A consistency that’s hard to comprehend
1985 NL Cy Young Award winner DwightGooden explains why Jacob deGrom should become the Mets’ fourth Cy Young winner in team history. As told to The Post’s Kevin Kernan.
Every time Jacob deGrom took the ball, it was fun to see. It was almost like a video game watching him pitch this year.
He had 29 consecutive starts where he gave up three runs or less, that speaks for itself. For a guy to do that, you give your team a chance to win every one of those times. That is all you can ask for from a pitcher, especially now, the way they are using pitchers.
I don’t think people truly realize how special a season Jake really had. And from my own experience, he will not truly understand and appreciate the season he had until once he sits back in the offseason or maybe until after his career is over and looks back and says, “Wow, what an accomplishment.’’
Until my career was over, I didn’t really realize the season I actually had in 1985 and the impact I had on the team and the fans in the city. DeGrom touched everybody in New York. I know for myself, I was marking down every fifth day that he was pitching to make sure I watched.
To welcome him as a Mets Cy Young winner would mean a great deal to me. This team has had ups and downs, made it to the World Series in 2015, but from a personal standpoint and a pitching standpoint, deGrom won the Rookie of the Year and now I’d welcome him into the Cy Young club with open arms. It’s an accomplishment well-deserved. Whether the team made a mistake behind him or whether it was the seventh inning and the Mets got men on base and didn’t score, you never saw his demeanor change. As a pitcher and a human being, it’s only natural that you show some kind of facial expressions but I never saw that from him. The only message I would have for him is: Don’t try to do any better, just try to duplicate it. Everything he does is going to be compared to this last year. I remember in ’86, a game I won early in the year, a shutout. I had f ive strikeouts and the first question was: “What happened? You only had five strikeouts.” I was like, “Wow, I just pitched a shutout and that’s the first question.’’ Then the next couple of starts I tried to get 10 strikeouts and it took me away from my game. I don’t want the same thing to happen to deGrom. Enjoy your success and just try to duplicate it and you’ll be fine.