1968
From The Met Wiki
In 1968, the Mets made adjustments in personnel that would eventually prove worthy. The team hired Johnny Murphy as general manager and brought Gil Hodges back to New York to serve as field manager. Although they finished ninth in the National League standings, the Mets won a team-record 73 games in the final year of non-divisional play. Hope for the future was enhanced with pitcher Jerry Koosman finishing second (to the Reds’ Johnny Bench) in the voting for Rookie of the Year.
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April
The Mets’ season began with two wins in five games on the road. The opening road trip concluded with a 1-0 loss in 24-innings at Houston on April 15. At Shea Stadium two days later, Koosman pitched a shutout for a 3-0 win over the Giants that gave the Mets their first win ever in a home opener. The team won three of seven in the first home stand of ’68. They concluded the month of April with a 7-9 won-lost record.
May
In May, the Mets continued to show signs of improvement. The team had 13 wins during the month to give them a season total of 20. After going 2-3 on a month-opening home stand, the Mets ended a seven-game road trip with a 10-0 victory in the second game of a doubleheader at Chicago on May 12. They followed up with five wins in nine games at Shea, concluding on May 21 with a 4-3 triumph over the Pirates in 17 innings. At Pittsburgh on May 30, the Mets swept a doubleheader with 6-3 and 5-4 wins over the Bucs.
June
For only the second time ever, the Mets had a monthly winning record in June. They won 16 times in 30 games played for a .533 percentage. After being swept by the Cardinals to start the month, the Mets recorded victories in seven of nine games on an ensuing road trip. They won all three games of a series in Chicago and defeated the Giants, 4-0, to begin a three-game set in San Francisco. On May 10, the team came out with a 1-0 win in 10 innings at Los Angeles to start a three-game sweep of the Dodgers. Following their successful journey, the Mets won six of eleven games at Shea. The month ended with Seaver pitching a five-hit shutout for a 1-0 Mets win at Houston that lifted them into seventh place in the National League.
July
The Mets dropped back a little in July. For the month, they had a 13-20 won-lost record and fell into eighth place. The team reached a new level with three players (Koosman, Seaver, and Jerry Grote) being named to the National League’s All-Star team. The Mets started July by losing three of four to the Pirates at Shea and splitting a four-game series at Philadelphia. Following the All-Star Break, they dropped five of seven at home against the Cubs and Phillies. Between July 16 and July 25, the Mets split three consecutive four-game sets at Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Atlanta. At Shea on July 26, Koosman got his 14th win of the year with a four-hit shutout and a 2-0 Mets victory over the Reds. The Mets held a .458 winning percentage (49-58) at the end of the month.
August
The Mets had a .438 percentage in August. The team went 14-18, but fell back to ninth place at the end of the month. The Mets won five of twelve games on the road between August 2 and August 11. In the sixth game of the trip, Kevin Collins hit his first major league home run to give the Mets a 4-1 victory at Houston. At Shea on August 13 to August 14, the Mets chalked up 2-0 and 4-1 wins over the Dodgers. They had shutout victories, 1-0 and 4-0, in a two-game set at St. Louis on August 26 and August 27. On August 29, pitchers Cal Koonce and Ron Taylor combined for a two-hit shutout and a 2-0 Mets win over the Reds at Shea.
September
To close out the ’68 season, the Mets had 10 wins and 13 losses in September. The team achieved its highest winning percentage with a .451 mark for the year. The team had a 3-6 record for the month when Koosman pitched his seventh shutout of the year with a three-hitter in a 2-0 Mets win over the Pirates on September 13 at Shea. At Philadelphia on September 20, they swept a doubleheader with 3-2 and 5-4 victories over the Phillies. Concern came to the team on September 24 when Hodges suffered a mild heart attack during a series in Atlanta. Gil rebounded quickly and rejoined the team. Koosman recorded his nineteenth win of the year in the Mets’ 3-1 triumph over the Phillies at Shea on September 28. In the season finale the next day, Seaver passed the 200-strikeout mark for the first time in his career.
