The Mets Killers Team: Starting Pitchers

by Matthew Callan on Jan 11, 2011 12:00 PM EST

For a full explanation of this little project, see my introductory post here.

The Reader's Digest version: I'm working on a piece for the upcoming Amazin Avenue Annual about an imaginary team made up solely of Mets Killers, to see how such a team would fare when forced to play a full schedule against teams other than the Mets.

Now we come to the starting pitchers. Below you will see an array of hurlers, some at the top of their game, some in decline, and some who are still active only in the most academic sense. Since we want a full rotation, please pick your top five Mets Killer starting pitchers. Poll away after the jump.

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The poll's HTML seems to be out of wack

That said, I nominate basically any scrub/rookie starter, in the last three to four years, who has ever made a start against the Mets. We fail to do well against those types of pitchers.

Of other, more established pitchers who kick our ass time and time again, Josh Johnson immediately jumps out at me.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 453 posts (10/03/10)

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 11, 2011 12:22 PM EST reply actions

Exactly what I was going to say

With the extra caveat, of course, that said pitcher then goes on to have an illustrious career consisting of about 4 more starts where he gives up, say, an average of 7 runs in 4 innings each.

David Eckstein: so gritty they would eat him in the south for breakfast with some butter and sprinkle cheese.

by wrightHOF on Jan 11, 2011 12:46 PM EST up reply actions

JJ gets my vote too

Hey, wait! I'm having one of those things. You know? A headache with pictures?

by KeithsMoustache on Jan 11, 2011 5:44 PM EST up reply actions

No Oliver Perez option?

I’m pretty sure that he’s done a better job killing the Mets by pitching for us than anyone did pitching against us.

"The Mets are gonna be amazing!" - Casey Stengel

by Russ on Jan 11, 2011 12:23 PM EST reply actions 2 recs

YEAH Ollie has my vote too

Any task BIG or small, Do it well or not at all

by Rickfansince76 on Jan 11, 2011 3:34 PM EST up reply actions

Greg Maddux, Andy Pettitte, Josh Johnson come to mind first

"I only wanted a few things out of life -- a wife, children, to play baseball and to hunt deer." - Turk Wendell

by Rey-O on Jan 11, 2011 12:24 PM EST reply actions

Any soft-tossing lefty

with zero career wins.

by Kepler on Jan 11, 2011 12:29 PM EST reply actions

then that would be LOLie...hehe

Maddux has my vote though.

"Fantasy, reality, science Fiction. Which is which? Who can tell?"

by feslenraster on Jan 11, 2011 4:36 PM EST up reply actions

He has

his fans: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=oliver+perez

by Kepler on Jan 11, 2011 12:32 PM EST reply actions

Reply fail.

That was for Ollie.

by Kepler on Jan 11, 2011 12:35 PM EST up reply actions

What the hell?

Well, I guess you can’t always trust Urban Dictionary. That makes me sad.

It's a triumph of number crunching over the human spirit...aaaaaand, it’s about time. -- Play-by-Play Announcer, The Simpsons.

by MookieTheCat on Jan 11, 2011 6:51 PM EST up reply actions

Going by game score...

Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, Juan Marichal, Jim Bunning, and Burt Hooton.

Okay, there are more nuanced answers, but those are the top five guys on the list of pitchers with the most games with a game score above 70 against the Mets. I don’t know whether that makes them “Met killers,” but that’s certainly one definition of dominance.

by metstotop333 on Jan 11, 2011 12:52 PM EST reply actions

Back then those guys were pitching, it was a hell of a lot easier to be a Mets killer

Just saying.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 453 posts (10/03/10)

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 11, 2011 12:55 PM EST up reply actions

Bronson fucking Arroyo

Average against everyone else, Steve Carlton against us

There is no hope.... there is no future....there is only GRISSIONZ

The 2011 Mets- Rock bottom: We haven't reached it yet

by Syler on Jan 11, 2011 1:34 PM EST reply actions

First one I thought of

by James Kannengieser on Jan 11, 2011 1:45 PM EST up reply actions

Ah Key West's own

He’s a pretty big deal in the lower Keys (does a lot of charity work etc.), which is to say that he’s the only person actually from here.

It's a triumph of number crunching over the human spirit...aaaaaand, it’s about time. -- Play-by-Play Announcer, The Simpsons.

by MookieTheCat on Jan 11, 2011 6:53 PM EST up reply actions

Jeff Suppan

by True Blue4 on Jan 11, 2011 2:18 PM EST reply actions

1.Ollie

2. Glavine
3. Maine
4. Tim Redding
5. Nelson Figueroa

And thats just in recent years.

John Franco (shoulda been) HOF 2011

by JoeBighead on Jan 11, 2011 3:12 PM EST reply actions

oh..heres a few more

Carpenter
Halliday
LEE
zito of all people
lincecum

I hate Philadelphia so much.

by the caveman on Jan 12, 2011 12:15 PM EST up reply actions

Aren't we actually pretty good against Lincecum?

