While I agree that Piazza was a great player, he was never as good for the Mets as he was for the Dodgers. He was never as good after Clemens beaned him in the head. He had two great seasons for the Mets, and five seasons that got progressively worse, ending in last year's disaster. He sucked on defense and although he did come through with a lot of big hits, most of them were early in the season (Hoffman, Clemens and the home run in the ten run inning vs. Atlanta) or once the Mets were out of it (his game winner on September 21, 2001 -- which probably is his greatest moment as a Met). I never got the feeling that he was going to deliver when he came up in the ninth inning of a tie game. I think the microcosm for the Piazza era is the last at bat of the World Series in 2000. He hit the ball deep to center field, but not deep enough. He was good, but not good enough.
He is now being pursued by the Blue Jays, A's and Twins. He will probably end up in Toronto where he can still torment me, albeit to a lesser degree.
Thanks for the memories, Mike.
I'm in his head (pun intended)
ReplyDeleteWhen we were in Syracuse, didn't he hit a homer against Susan Wagner in the 9th inning or something in a late September game?
ReplyDeleteMike Piazza was Mr. Met.
ReplyDeleteFair piece written by Paul, but I hope we remember his clutch hits over his horrid throws down to 2nd base...