[Highlander]

After a quick start, the 1962 Mets finished their inaugural season in 7th place overall, with a record of 71-89, 27 games behind the NL champion Giants. Compared to their real life counterparts, this Mets team had a really good year. There were some very good performances on the offensive end of things and a pitcher or two didn't do too badly either.

A few notes about the team overall-

- They had two winning months....April at 9-7 and July at 15-14.

-They were just 2 games under .500 at home, at 39-41.

- They had winning records in both 1-run and extra-inning games, at 23-21 and 12-10 respectively....that has to be pretty rare for a team whose overall record is 18 games under .500.

- They were 3rd in the NL in OBP and 1st in walks. However, they were last or 2nd to last in most pitching and defense categories....so a lot of work needs to be done there.

Pitchers

SP Roger Craig- 14-12, 3.64 ERA, 232.2 IP, 1.21 WHIP, 122 K, 3.7 WAR.....what a surprise this season was for Craig!

SP Al Jackson- 10-15, 4.49 ERA, 228.1 IP, 1.38 WHIP, 130 K, 2.5 WAR

SP Bob Miller- 9-11, 4.13 ERA, 194 IP, 1.42 WHIP, 114 K, 1.3 WAR,

SP Jay Hook- 7-11, 4.84 ERA, 191.2 IP, 1.36 WHIP, 92 K, 1.5 WAR

SP Preston Aldridge- 8-8, 1 Save, 3.66 ERA, 137.2 IP, 1.41 WHIP, 101 K, .5 WAR....Aldridge was about half and half for starts and relief appearances

ST Galen Cisco- 1-0, 3 Saves, .66 ERA, 13.2 IP, 1.24 WHIP, 11 K, .5 WAR.....Cisco was picked up on waivers from the Red Sox very late in the season, but he made a pretty immediate impact.

SU Bob Moorhead- 4-5, 7 Saves, 4.59 ERA, 104 IP, 1.52 WHIP, 56 K, -.3 WAR.....Bob made 8 starts

MR Craig Anderson- 1-4, 1 Save, 8.28 ERA, 58.2 IP, 2.15 WHIP, 35 K, -1.1 WAR....Ewwww!

MR Robert Christiansen- 4-2, 3 Saves, 5.23 ERA, 43 IP, 1.56 WHIP, 13 K, -.2 WAR

MR Ken MacKenzie- 6-7, 7 Saves, 5.17 ERA, 62.2 IP, 1.64 WHIP, 39 K, -1.2 WAR

LR- Malcolm Warren- 3-4, 6.33 ERA, 112.1 IP, 1.66 WHIP, 95 K, -.5 WAR.....Malcolm started 8 games

Those are the guys who were part of the staff at the end of the year. Other guys who contributed include-

Dave Hillman- 4-8, 6 Saves, 5.18 ERA, 33 IP, 1.76 WHIP, 18 K, -.2 WAR....went on the IL in June


Batters....top guys in order of AB

Frank Thomas- 608 AB, .268/.327/.447, 91 R, 18 D, 2 T, 29 HR, 99 RBI, 1 SB, 2.8 WAR

Elio Chacon- 598 AB, .209/.311/.291, 67 R, 17 D, 4 T, 8 HR, 51 RBI, 8 SB, .9 WAR

Felix Mantilla- 587 AB, .264/.338/.356, 78 R, 17 D, 2 T, 11 HR, 87 RBI, 5 SB, 2.2 WAR

Richie Ashburn- 573 AB, .291/.422/.407, 106 R, 15 D, 9 T, 11 HR, 63 RBI, 11 SB, 6.0 WAR.....led the league in OBP and walks with 130.

Jim Hickman- 511 AB, .225/.291/.370, 54 R, 22 D, 5 T, 14 HR, 64 RBI, 1 SB, .7 WAR

Charlie Neal- 511 AB, .266/.310/.409, 56 R, 19 D, 6 T, 14 HR, 62 RBI, 1 SB, 1.3 WAR

Gene Woodling- 364 AB, .316/.418/.467, 60 R, 15 D, 2 T, 12 HR, 61 RBI, 1 SB, 3.0 WAR....Incredible stretch from when he joined the Mets on 6/15/62

Ed Bouchee hit 10 HR and had a .355 OBP in just 277 AB.

Joe Christopher didn't get a lot of playing time until he became a more full-time player in September. For that month, he hit .274/.400/.565 with 18 R, 3 D, 5 HR, 13 RBI and 2 SB in 62 AB.

Marv Throneberry hit 3 HR and drove in 18 R in just 63 AB.

Next I'll recap things from around the league once the World Series has been played. The Series is between the Giants and Twins....and as a teaser, the Twins got there thanks to a record breaking performance by one of their top players. A pretty amazing performance considering what happened in baseball in 1961. For now, I will leave it at that!