How 2010 actually went.
The Mets played well enough in the first half to create hope, helped by strong seasons from Wright and Ángel Pagán. Mike Pelfrey started quickly, and an unknown knuckleballer named R.A. Dickey arrived from the minors and became the rotation’s most surprising success. For a while, the team looked capable of staying in the Wild Card race.
The offense disappeared after the break, Jason Bay’s first Mets season became a major disappointment, and Johan Santana was lost to shoulder surgery. The club faded below .500 while several front-office problems moved into public view. Jerry Manuel could not stop the slide, and general manager Omar Minaya’s run ended after the season.
The 79–83 record was neither a complete disaster nor real progress. It was the kind of middle season that made the organization’s lack of direction clear. Dickey’s reinvention offered a wonderful individual story, but the larger roster was expensive, injured, and aging. Sandy Alderson arrived next to begin a slower and more disciplined reset.
Dickey’s dancing knuckleball was the unexpected joy inside another season that slowly ran out of offense.