We all feel so past our prime. Thanks for reminding me, Mike Lupica:
"For this one season, even with a won-loss record of 10-9, deGrom was to Mets fans what Tom Seaver once was. In what became a lost season after the team's 11-1 start, deGrom felt like The Franchise. Because when deGrom had the ball last season, the Mets' season still mattered. He became one of 11 qualified starters in the last 100 years to have an ERA of 1.70 or lower. Since the mound was lowered by Major League Baseball in 1969, deGrom became one of just three pitchers -- Dwight Gooden and Zack Greinke were the others -- to have at least 30 starts and 210 innings pitched and have an ERA of 1.70 or lower.
In the end, deGrom would finish his dazzling season with 29 straight starts of giving up three earned runs or fewer. He finished the season with 24 straight quality starts. These are all numbers that give off a beam of light, and always will. Seaver and Gooden pitched like this for the Mets once."
We know. He won the Cy Young Award and everything.
“ 'Watching him last year was like watching Doc [Gooden] in ’85,' John Franco said at Roger Dean Stadium on Tuesday, watching deGrom begin to stretch himself out for his Opening Day start with five innings against the Marlins.
In 1985, of course, Gooden was 24-4 for the Mets, with an ERA of 1.53, and looked like a right-handed Sandy Koufax. But that Mets team, a year away from a World Series championship, chased the Cardinals in the National League East all the way to a rousing three-game series at old Busch Stadium in September. They had Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter and other young starters. The Mets had other young starters in 2018. Mostly all they had was deGrom."
Dwight Gooden?
Keith Hernandez?
Gary Carter?
Is this your annual Spring Training "NY is really a Mets town" article?
"Matt Harvey was supposed to be the next Seaver once. He was the Dark Knight of Gotham City. Then Noah Syndergaard, known as Thor, became the new comic book pitching hero. Syndergaard won more games than deGrom did last year, but deGrom was still the one. Every five days, he made you watch Mets games, and care, and showed you how much he cared even when his team couldn’t buy or steal him enough runs. deGrom beat out Max Scherzer for the NL Cy Young Award. He beat them all. He was that good."
Other than some typical examples dubious "supposed tos," there is nothing here that everyone doesn't already know.
"Franco is a Brooklyn kid. He was 9 years old when Seaver was 25-7 in 1969 and the Mets became the Miracle Mets. Franco grew up to become a closer for the Reds, and then with the Mets after that. Franco has always loved talking about pitching. Now here he was in a seat on the first-base side of Roger Dean Stadium watching deGrom work, on a day when he didn’t nearly have his best stuff but who was, when he was at his best, still something to see.
'He has it all and does it all,' Franco said. 'He comes at you with the same motion, and the same arm angle. He works both sides of the plate. He changes your eye angle when he wants to. And when he wants to dial it up in the high 90s, he dials it up. Watching him pitch like this is a beautiful thing.' "
Maybe Buck Showalter wasn't available to really get things cooking, but this is what we've gotten so far:
- Mike Lupica sat next to John Franco at a Spring Training game.
- John Franco is from Brooklyn.
- John Franco, along with every other person who follows baseball, thinks Jacob deGrom is a great pitcher.
Then the rest is a recap of a Spring Training game that no one cares about and in which deGrom didn't even pitch well.
So maybe this is worthy of a tweet? A 100 character limit post on Instagram?
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