No Sweep, But The Mets Still Made History In Philly

Scott Hairston (left) and Mike Baxter (right) both went deep in Philadelphia today.

The Mets failed to sweep the Phillies in their recently-completed three game-series at Citizens Bank Park.  But in winning two out of three games, they did accomplish some rare things.

Since 1976, only two teams have won at least seven road games in Philadelphia.  One of the teams is the then-Florida Marlins, who took seven of nine games at Citizens Bank Park in 2009 (while losing seven of nine in Florida).  The 2012 Mets have joined that Marlins team as the only teams to win seven road games in Philly, as they also took seven of nine in Philly.

For only the third time in franchise history, the Mets won every series they played in Philadelphia in a season (min. three series per season).  The first time this happened was in 1970, when the Phillies called Connie Mack Stadium home.  The defending World Series champion Mets swept a two-game series in May, won three games in a five-game series in July and swept another two-game series in September.  The other time this occurred was in 1989, when the Mets won two out of three games in each of their three series at Veterans Stadium.  (Note:  The Mets won eight of nine games in Philadelphia in 1972, but their one loss came in a two-game series.  Thus, the Mets split that series and could not win every series they played in Philly that year.)

By winning three games at Citi Field in two series earlier in the season, the Mets have defeated the Phillies ten times this year, with a three-game series against Philadelphia left to play in September.  The last time the Mets won 11 games against the Phillies was in 2008, when they went 11-7 versus Philadelphia.  If the Mets can win two out of three in their final series against the Phillies, they will have defeated Philadelphia a dozen times for the first time since 1989.  A three-game sweep at Citi Field would give them a 13-5 record against the Phillies this year, which would tie the franchise record for most wins versus Philadelphia in a single season.  The Mets had gone 13-5 against the Phillies four times before, doing it in 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1987.

Obviously, being the die-hard Mets fans we are, we would have liked for our team to take the brooms out and go "Broom-shaka-laka" against the Phillies.  But even though that didn't happen, we should still be proud of what the Mets accomplished in Philadelphia in this series and all year.  It's about time the Mets put the Phillies in their place at their place.