Amazin' Avenue Says Farewell To 2012

We at Amazin' Avenue like to think we had a better year than the Mets, who endured in 2012 their fourth straight losing season. The site, and SB Nation as a whole, underwent a significant makeover. Continual improvements are being made to improve the experience of community members. We added numerous front page writers, increasing both the quantity and quality of content. As a result, this year-end recap of the best front page posts of 2012 was tougher to put together. There was much to choose from.

Please enjoy this trip through Amazin' Avenue 2012 and here's to a great 2013:

January

• How Bad Will The Mets Be In 2012? -- The answer: not good. Not the worst thing in the world, but not good.
• Mets Hire Turnaround Consultants, Put Bankruptcy On Table? -- Hat tip to Eno Sarris for breaking the story.
• Remember That Time Tom Seaver Wrote A Mystery Novel? -- Can't be much worse than those monthly James Patterson books.
• Let's Go To The Videotape: 1986 Mets, A Year To Remember -- I can still recite the narration, interview snippets, and 1980s pop music clips from this word-for-word.
  
• Why National Baseball Writers Should Avoid Writing Team-Specific Articles -- That task should be left to the enlightened local pros like Bill Madden, Joel Sherman, and Kevin Kernan.
• A UZR-less 2012 -- Follow me; follow me to freedom [from advanced defensive metrics]!
• Cody Ross And The Ranks Of The Unforgiven -- From Cody Ross's Wikipedia page: "As a youth, Ross wanted to become a rodeo clown."
• John Franco Gets Mets Hall Of Fame Call -- Congratulations to quintessential New Yawka Jawn Franco.
  

February

• New York Mets Slogans -- Plenty of laughs and tears here.
  
• Counterpoint: The Marlins' Home Run Celebration Machine Is Awesome -- A bit of contrarianism, a favorite pastime.
  
• Fun With Mets Rebuses -- A fun post for wasting hours of your workday. Hit the comments section too.
  
• Advice For Josh Lewin, The Mets' Newest Radio Voice -- In my estimation, Lewin did a fine job in his rookie season as Mets radio broadcaster.
• Putting Camera Carter In Clearer Focus -- Matthew Artus pays tribute to the dearly departed Gary Carter. RIP.
• Are The Mets Truly Saber? Part One -- Eno Sarris investigates. Click here for part two of the miniseries.
• This Is - New York Mets - Jeopardy! -- A brief excerpt from Rob Castellano's post: "Jeopardy! loves Mike Piazza." Jeopardy! is not alone in that respect.
  
• Transcript Of Terry Collins' Meeting With Ruben Tejada -- With a nod to the terrific Mike Judge.
• Tim Byrdak Is Hulkamania -- Just one of many posts by Rob Castellano on location at Mets spring training.

March

• Carlos Beltran's Long Island Home Is For Sale -- Asking price was $5.8 million. If this link is accurate, the house is still on the market for... $5.8 million.
• Bill Petti Talks Clutch Hitting And Grission On Clubhouse Confidential -- That's AA's-own Bill Petti, speaking intelligently about baseball on television. Cool, to say the least.
• When The Fourth Estate Pleads The Fifth -- Mets beat writer Adam Rubin periodically tells his Twitter followers what he really thinks. Matthew Callan is here to provide commentary.
  
• It's Time To Bid The Verducci Effect Farewell -- Methinks Mr. Verducci does not agree.

April

• An In-Depth Look At The Newest Options In Citi Field Food -- Mmmm, Pork Osso Bucco.
  
• Amazin' Avenue 2012 Season Predictions -- Proper respect to Matthew Callan for correctly predicting a Giants-Tigers World Series.
  
• Thoughts On The Mets' Opening Day Roster -- Adios to 2012'rs Jason Bay, Andres Torres, Mike Nickeas, and Miguel Batista.
  
• This Week In SNY Season Debut -- In which we checked in with Kevin for the first time in 2012.
• The Top 50 Mets Of All Time #48 Steve Trachsel -- He of the 15-win, 1.01 K/BB ratio in 2006.
• I've Seen Fire And I've Seen Whine -- On Ike Davis, Paul O'Neill, and called third strikes.

May

• The Top 50 Mets Of All Time #47 R.A. Dickey -- The Legend. Where is he now after his 2012 Cy Young campaign? #35? #25?
  
• The Mets' Beastie Boys Playlist In Video Form -- It's not surprising that no one selected Tom Glavine's old favorite, "Glavotage."
  
• Breaking Down Rob Johnson's Pitching Appearance -- Arguably the best Mets reliever of 2012.
  