Save Jenrry Mejia!

by Ogre39666 on Jan 12, 2011 12:16 PM EST up reply actions

We're 1-1 against him

in five starts. He has a career 3.71 ERA against us, in 34 innings of work.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 453 posts (10/03/10)

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 12, 2011 12:18 PM EST up reply actions

Considering his career ERA is 3.04...

Save Jenrry Mejia!

by Ogre39666 on Jan 12, 2011 12:43 PM EST up reply actions

He can only find schwag on the East Coast

Throws him off his game.

It's a triumph of number crunching over the human spirit...aaaaaand, it’s about time. -- Play-by-Play Announcer, The Simpsons.

by MookieTheCat on Jan 12, 2011 12:56 PM EST up reply actions

The West Coast herb agrees with him more.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 453 posts (10/03/10)

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 13, 2011 12:44 AM EST up reply actions

chillin out in the LBC im sure

smokin on some endo sippin on gin and juice

I hate Philadelphia so much.

by the caveman on Jan 13, 2011 9:17 AM EST up reply actions

Bronson Arroyo and Barry Enright were the first two names that came to mind.

The poll is still messed up though.

Save Jenrry Mejia!

by Ogre39666 on Jan 11, 2011 3:42 PM EST reply actions

It should be Ollie

But Maddux has traditionally been a Met killer

by bob c on Jan 11, 2011 5:37 PM EST reply actions

I don't know if it counts or not

But Adam Wainwright. I know he’s great in general, but has any pitcher crushed our spirits quite as thoroughly as he did with that one pitch?

Hey, wait! I'm having one of those things. You know? A headache with pictures?

by KeithsMoustache on Jan 11, 2011 5:46 PM EST reply actions

Mr. Galvotage?

He probably at least comes close

"I reject your reality and substitute my own"
-Adam Savage

by blueandorange4life on Jan 11, 2011 8:27 PM EST up reply actions

How am I the first to mention

Dontrelle? I remember he always got the best of us.

"If this doesn't light your fire, men, the pilot light is out."

by Lonborg and champagne, Ollie and vodka on Jan 11, 2011 8:27 PM EST reply actions

Totally for got about him

but yeah, he had our number for a while.

Save Jenrry Mejia!

by Ogre39666 on Jan 11, 2011 8:33 PM EST up reply actions

He sure did

But remember that back then he was really good overall. It’s rare to see a guy fall off a cliff like he did. Ya know, I just went back to look at him on Fangraphs and well just damn. Look at that. Unbelievable that we went from decent to great to decent to just terrible in such a short period of time.

It's a triumph of number crunching over the human spirit...aaaaaand, it’s about time. -- Play-by-Play Announcer, The Simpsons.

by MookieTheCat on Jan 11, 2011 8:43 PM EST up reply actions

As both a pitcher and a hitter, too.

That deserves bonus points.

I am willing to wait to build a world class franchise (h/t to millsy)

by BobbyV_Incognito on Jan 11, 2011 9:50 PM EST up reply actions

The Marlins 2003 World Series run was on MLB Network today, for whatever reason

and Dontrelle was pitching a game. I miss how awesome he was.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 453 posts (10/03/10)

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 11, 2011 11:55 PM EST up reply actions

I don't

John Franco (shoulda been) HOF 2011

by JoeBighead on Jan 12, 2011 8:18 AM EST up reply actions

You cannot deny his awesomeness.

It was unfortunate that it often came at our expense. It’s not like we were doing much in 2003 or 2004, though. In 2005, it hurt us a lot more, as we were in the running for things until close to the end. By 2006, he was a nonfactor.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 453 posts (10/03/10)

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 12, 2011 12:20 PM EST up reply actions

I never liked him.

And it wasn’t just that he pitched awesome against us. Something about the way he carried himself. Maybe the way he wore his uniform and hat, I don’t know.

Save Jenrry Mejia!

by Ogre39666 on Jan 12, 2011 12:45 PM EST up reply actions

I will never like anyone

With a flat brimmed baseball cap. I don’t even know why. I just don’t like it.

It's a triumph of number crunching over the human spirit...aaaaaand, it’s about time. -- Play-by-Play Announcer, The Simpsons.

by MookieTheCat on Jan 12, 2011 12:57 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

Yeah, that certainly didn't help.

Save Jenrry Mejia!

by Ogre39666 on Jan 12, 2011 1:07 PM EST up reply actions

Joba

I hate Joba

John Franco (shoulda been) HOF 2011

by JoeBighead on Jan 12, 2011 9:16 PM EST up reply actions

hes a fat bastard i cant hate jobba

the yankees i really hate now are Lame-rod and Francisco Cervelli.

god do i hate cervelli, his fist pump after every strike out and his just overall douchebaggy look after each pitch or at bat. i want to punch him so hard.

I hate Philadelphia so much.

by the caveman on Jan 13, 2011 9:18 AM EST up reply actions