Historical Redemption, 2015

[Edgy MD]

With tonight's win � with tonight's RESOUNDING win � Mets are at least a .500 team over their last 5,818 games, going back to Wednesday, April 18, 1979, an improvement of 2 games.

Like Frank Taveras? Hate him? Never heard of him? Well, tonight's win makes the Mets a .500 team back to the day before the challenge trade that brought Taveras here for Tim Foli. Frank Taveras is now entirely part of an historically redeemed team! That's something. It's something wonderful, I think. We are also taken back to the debut of Mike Scott. Welcome to redemption, Mike Scott. Sorta, you big fat cheater.

[Edgy MD]

Did you like 1979? John Paul II returns to Poland. The Happy Meal is born. The death of Sid Vicious, the breakup of ELP, and the conversion of Donna Summer leads to a simultaneous cultural abdication by punk, prog, and disco, leading to the ascendency of... I dunno... Eddie Rabbit or somebody.

Did you like it? Because it's over. The Mets are now at least a .500 team over their last 5,832 games, going back to Tuesday, September 26, 1978, an improvement of 14 games, and several months. Yessiree, we're a .500 team back to 1978 and that's a key goal of mine for the season scratched off.

The Mets are now an honorably mediocre team stretching across the lifetime of current Mets Juan Uribe and Michael Cuddyer, as well as former Mets Johan Santana, Chris Aguila, Jorge Julio, Dave Williams, Jon Rauch, Ryan Church, Dicky Gonzalez, Jaime Cerda, Aaron Heilman, Xavier Nady, Val Pascucci, and Jeff Duncan, still off somewhere thanking God for his fingers. All have lived their entire lifetimes in a world where the Mets are defensibly decent.

Even more tellingly, this takes us past the trade of Jerry Koosman for Jesse Orosco, a meridian of a sorts itself in Mets history, trading a left-hander with a world of history behind him for a left-hander with a world of history in front of him.

The Mets are a .500 team back into Jerry Koosman's tenure. And that's pretty cool. Historical redemption.

That September day featured a Mets win, behind the arm of Craig Swan and the surprising bat of Tim Foli (3-3 with an HbP). Check it out, Keith! Dale Murray whiffed you in the ninth!

[fimg=800]http://www.ultimatemets.com/scorecard_graph.php?game=2765&font=1[/fimg]

That's a very Metly infield for St. Louis.

The team's all-time winning percentage � .4791740 � is the highest it has been since Friday, July 12, 2012, when it sat at a slightly more lofty .479190.

[Edgy MD]

The Mets are now at least a .500 team over their last 5,850 games, going back to Thursday, September 7, 1978, an improvement of 18 freaking games.

The team is fast approaching 37 full years of healthy mediocrity. This takes us back past the birthdate of Jason Bay, which is no small thing. We're also past the signing of the Camp David Accord. Did you know my Dad was given a painting commemorating the signing by Menachem Begin himself, signed by the three principles? Well he was! Little did we know at the time, that the Mets had a future with as much good as bad.

The Mets all-time winning percentage is now .4792347, the highest it has been since July 18, 2010. They are a 14-game winning streak short of an all-time .480 record, a 181-game streak short of a .490 record, and a 356-game winning streak short of a .500 record.

Man, it's not as pleasant looking at that way.

[Edgy MD]

Your New York Mets are now a .500 team back to Wednesday, September 6, 1978. This takes us back to a feckless 8-2 loss to Montreal, the only highlight of which was Dan Norman hitting his first career homer in only his second big-league game. I really think he's going to be something.

[fimg=800]http://www.ultimatemets.com/scorecard_graph.php?game=2747&font=1[/fimg]

The .500 record now goes back 5,858 games. The all-time Mets also now sport a .4793099 winning percentage, the team's highest since .4793686 on Monday, July 8, 2012.

[Edgy MD]

If the Mets go 23-6 (or better!) the rest of the way, they will have bested their highest-ever all-time winning percentage, which currently residing at .480261 (Sunday, May 31, 2009).

What a day. The next day you lose, but... just a minor setback, you think, and then that setback goes on for years. Decades, if you're not careful.

[Edgy MD]

Among the things the Mets are taking care of in September 2015 is September 1978. That is, they are dialing back their median of mediocrity all the way back beyond that far-flung month.

The Mets are at least a .500 team over their last 5,868 games, going back to Saturday, September 2 (Game Two), 1978, an improvement of 5 games. This takes us past the debut of Gil Flores and the birth of Alex Escobar. Past the beginning of the Camp David conference and the death of Keith Moon. The Mets have been over .500 since Moon died.

The Mets are also pushing back the lesser mile markers near the point of oblivion.

The Mets are at least a .490 team over their last 8,108 games, going back to Sunday, September 27 (Game One), 1964, an improvement of 1 game.

The Mets are at least a .480 team over their last 8,566 games, going back to Saturday, May 5, 1962 , an improvement of 1 game.

