The Mets’ “perfect sweep” of the Phillies
Posted by Andy on May 28, 2010
The Mets just shut out the Phillies 3 times in a row. Oddly, my friend Steven was just asking me about "perfect sweeps" where one team doesn't allow a run to another team over an entire series. That's what the Mets just did against the Phillies.
Since 1920, the Phillies have never been shut out more than 3 times in a row. Here are all the 3-game streaks since then:
| Rk | Strk Start | End | Games | W | L | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SO | BB | SB | CS | Opp | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PHI | 2010-05-25 | 2010-05-27 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 95 | 0 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 10 | 1 | 1 | .211 | .286 | .232 | .517 | NYM |
| 2 | PHI | 1983-05-20 | 1983-05-24 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 91 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 6 | 3 | 2 | .143 | .196 | .154 | .350 | SDP,LAD |
| 3 | PHI | 1979-05-29 | 1979-05-31 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 95 | 0 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 1 | .189 | .222 | .232 | .454 | MON |
| 4 | PHI | 1974-08-23 | 1974-08-25 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 89 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .112 | .141 | .124 | .265 | HOU |
| 5 | PHI | 1969-09-26 | 1969-09-28 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 86 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 9 | 1 | 0 | .128 | .211 | .151 | .362 | NYM |
| 6 | PHI | 1961-08-09 | 1961-08-12 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 86 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 | .186 | .231 | .221 | .452 | CIN,PIT |
| 7 | PHI | 1960-07-22 | 1960-07-24 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 94 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 6 | 1 | 0 | .181 | .230 | .223 | .453 | LAD |
| 8 | PHI | 1960-05-11 | 1960-05-13 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 87 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 9 | 1 | 0 | .126 | .208 | .172 | .381 | SFG,CIN |
| 9 | PHI | 1954-04-24 | 1954-04-25 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 88 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 12 | 0 | 1 | .125 | .230 | .136 | .366 | NYG |
As you can see, the last time all three shutouts were against one team was in 1979 against the Expos, and that was also a three-game series (in late May of 1979.)
Here are the Mets' longest shutout streaks going back to their start in 1962:
| Rk | Strk Start | End | Games | W | L | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | HBP | WP | BK | Opp | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NYM | 1969-09-24 | 1969-09-28 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 36.0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 24 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | STL,PHI |
| 2 | NYM | 2010-05-25 | 2010-05-27 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 27.0 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 27 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 1 | 0 | PHI |
| 3 | NYM | 1988-04-12 | 1988-04-15 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 24.0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 16 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | MON,STL |
| 4 | NYM | 1985-05-08 | 1985-05-11 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 27.0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 27 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ATL,PHI |
| 5 | NYM | 1984-06-13 | 1984-06-15 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 27.0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 10 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | PIT,STL |
| 6 | NYM | 1970-05-13 | 1970-05-16 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 27.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 32 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | CHC,PHI |
| 7 | NYM | 1969-09-11 | 1969-09-12 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 27.0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 17 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 2 | 0 | MON,PIT |
The 1969 Mets had another perfect sweep of the Phillies in a 3-game series, and that followed a shutout of the Cardinals in the last game of the previous series, giving them a 4-game shutout streak.
So the Mets have had two perfect sweeps in their history, both against the Phillies.
Aren't the Mets great? I love the Mets. The Mets are awesome!!
May 28th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Anyone see Elias' BR dig in their note?
May 28th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
You have redeemed yourself, sir.
May 28th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Laugh.
When Sean put out a call 3 years ago for blog writers, I told him how I wanted to help him bust Elias' monopoly on baseball stats. (Just to be clear, those were my words, not Sean's.) I feel like everybody deserves to have access to this stuff. I have no problem with Elias or how they've gone about things, but Sean has found a different and better way.
It will take some time but eventually B-R will have all the same data that Elias has. Ten years from now nobody will remember Elias.
May 28th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
Just for the heck of it, two scores equaled the third score (5-0 plus 3-0 equals 8-0)
May 28th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
I heard Timmy today on ESPN say something about the 2004 Royals sweeping a first place team and shutting them out in the series, or something along those lines but i am having a hard time figuring out how to search for it.
May 28th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
The Royals have never posted 3 shutouts in a row:
http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/gRAd2
So it must be something a bit different than what you said.
May 28th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Yeah, the Mets are "great"...that's why they CHOKED in 2007 AND 2008 and STUNK last year! By the end of the season they'll be lucky to be in 4th place.
