The 3 most criminally underrated New York Mets in team history

2) Doug Sisk

Sisk was a part of a host of young arms coming up through the organization. He had been a successful collegiate pitcher and continued his good fortune in the Mets minor league system as a starter. Once he arrived in New York, Sisk was moved to the bullpen to take advantage of his hard sinker.

They say that it only takes one misfortune, one bad game, to see it all go awry. And unfortunately for Sisk, that happened during the 1984 season. Mind you, he was having a really good year. And then it all fell apart.

The Mets had been clinging to first place, just ahead of the Chicago Cubs. Sisk entered a tie ballgame in the eighth inning. He walked the first batter he faced. Then he threw a wild pitch advancing the runner. The next two batters singled. And for the icing on the cake, he misplayed the next batter’s bunt into an error. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out the reaction of the Shea Stadium crowd.

It didn’t matter that Sisk had been great all season. The fans booed him unmercifully. He would end up soon after on the disabled list. He would return and be effective as he was before, even finishing the season with a 2.09 ERA. But the damage was already done. The fans began referring to him as Doug Risk.

And that was pretty much unfair. With the exception of a couple of bad streaks, the biggest of which was in 1985, he was not all that bad. Certainly not bad enough to deserve the intense ire he received from Mets fans. That ’85 season bad streak was a result of a bad elbow which ended up requiring surgery. And by the time he returned, Roger McDowell was entrenched as the right handed closer.

Sisk’s record during his six years with the Mets was 17-16 with 33 saves and a very respectable 3.10 ERA. And he was a part of the great pitching staff of the 1986 World Championship team. However, while Sisk did not yield many home runs thanks to his sinker – he only allowed 11 HR in 263 appearances, he did yield a lot of baserunners. His career WHIP with the Mets was 1.470.

So it gives a sense of why the fans would get agida every time he entered the game. It got to the point that Davey Johnson was only using Sisk in low leverage situations and mop up duty.  And which is why Sisk got agida and eventually asked for a trade.