in strikeouts, led once in bWAR. He has 1,728 strikeouts (in 1,425 innings) for his career against just 320 walks. With everything that has happened to him already, his lifetime ERA stands, and proudly, at 2.51."

There's a HOF case for deGrom. His career WAR is quite high. His K:BB ratio is the best of all-time. Lupica listed deGrom's achievements and didn't even mention Rookie of the Year.

The problem is, the voters don't care too much about those particular stats.

K:BB ratio is a funny one. The Top Twenty is commingled with HOFers and mediocre pitchers.

It's a ratio. Which is the point, isn't it? The HOF is for accumulators.

 

The bigger problem is the whole "when he has been injury-free" argument. Because then you're just speculating. 

Don Gullet, Tony Conigliaro, and Mark Fidrych might have made the Hall of Fame.

 

My other gripe goes something like this.

1. Lupica is just infatuated with the Mets. He'd never write such an article about two-time CYA winner Corey Kluber (116-77, 3.44) or Hyun Jin Ryu (78-48, 3.27 ERA).

This article is for MLB, not SNY.

I'll gladly concede that deGrom had a better career than Kluber or Ryu. But did he have a better career than Tommy John? Curt Schilling?

2. While deGrom was good the other night, he allowed two runs in seven innings. Carlos Rodon pitched better the next day. So did Nathan Eovaldi. Nathan Eovaldi's return to the Bronx!

DeGrom's start was, like, the 10th-best start in the majors that day, yet Lupica was going to praise it to high heaven no matter what actually happened in the game.

"Looked like he was headed for a win until he blew it in the seventh inning."

Using that logic, Gerrit Cole won Game Five of the World Series last year.