That last one has a good chance of disappearing entirely some time next summer. And shortly after the Mets go back over .480 all-time, they'll be advancing their best-ever all-time winning percentage every time they improve their record.

[MFS62]

Edgy MD wrote: The Mets have been over .500 since Moon died.

So, he was the jinx.
We've always suspected.

Later

[Edgy MD]

So long, September 1978.

The Mets are at least a .500 team over their last 5,872 games, going back to Wednesday, August 30, 1978, an improvement of 3 games.

The Mets are at least a .490 team over their last 8,110 games, going back to Saturday, September 26, 1964, an improvement of 1 game.

The Mets are at least a .480 team over their last 8,572 games, going back to Saturday, April 28, 1962, an improvement of 5 games.

The team's all-time winning percentage is now .4794409, and I'm starting to think an all-time .480 is reachable this season. They would have to go 16-7 the rest of the way. They win tomorrow and their all-time winning percentage would round up to .480.

[Edgy MD]

The impressive and imperturbable Bartolo Col�n has dialed back the Delineation of Decency once again.

The Mets are at least a .500 team over their last 5,878 games, going back to Thursday, August 24, 1978, an improvement of 5 games. The Mets aura of respectability now dates back to just before the election of Pope John Paul I, known to history as "The Smiling Pope," and immortalized in song in the weird title track to Patti Smith's Wave. The Mets were 12-21 during his brief papacy, but clearly he augured good things to come.

The win takes the Mets .500 record back to this 6-3 win over Dave Winfield's Padres, despite the absence of budding star Lee Mazzilli from the lineup. Bob Owchinko (Native American name?) started for the Pads.

[fimg=800]http://www.ultimatemets.com/scorecard_graph.php?game=2734&font=1[/fimg]


I love the Padres!

[Edgy MD]

Tonight in HISTORICAL REDEMPTION, the Mets are now at least a .500 team over their last 5,880 games, going back to Wednesday, August 23, 1978, an improvement of 1 game.

Not much, but it's important to note that Sandy's team isn't just clearing the red from Joe McDonald's ledger, but from his own. The Mets are now 19 games over .500, equaling the total they've been under .500 over the last two seasons, plus one game for good measure. They're not only redeeming 1978, but 2012 also.

Scratched from (or at least equaled on) the historical register is this punchless effort, in which a strong performance by Tom Hausman is undermined by an indifferent offense and late fart by Skip Lockwood.

[fimg=800]http://www.ultimatemets.com/scorecard_graph.php?game=2733&font=1[/fimg]

The Mets are now a .500 team dating back to the birth of Kobe Bryant (who grew up a Mets fan).

[Edgy MD]

The Mets are at least a .500 team over their last 5,882 games, going back to Tuesday, August 22, 1978, an improvement of 1 games.

Yeah, it's a slow slog, plowing backwards through a loss-heavy season like 1978, but check this out.

The Mets are at least a .480 team over their last 8,581 games, going back to Saturday, April 21, 1962, an improvement of 1 games.

Yes, in the quest to return to .480, the Mets have dialed the clock back to a time before wins. With each win going forward, the Mets are now chipping away at the franchise's amazing 0-9 start.

Tonight's win raises the team's all-time winning percentage to .4796227, the highest it's been since August 2, 2009, when it stood at .4797413.

[Edgy MD]

I'm past begging to think tracking wins in the manner of this thread is entertaining anybody. But as the Mets close in 8,600 games (they are currently at 8,589 games... or 8,589 decisions, I forget), they also close in like a thief in the night on a .480 winning percentage, currently sitting at .4796833, their highest all-time win percentage since August 1, 2009, when it sat at a lofty .47974132.

More importantly, further bad history has been eclipsed, particularly on the .490 front.

The Mets are at least a .500 team over their last 5,886 games, going back to Saturday, August 19, 1978, an improvement of 3 games.

The Mets are at least a .490 team over their last 8,151 games, going back to Saturday, August 15, 1964, an improvement of 32 games.

The Mets are at least a .480 team over their last 8,583 games, going back to Thursday, April 19, 1962, an improvement of 1 game.

Is your name, per chance, Chris Capuano? Well, then, the Mets have been an honorably performing .500 team your whole life. The Mets are now doing OK since before the fall of National Palace to the Sandanistas.

Hey, check out how the Dodgers threw 691 wins worth of MLB pitchers at the Mets and still lost.

[fimg=700]http://www.ultimatemets.com/scorecard_graph.php?game=2729&font=1[/fimg]

[Edgy MD]

Um, guys? Last night was the magic night.

I didn't realize this was going to happen, but after last night's win, the Mets are at least a .500 team over their last 7,442 games, going back to Sunday, April 27 (Game Two), 1969, an improvement of 1,=#FF8000]55=#FF8000]5 games.

We've somehow, someway, jumped from the fall of 1978 to the spring of 1969, from the dawn of the space shuttle program, to the time before the moon landing. From the early dark days of the Joe Torre era, to the time before Joe Frazier, before Roy McMillan, before Yogi Berra, to the early Gil Hodges era, when we only had a hint of the miracle to come.

