[JerryShoe]

The Plan
I still don't understand what happened in 1967. Every position was capably manned except maybe at second where I relied too much on Millan but even that was rectified with the trade for Buford. Williams did not perform as a superstar, but he was at least well above average and no one played badly. The pitching did not perform as expected, especially in the bullpen, but Seaver and Singer weren't around in 1966 so their poor showings weren't a factor. For 1968, I don't really have a choice but to stand pat since I have no payroll space to play with, and it's still not a bad place to be: Hundley and Roseboro behind the plate, an infield of Allen-Buford-Aparicio-Shannon and a garden of Robinson-Agee-Williams. The batting order is set with Agee and Buford leading off (or vice-versa), a middle-of-the lineup of Robby-Allen-Williams-Roseboro/Hundley with the Shannon and Aparicio ending things. The pitching staff was a puzzle that can't help but improve and it does look strong to lock at. I plan on doing a few things. First is trimming what salary I can. Next is looking for a shortstop, where Little Luis is losing his luster at the plate, on the basepaths and in the field. Lastly, move players in packages, as in looking to 1969 I will be losing some of them for nothing in the looming expansion draft anyway.

What Happened to the Plan
It was hard to move some of my higher paid players whose salary was made on past performances, for example when some came calling for Giusti they left in a huff when I wanted to substitute Horlen. By mid-winter I only made a minor deal, sending Haney for utility man Joe Pagan, Then I got lucky with the Cubs, who asked for Francona, Hinton and Roland for Don Kessinger along with Roberto Pena. Kessinger was an upgrade at the plate but not the best afield. I wondered why they would offer a starting shortstop and not ask for even a backup in return, so I took a look at their roster and saw Mark Belanger. Wow, what defense! I asked for him alone and offered Aparicio in place of Roland and they took it. Aside from getting a great glove at short, I sent off 3 overpaid players for a rookie salary and reduced my roster by 2 players to boot. That's all 3 of my goals! Next, I regretfully may be shopping Horlen and Siebert, since with the emergence of Seaver and Singer with rookie Jerry Koosman, their salary may be too much of a luxury. 1968 started out like the horror of ’67: 0-3 and 1-5 starts and 4-6 (next-to-last-place) when Robinson got the mumps. I put Banks at 1b and moved Allen across the diamond and Shannon to right. The team stabilized and sat at 15-11 (4th, 4 games back) when Big Frank returned near the end of May. Opening June with a 27-22 log (4th, -6), I found myself running out of time and teams to move Horlen and Siebert to, looking at Belanger’s anemic .195 BA (at least 20 points lower than hoped/expected/tolerated, and backup Brinkman 1-for-40!) and liking a bat better than Shannon at the hot corner when seeing Allen play there during FR’s illness. I ended up with Kessinger after all, as I was able to send both pitchers and Brinkman to the Cubs for the left side of their infield in him and Ron Santo. The move didn’t save as much money as I hoped, as Santo commanded a highish salary himself. Another lineup change was to promote Millan to starting second-sacker and employing a platoon of Agee and Buford in centerfield, Agee mired in a .202 slump with he and Buford in danger of maxing out on their playing time. The new look didn’t change the old pattern, and after being swept in a double-header by the leading Giants on June 9, the team was in the same position as when the month started and headed to where it ended last year, high 80 wins with minimum first division money, not enough to offset the high salaries. I looked at names to lop without hurting the expected end result when the team caught fire with 12 straight wins which propelled us to 2nd place and cut the deficit from 9 out to 1½. A loss was followed by another winning streak that found us on top all by ourselves, barely ahead of the Giants and Pirates, as July opened. I went to work filling holes while trimming payroll and roster, the most evident was a lefty bat on the bench with Cline having a bad year. I sent Hank Allen, Joe Coleman, Grant, Pagan and Roland to the Dodgers for Willie Davis and Ron Fairly. Once that was done, I needed to let go of Banks no matter how badly I wanted to keep him; I couldn’t justify keeping a tepid righty bat who could only play first base with less likelihood of playing time. Off he went to the Tigers with Cline and Worthington for backup infielder Roberto Pena. In all, I cut 5% from the overhead and 5 players from the roster. The new look didn’t look right right away as the team lost their first 3 July games and falling to second, but then went on another 12-game tear and never lost consecutive games for the rest of the month, opening up a 8½ game lead at the August trade deadline when I had to let go of little-used Miller for Paul Lindblad. I should have kept Miller as main righty reliever Moe Drabowsky suddenly imploded and the Mets’ roller-coaster season went on a down slope with the lead cut to 2½ before righting to a 4-game margin heading into the September home stretch.

