Somehow the Mets started 11-1 this season, and then spent nearly 100 games as if they had climbed into a way-back machine and turned into the 1962 Mets, who inspired one of the great baseball books of them all, Jimmy Breslin's "Can't Anybody Here Play This Game?"
Somehow, after that 11-1 start, the Mets had fewer wins than the Marlins before July 1 -- and coming into the season, the Fish had traded just about everybody in South Florida except members of the Miami Heat. On Aug. 7, the Mets were 19 games under .500, which meant that they had lost 64 of their past 99 games.