May 28th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Actually, i think it was the other way around (Meaning the Royals got swept and shutout in a series in 2004).
May 28th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Got it. The Royals have been shut out 3 times in a row only once, and that was in 2004 by the Twins.
See the games of July 5 through 7:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/KCR/2004-schedule-scores.shtml
The Royals were in 5th place at the time and the Twins were in first.
May 28th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Where is that quote from, Eorns?
May 28th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Those 2 streaks in Sept. '69 for the Mets were part of their 23-7 month where they blew past the Cubs to win the half-pennant on their way to the Miracle of '69. During the period bookended by the 2 shutout streaks they went 15-4, which included a 3-game losing streak to the Bucs in which the last loss was Bob Moose's no-hitter. The first shutout in the 4-game shutout streak was the half-pennant clincher versus the Cards. What a month! Awesome indeed!
May 28th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
The Phillies were shut out three times in a row on four other occasions that aren't in the Play Index:
1. 8/9/42 (second game) through 8/12/42 — game 1 against the Giants, games 2 and 3 against the Dodgers
2. 4/29/18 through 5/2/18 — all three games against the Giants (0-6, 0-15 and 0-6)
3. 8/17/18 through 8/18/18 (first game) — games 1 and 2 against the Cubs, game 3 against the Cardinals
4. 6/18/08 through 6/20/08 (first game) — all three games against the Reds (0-1, 0-5 and 0-1)
The Phillies' starter for one of the 1908 1-0 defeats was George McQuillan, who lost five 1-0 games that season, including three in a row from June 13 to June 22.
After the May 2, 1918 game the Phillies scored two runs against Brooklyn, then were shut out twice more by the Robins. That's five times being shut out in six games.
I wasn't able to find any streaks of longer than three games in which the Phillies were shut out.
May 28th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
[...] This is a solid read too – http://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/archives/6431 [...]
May 28th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
@9
Those Twins shutouts of the Royals were all complete game shutouts. There was a blog post about that here within the past year or so. Not sure how I'd be able to find it, though.
May 28th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Thanks Andy! I only heard half of what he said and he did mention how bad the Royals were that year, so i just assumed he meant they did something good lol. Thanks again
May 28th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
DavidRF, do an advanced google search restricted to B-R/blog and you can probably find it pretty easily.
May 28th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
In the light of comment number 4, these three games will go down in history as The Phillibonacci Series.
May 28th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
Very clever. Math prof, right?
May 28th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
The Phillies have been shut out 4 times in their last 5 games. Even the Montreal Canadiens have only been shut out 3 times in their last 5 games. As a Philadelphia resident originally from the DC area, moving after the Capitals were established but when the Canadiens still shared their city with a baseball team, I am a Phillies fan and consider the Flyers to be my least favorite NHL team. I take it personally when the Phillies are shut out and when the Flyers shut someone else out.
One of the things I loved about the 1993 Phillies was that they never got swept in a series and never got shut out until after they clinched and were resting their regulars. Because the 1993 Phillies were famous for setting a National League record for most consecutive games not shut out (begun in the 1992 season), what a lot of folks don't realize is that the Toronto Blue Jays were actually shut out fewer times in the 1993 regular season than the Phillies were. The Phillies got shut out twice in late September when not playing all of their regulars, the only two times they were blanked that year. The Blue Jays were shut out only once before the postseason, in a late June game against Baltimore. Unlike the Phillies, they did get shut out at least once that postseason. Curt Schilling did it to them in the game between the 15-14 Toronto win and the Joe Carter walk-off game.
May 28th, 2010 at 11:46 pm
[...] [...]
May 29th, 2010 at 1:45 am
Andy, guilty as charged.
May 29th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Did Elias really write that? If so, F them. Baseball-reference provides the public with an awesome opportunity to search all of this info unlike Elias who hides the information in a cave like some sort of rich miser. "My stats! My stats! Mwa ha ha, only MY stats"
May 29th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Elias writing that only serves to legitimize B-R.com, the Play Index, and this blog. Nice to know that someone at Elias is reading us.
May 29th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
Here's the source of the Elias quote.
May 29th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Thanks, Kahuna, and go **** yourself, Elias. Specifically because the question they addressed could be answered by anyone using the Retrosheet game logs, which go back to 1871 (not 1876!). Must be tough fading into irrelevance.