In 1992, the Mets finished in 5th place in the National League East with a record of 72-90. The pitching wasn't too bad if you look at the individual stats. The staff had an ERA of 3.68, which these days doesn't sound too bad - but the Mets that year were 16th out of 26 teams in terms of runs allowed. Sid Fernandez and David Cone had seasons that we'd sign up for in a heartbeat - El Sid made 32 starts, threw 214 innings and had an ERA of 2.73. David Cone made 27 starts, threw 196 innings and had an ERA of 2.88. Even Doc made 31 starts to the tune of 206 innings and had an ERA of 3.67, which was still respectable for 19 years ago. Those three combined for a record of 37-31. Pete Schourek recorded 21 starts, Anthony Young (of the 2-14 Youngs) recorded 13 starts. Bret Saberhagen started 15 and Wally Whitehurst (remember him?) started 11 games.
The offense, however, really blew monkey chunks. The Mets were dead last in batting average, with a major league low .235. They were 23rd out of 26 in on base percentage with .310. They scored only 599 runs all season (tied for 21st), struck out the 8th most in the majors, and were 24th out of 26 in slugging at .342 - just a fraction above the Angels .338 for dead last. The most often used lineup in terms of games played by position consisted of C- Todd Hundley, 1B - Eddie Murray, 2B - Willie Randolph, SS- Dick Schofield, 3B - Dave Magadan, OF - Bobby Bonilla, Howard Johnson, Daryl Boston.
Some of those names aren't too bad - except let's put batting averages next to those names, shall we? Hundley - .209. Murray - .261. Randolph - .252. Schofield - .205. Magadan - .283. Bonilla - .249. Johnson - .223. Boston - .249.
When that's your starting lineup and your third best position player's average is .252 - you're going to suck. And they did that year.
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