The Sex Pistols and Van Halen are but stinky children and the Beatles still reign supreme, and the Mets have a .500 record dating back to that date. The day before World War II hero Charles deGaulle stepped down as president of France. Yes, the Mets are a break-even team going back to this grainy 8-mm time.

Historical redemption.

Such is representative of the remarkable things this remarkable season is bringing you. That a seemingly passing night in which a late-season Mets team edged a second-division bottom feeder by a single run actually erased eight 1/2 of history, extending the reign of the Respectable Mets back 8 1/2 years back over 1,500 games.

What game are we dialed back to? Well it may or may not surprise you that we've way-backed all the way to a 3-0 shutout of the rival Cubs � capped by a three-homer ninth, started by Jim McAndrew, but won with four innings of six-strikeout shutout relief by none other than Tug McGraw. Because if there's anything 2015 has taught us, it's that you've gotta believe.

[fimg=700]http://www.ultimatemets.com/scorecard_graph.php?game=1154&font=1[/fimg] [fimg=200]http://1969mets.com/files/2011/12/tug-mcgraw-1966-topps-card.jpg[/fimg]

[fimg=900]http://usarmy.vo.llnwd.net/e2/c/images/2012/06/27/253709/original.jpg[/fimg]

[Gwreck]

Edgy MD wrote: Well it may or may not surprise you that we've way-backed all the way to a 3-0 shutout of the rival Cubs � capped by a three-homer ninth, started by Jim McAndrew, but won with four innings of six-strikeout shutout relief by none other than Tug McGraw. Because if there's anything 2015 has taught us, it's that you've gotta believe

I don't think a 3-homer bottom of the ninth was possible there. I think that's a 3-run walk-off homer by Cleon Jones, no? (Still an exciting, fantastic victory)

[Edgy MD]

Of course. Even moreso.

I was posting half-zonked from the bathtub. (Daddy has been sick.) And was still dealing with having my mind blown by the 8 1/2 year explosion.

[Lefty Specialist]

Of course, if they lose tonight, won't it jump forward by a rather depressing 8 1/2 years?

[Edgy MD]

As you might have guessed by the infrequent updates between the early season winning streak and the trade deadline upgrades, I only measure advances in the historical enemy line, not retreats.

[Frayed Knot]

Lefty Specialist wrote: Of course, if they lose tonight, won't it jump forward by a rather depressing 8 1/2 years?

Sure, but we're facing Tom Koehler tonight for Pete's sake.

[Lefty Specialist]

Frayed Knot wrote: Lefty Specialist wrote: Of course, if they lose tonight, won't it jump forward by a rather depressing 8 1/2 years? Sure, but we're facing Tom Koehler tonight for Pete's sake.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Does this mean that the Mets had a roughly .500 record from April 1969 through August 1978? That's a little surprising.

[Edgy MD]

Roughly.

More or less good through the first half of that period. More or less not-so-good through the second half. But the terrible didn't really start until 1978. Or more specifically, June 15, 1977.

[Edgy MD]

By the way, if anyone wants to check my work, please do. That's a lot of games, and a lot of chances for error. Plus there are ties in there.

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: By the way, if anyone wants to check my work, please do. That's a lot of games, and a lot of chances for error. Plus there are ties in there.

I know, and I posted earlier in this thread, that 95 wins this season gets them even through '69.

They were 6-11 through game on on 4/27/69 so the Mets would need to make up 5 more games. They have 18. so 12-7, which puts them at 95 wins. (wow, that's not really that unrealistic)

so seems to check out.

edit: except I can't add. 12-6, which would put them one past. I still think your math is right though, I was just rounding up when I did the math. Does that put them even back to 9/7/68?

[Edgy MD]

Also worth noting is that they've passed the Pilots/Brewers this season, moving from 22nd to 21st place among active franchises, having started the season .000247896 behind the Brew Crew, and are now .00225796 ahead and rising. They now sit only .00077632 behind the Twins and the coveted 20th place.

Historical redemption.

[Edgy MD]

In a night full of historical redemption, the Mets once again pushed terribleness deeper into the past. The Mets are now at least a .500 team over their last 7,460 games, going back to Saturday, April 19, 1969, an improvement of 7 games.

This takes us back to an old-skool 2-1 pitchers duel in which Holla-Fame right-handers Tom Seaver and Bob Gibson each went the distance. The game probably took about 27 minutes.

[fimg=600]http://www.ultimatemets.com/scorecard_graph.php?game=1147&font=1[/fimg] [fimg=200]http://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.1303294.1247835406!/image/4063974275.JPG_gen/derivatives/display_600/4063974275.JPG[/fimg]

This takes us back to the time before British troops in Northern Ireland. Heck we are almost back to a time before the Seattle Pilots. The 2015 Mets have a chance of dialing the decency clock back to before 1969 before the season is through.