Kuzul

This is a special season for the New York Mets franchise.

It was 25 years ago this October that they last won the World Series. Since that time, fans have endured too many hardships to review here.

There has also been too many media reflections on the ’86 Mets and their spectacular run that season.

One of my personal favorites is “The Bad Guys Won” by Jeff Pearlman, but there are many, many other great publications to celebrate their feat.

The Mets, however, have not properly celebrated that team.

Sure, they brought a few players around when they closed out Shea Stadium. They also have utilized the services of several of the players. We’ve seen the organization parade that team in various coaching capacities and pep talks in Port St. Lucie. They even have a few key players from that team in the booth.

Last season, the team heard the outcry of the fanbase and created a Mets Museum. Several of the great Mets from that era have their faces engraved on a plaque there.

All of that is well and good, but there is one major honor that the team has not offered to its most cherished athletes.

That honor is retiring a jersey number.

How many times do Mets fans and media members see the numbers 16, 17 and 18, and manage to think of Paul LoDuca (No. 16 from 2006-2007), Fernando Tatis (No. 17 from 2008-2010) and Moises Alou (No. 18 from 2007-2008)?

The answer is never.

They think of three Mets greats: Dwight Gooden, Keith Hernandez and Darryl Strawberry.

It is time to show the respect that is due to these greats by giving them the greatest honor a sports franchise can give—it is time to retire these three numbers.

Here’s a few reasons why for each of them.

First: Dwight Gooden.

He is third all time among Mets pitchers for starts (303, behind Seaver and Koosman), his 157 wins as a Met rank him second behind Tom Seaver and he has amassed 1,875 strikeouts.

That is also good enough to be ranked second, again, behind Seaver.

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Game 6. It sort of takes a backseat to Game 7.

But it shouldn’t. Game 6 has often been the most memorable in many great playoff series. As Jerry Seinfeld said, “I made wisecracks in a nightclub. HE PLAYED IN GAME 6!!”

With two Game 6s on tap for this weekend, I thought this would be time to revisit the five greatest Game 6s of all time.

Here they are in reverse order.

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The 1980’s cannot be thirty years in the past already, can they?

Surely there’s been some mistake; say it ain’t so, Peter Ueberroth.  Please tell me Cheers and The Cosby Show are still atop the ratings, Bruce Springsteen is still The Boss, and Major League Baseball still has 26 teams, four divisions, no interleague play and no wild card.  Or if you can’t say all that, at least pretend for the sake of argument.

Have you got it yet?  That’s right, all you have to do is forget steroids, imagine Roger Maris and Hank Aaron still reign supreme atop the home run charts, and mentally switch the Brewers back to the American League.  There you go.  See how much better that is?

Well, your mileage may vary as to better or worse, but the 80’s were definitely a different time in baseball.  Whiteyball and Billyball led to record-setting stolen base seasons, teams carried nine or ten pitchers… and the players you’re about to see dominated the diamond.

I’ve spent the last week sifting stats to determine the roster for the ultimate 1980’s team.  I ranked the top 100 players per year, then added those rankings together to find players who excelled consistently throughout the decade.  Remember: We’re looking for the players who performed the best overall, not necessarily the best players to step on the field.  In other words, Roger Clemens might have remained dominant through the 90’s and Tom Seaver might have starred in the 70’s, but that doesn’t matter for our purposes.  All that counts is what happened between 1980 and 1989.

Ready?  Then it’s time to meet the starting lineup…

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One of New York’s biggest Mets fans will be working with the team he adores in the broadcast booth for the Mets vs. Yankees game. Jerry Seinfeld will be the guest of honor for three innings, replacing Ron Darling for a bit. This was first reported by the New York Post’s Michael Starr .

According to Starr, this is all a Fathers’ Day gift to Jerry from his family. The television sensation will definitely be pleased to be a part of a Mets broadcast for the first time.

It is also cool because he will not be working with total strangers. Not that he wouldn’t know who Gary Cohen is, because as a Mets fan, he has to to have some idea of who he is listening to on the air, and he works with television.

But Jerry Seinfeld will also be reunited with one of his former co-stars. 

When Seinfeld was still on the air, Keith Hernandez guest starred in an episode. In the episode he asked for assistance from Jerry, while being ridiculed and criticized by people like Kramer and Newman. Hernandez’s acting was mediocre. You can be the judge of that.

Here is the original story of the episode as told by Kramer and Newman with Seinfeld coming to Hernandez’s defense.

Here is Keith Hernandez acting at his finest .

It will definitely be entertaining to see Seinfeld and Hernandez at it again. Hernandez is funny alone. Imagine what he is like with Seinfeld, a comedian, as they reminisce about their 1992 episode. Definitely worth tuning into the game. 

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Less than a year and a half ago, Mets fans were wondering if Daniel Murphy would be the permanent solution at first base after Carlos Delgado left. He had shown promise hitting .266 with 12 home runs and 63 RBI in his first full season.

First base is notoriously a source of power in any teams lineup. It did not appear that Murphy would be able to provide that power. Then, during spring training he was placed on the disabled list with a sprained right MCL.

Once again, the Mets had a hole at first base. The Mets opened their season with Mike Jacobs experiment. This failed mightily as Jacobs hit only .208 with one home run. He was platooning at first with Fernando Tatis.

Meanwhile, young Ike Davis was tearing apart Triple-A. He posted a .364 batting average and .500 on-base percentage. Ike was proving that he belonged in the major leagues.

Then, on April 19, the Mets made one of their best decisions of the year. The Mets called up Ike Davis.

Davis had found success in the majors at the young age of 23. He is hitting .290 and has four home runs in 107 at-bats. What is even more impressive is that Davis has hit three of his home runs in the cavernous Citi Field. This is the same amount as perennial 30 home run hitter Jason Bay.

Can we expect this type of power out of Davis for years to come? One would think so as Davis managed to hit 20 home runs in the minors last season in only 429 at bats. Davis also hit 16 home runs in just 213 at bats in his last season in college at Arizona State.

Clearly the Mets also expect Davis to be a source of power as he has been moved to the cleanup spot in the lineup. The Mets expect to give Davis many RBI opportunities with Jose Reyes and Jason Bay batting ahead of him. The Mets are also giving Davis protection by slotting David Wright into the five hole in the batting order.

The Mets have given Ike a tremendous vote of confidence by making this move. They are showing him that they believe he will be one of their main run producers now and in the future. I think this will only help improve Ike’s game.

I know that it is a small sample size, but Davis is hitting .368 in 19 at bats from the cleanup spot. He has also scored five runs from the four hole. While he cannot be expected to maintain these numbers over the course of a full season, it would not be surprising to see him hit over .300 considering who is surrounding him in the lineup.

Davis appears to have joined the core of the Mets. He can be mentioned among Wright, Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and Johan Santana as a player to build around. This is an incredible feat for someone who is so young.

With Davis’ early success and Carlos Beltran impending return, the Mets still have a shot at the playoffs this year. They would not have had this opportunity with Murphy starting at first base. There would have been a big offensive hole at first base with Murphy in the lineup.

Davis has the potential to be the next great Mets first baseman. He could be a combination of the power of Carlos Delgado with the defense of Keith Hernandez.

Ike Davis is part of the future of the New York Mets, and the future is now.

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