Saturday Seasons: 2012 Season, New Dimensions, An Historical First and Old Results

A return of an ace and a first baseman, a Cy Young Award winning season, a first time historical milestone and changes, both on the field and for the field itself, along with an all too familiar second half collapse defined the 2012 season for the Mets.

After missing the entire 2011 season due to anterior capsule surgery, former Cy Young award winner Johan Santana made a remarkable return. Santana was not only the starting pitcher on opening day, he authored the first no-hitter in franchise history.

Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey won 20 games for the first and only time in his career and, at the time, became the third Mets pitch to win the National League Cy Young Award.

Coming off a disappointing 77-85 record in the 2011 season, General Manager Sandy Alderson overhauled the coaching staff.

Manager Terry Collins stayed on but bench coach Ken Oberkfell, third base coach Chip Hale (who was offered a new contract but declined to join Bob Melvin in Oakland), first base coach Mookie Wilson and bullpen coach Jon Debus did not return. Bob Geren became the new bench coach, Tom Goodwin and Tim Teufel were the new first base and third base coaches while Ricky Bones took over as the bullpen coach. Hitting coach Dave Hudgens and pitching coach Dan Warthen were the lone holdovers.

On the field, the Mets had a new starting shortstop.

After spending the first nine years of his career in Queens, Jose Reyes left the Mets as a free agent to sign with the Miami Marlins and 22-year old Ruben Tejada took over at short.

Stud closer Francisco Rodriguez was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers at the 2011 trade deadline, so the Mets signed free agent Frank Francisco to be their closer.

During the first three seasons of Citifield’s existence, there was much criticism of the cavernous dimensions that limited home run totals for both the visitors and the home team.

In 2011, Citifield allowed 1.33 home runs per game, which ranked 14 th out of 16 National League parks. A research study revealed the Mets would have hit 81 additional home runs with the new dimensions in place, while the opponents would have hit 70. The study also found that in Citi’s first three years, nine opposite field home runs were hit to left field, all by the visiting teams.

A new, eight foot wall was built in front of the original left field wall that measured 16 feet while a new wall was built in right field. Both the left and right field lines remained at 335 and 330 feet respectively, but the right-center field dimensions went from 415 to 398 feet, while left-center shrunk from 371 to 358 feet.

The opening day lineup had Ike Davis at first base which was significant because it was the first appearance in 11 months for the 25-year old. On May 10th, 2011, Davis collided with David Wright on a pop up during a game in Colorado and suffered a season ending ankle injury.

Six days after the collision, Wright was found to have a stress fracture in his back. Wright’s chronic back woes would eventually curtail his career, but the collision was not deemed as the reason he sustained the stress fracture.

Santana was the opening day starter and he tossed five scoreless innings as the Mets opened the season with a 1-0 win over the Atlanta Braves at Citifield, the first of four straight wins to begin the 2012 season.

Things were looking up for the Mets who completed the first two months with a 28-23 record and were only a game and a half out of first place.

The month of June began with a historical milestone.

On June 1st, Santana became the first Met to toss a complete game, no-hitter when he turned the trick against the defending World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals. There were two significant moments that contributed to completing the first Mets no hit game.

Adam Wainwright, who had broken Mets fans hearts five years earlier when he struck out Carlos Beltran looking to end game 7 of the National League Championship Series, was the Cardinals starter.

Wainwright matched Santana with three scoreless innings, but the Mets broke through in the fourth to take a 2-0 lead on Duda’s sacrifice fly and an RBI triple by Daniel Murphy.

The first significant moment came tn the top of the sixth, Former Met Carlos Beltran lined a 1-0 pitch down the left field line that was ruled foul by third base umpire Adrian Johnson, although replays showed the ball hit the white chalk of the line. There was no replay rule during the 2012 season so the call stood and the no hitter was intact.

In the home sixth, Duda hit a three run, home run that gave the Mets a 5-0 lead but the story was Santana who had tossed six no hit innings.

The ensuing half inning featured the defensive play of the game that preserved the no hitter.

With one out, Yadier Molina, whose two run, ninth inning home run was the deciding blow in that 2006 game seven, hit a fly ball to deep left field. Mets left fielder Mike Baxter went back and caught the ball right before he hit the wall. Despite slamming into the wall, Baxter held onto the ball but not before he suffered fractured ribs and a displaced collarbone.

Through eight innings, Santana’s pitch count had reached 122 which created a real dilemma for Collins. Should he pull Santana or let him continue because the Mets had built an 8-0 lead. Collins decided on the latter.

Santana got a break when Matt Holliday lined out to center on one pitch. Allen Craig flew out to left and a crowd of over 27,000 was on its feet sensing history.

The final batter was David Freese who worked the count to 3-2. Santana’s 134th pitch was a change up that Freese swung at and missed and the celebration was on. The crowd was in a frenzy as the Mets left hander was mobbed by his teammates. It was a moment that was 50 years in the making.

The Mets were 46-40 at the All Star break but they dropped 14 of their final 18 games in July as the second half swoon began. The Mets went 24-34 over the final 58 games to finish with a 74-88 record.

The lone highlight of the second half came on September 27th in the final home game of the season. Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey went 7.2 IP with 13 strikeouts to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates and win his 20th game of the season.

Santana was never the same after the no hitter and pitched the final game of his Major League career in August.

Dickey was named the 2012 National League’s Cy Young Award winner, but it was another lost season for the Mets.