Lupica remembered to send a Valentine on Valentine's Day.

The headline should not say "no competition," because, even if deGrom is the best of the best, there are many pitchers in the discussion:

"First Matt Harvey, the Dark Knight of Gotham City, was supposed to be the great star of that rotation. Then along came Noah Syndergaard, with all that hair and another comic book nickname -- Thor."

I say something is "supposed to" happen.

When it doesn't happen, a normal person says "I was wrong," rather than "it was supposed to happen."

 

Also, as I've mentioned before, the only reason deGrom was largely ignored by the press, is because the press elevated Harvey and Syndergaard (among others) ahead of deGrom.

Why?

I don't have any idea why.

You tell us, Lupica.

Cool nicknames? 

Which you now mock?

 

"Dwight Gooden, of course, was spectacular when he was a kid, especially in 1985, when he finished 24-4 at the age of 20 and had a Bob Gibson-like ERA of 1.53."

No way. Dwight Gooden and Bob Gibson in the same sentence?

Do you know how long ago 1985 was?

Stop and think about how long ago 1985 really was.

I was on the phone with Sid Fernandez and Mike Scott; I was golfing with Mookie Wilson and Rick Honeycutt; I was spritzing in a sauna with Juan Beniquez and Teddy Higuera ...

Where was I? Oh yeah: Jacob deGrom is great. Which you already knew.