• A 25-Man Roster Of The Best Facial Hair In Mets History -- In addition to the impressive facial hair, it's a pretty strong group of ballplayers. Keith Hernandez, Mike Piazza, Frank Viola, and Howard Johnson made the team.
  

June

• Finally! Johan Santana's No-Hitter A First For The Mets -- I was stuck following this on my smartphone while riding a Chinatown bus. A brilliant moment, nonetheless.
  
• Mets 3, Nationals 1: Dickey's Better Than Wang -- Of course he is.
• 2012 Mets Draft Scouting Reports -- No one does it better than Alex Nelson.
• On Jon Rauch And Death Wishes -- "if baseball inspires actual thoughts of murder, maybe it's not your ideal entertainment option"
• Is Justin Turner Clutch? -- Probably not.
• Oliver Perez Is Back, In More Ways Than One -- The idea of Oliver Perez re-inventing himself as an effective major league relief pitcher is not amusing to me.

July

• Mets Expand Green Initiatives At Citi Field -- That's green as in helping the environment, not strange alternate uniform colors.
• Shortstop Showdown: Jose Reyes vs Ruben Tejada -- Love Ruben, still miss Jose.
• Mets Playoff Odds -- Baseball Prospectus had the Mets' playoff odds at 52% on July 3rd.
• The Worst "Ask The Booth" Question In History -- Poor guy.
  
• R.A. Dickey On "Dickey Face" -- Your moment of zen, Amazin' Avenue denizens.
• The Mets' Forgotten First Half -- Mets minutiae which may have slipped your mind.
• This Week In Mets Quotes -- Joe Sokolowski continued his essential weekly series in 2012.
• Matt Harvey: Then And Thursday Night -- Matt Harvey has come a long way since he was drafted. And he was pretty good back then too.
  

August

• R.A. Dickey On Writing -- He's gone and still I just can't get enough of the guy.
• An Explanation Of Win Expectancy Graphs -- An installment in the "Sabermetrics and You" series.
• Maybe David Wright Should Stop Trying To Steal Bases -- League average stolen base success rate in 2012 was 73%. Wright finished with a 60% success rate. Ick.
• Melky Cabrera, Michael Pineda, And The Outrage Outage -- Please allot your outrage accordingly.
• Follow The Money -- Adam Rubin was at it again, baring his soul on Twitter. This time the topic was the Mets' payroll.

September

• #BlameBeltran: Explaining A Hashtag -- Social media sarcasm, explained to a Mets beat writer.
• The Event Horizon Of Chipper Jones Hate -- Smell ya later, Larry.
• Welcome To The Future Of Amazin' Avenue And SB Nation -- I guess what I'm trying to say is, if I can change, and you can change, everybody can change.
• Getting The Calls: Mets Pitchers -- Who was helped by the umpires? Who got screwed?
• Knuckleball!: The Movie -- A review of the critically-acclaimed documentary about R.A. Dickey, Tim Wakefield, and the knuckleball.
• Do The Mets Miss Fernando Martinez? -- Regardless of how Fartinez's career turns out, his departure from the Mets was an example of roster mismanagement by the front office.

October

• No Bias In This Booth -- Gary, Keith, and Ron: best in the business.
• Bart Giamatti Said It Best, 2012 Edition -- Tears in my eyes.
• The Mets' Forgotten Second Half -- More events which may be swept into the dustbin of Mets history.
• Is It A Good Idea For The Mets To Sign David Wright To A Lengthy Contract Extension? -- Yes, yes it is. Thanks for asking.
• Today In Mets eBay Superlatives: Grission, Embodied -- Grit + Passion = Grission

November

• Mets Fandom: There Will Be Sun -- Chin up, Mets fans.
  
• Meet The Candidates: New Mets Villains -- Bryce Harper is just 20 years old.
  
• This Week In SNY Year In Review: Gary, Keith, And Ron -- "There is no book!"
• Mets Won't Get Away With Charging So Much For Opening Day Tickets -- Supply, demand, market, etc.
• 2012 Saber Porn Of The Year -- Congratulations to Craig Kimbrel.
• David Wright Re-Signs With The Mets -- "This is obviously the greatest news ever."
• The Very Hungry Dickey -- Post is safe for work, I assure you. Check it out for the words, pictures, and MS Paint.

December

• You Don't Deserve R.A. Dickey, You American League Ingrates -- At least The Dickster wasn't traded for Mike Olt.
• Ken Davidoff Throws R.A. Dickey Under The Bus As Pitcher's Trade To Blue Jays Looms -- OG Dickey fan Sam Page says screw the haters.
• Getting To Know Travis d'Arnaud -- Welcome. Now let the long-term stability at catcher begin.
• The "R.A. Dickey Face" Contest Finalists -- Let's end the 2012 recap right here.