The Results
What a change from the early going, as the Mets cruised to and clinched on 9/20, appropriately enough with a 1-0 Jackson win, finishing 8 games up. With a wealth of pitching, I used 7 starters in a 5-man rotation, using the most rested quintet at any given time. Many Mets appeared on the offensive league leaderboard, most prominent being RBI leader Allen (105), who also finished 3rd in homers (34), SA (.503) and OPS (.836). Williams trailed Allen with 97 RBI for 5th and both did so well because Buford led in OB (.397, adding 34 steals for 4th) while Robinson’s .361 OB good for 3rd.
CF Buford....... .also .304 (5th), .834 OPS (4th)
2B Millan..........318 after taking over second
RF Robinson....also 17 HRs
1B Allen............also .276
LF Williams.......also 181 hits (5th), /295, 19 HRs
3B Santo..........17 HRs and 87 BBs (3d) overall, .274/13 with NY
C Hundley/Roseboro.. .231 with excellent defense/.243
SS Kessinger....249 with NY

Agee, Belanger and Shannon ended up being reduced to roles as defensive.replacements and pinch-running (Agee and Belanger)/pinch-hitting (Shannon), but.Alyea was a stud off the bench with his .272 and 8 HRs in only 151 ABs and Davis hit 304 with the team and stole 22 bags overall.

S1 Jackson........14-7, 2.23 (5th)
S2 Singer............20-6, 2.44 (20 wins tied Gibson for 1st)
S3 Koosman.......16-7, 2.88
S4 Seaver...........14-7, 2.62
S5 McGlothlin......4-6, 3.27

CL Brewer...........1.37, 9 Saves
RP Hoerner..........1.63
RP Lindblad.........0.74 overall

S-R J.Perry..........9-6, 2.22
S-R Giusti............9-5, 2.76

With such a deep staff, only Jackson and Singer appeared on the leaderboards, last year's ace McGlothlin didn't make the postseason roster and 9 saves topped the team.
Postseason and Season Awards
For the 3rd time in 3 tries, I beat history in leading teams to the playoffs, and for the 3rd time I lost in the World Series. Oh, well. After looking like an easy loser, I thought I’d be making another comeback and end as a Champion, too. I just might have, except for stalwart Jackson choosing this time to pitch poorly after years of excellence. The Mets faced off against the Oakland A’s (Charles O. Finley was trying to re-brand them),
who went 97-65 in a 3-team race that they finally won by 3 games (past the California Angels). The team was comprised of historical Oaklanders Bert Campaneris (who led the majors with 99 steals), Reggie Jackson (27 homers), Dick Green .270!), Johnny “Blue Moon” Odom (19-5, 2.21), Jim Nash (12-13 but 2.67), Chuck Dobson (2.39 splitting time between starting and relieving, going 10-6 with 13 saves) and Jim “Catfish” Hunter (3.03, mostly in relief). Historically correct Sal Bando was at first base though, as the AI A’s kept Ed Charles (22 homers, 94 RBI). They were joined by Rusty Staub (.282), Phil Niekro (2.25, 15-13), Ray Washburn (2.95) Jim Hannan (2.00, 11-4) and old friend Bob Miller (1.39, 10 saves). In scouring the AL leaders to scout the A’s, I saw something that Chowderhead might like to have seen. Boston finished .500 and 5th, but the top 2 in every batting category was a hitter from the Hub save WAR, as Carl Yastrzemski finished well ahead of Campaneris, but Campy just edged Willie (not Tony) Horton by 0.1! Otherwise, it was a mix of Yaz, Horton (the only non-Red Soxer), Ken Harrelson, Rico Petrocelli and Mike Andrews.
Oakland won the opener handily, taking an early 3-0 2nd inning lead on Green's 2-run double off Jackson. Williams' 2-run 8th inning homer off winner Niekro made it the final score close, 4-3. Oakland completed the sweep at Shea the next day when the visitors again took an early lead, this time 5-0 by the 5th, featuring a 2-run jack by Reggie Jack followed by a 2-run double by Charles in the next frame of loser Singer. Nash took the win, 6-1, and the Oakland bullpen taking another day off. Across the country, Game 3 again had the Oakland starter in charge, this time leading 2-0 when for some reason the AI pinch-hit for Washburn in the bottom of the 5th, and then Odom, the first Oakland reliever in the series, was immediately beat up and gave up the lead 4 batters into his stint on Santo's 3-run homer. 3 singles off brewer in the 7th tied it but in the final frame Buford, Agee and Allen all scored on singles off of loser Miller by beating throws home in a 6-3 win for Lindblad, Hoerner getting a save.
In Game 4 Jackson once again struggled, and the Mets went into the 7th on the short end of a 4-3 score but exploded for 5 unearned runs off Odom after 2 were out, the key blast being Williams' grand slam. Brewer was credited with the win in the 11-5 slugfest and the Series was tied at 2 wins each The finale on the West coast was a pitching duel with Singer holding a slim 1-0 lead in the 8th when this time the AI allowed Niekro to hit, a very questionable decision answered when he doubled (!) and Campy doubled him in to tie it. .202 PH Ted Kubiak hit for him in the home 9th and singled in the winning run, 2-1. Back at Shea, the home team tied the Series in another slugfest, 12-5, Koosman being the beneficiary. Nash was battered for 9 runs in 5+ innings, the big blow was a Buford grand slam while Williams hit for the cycle. The World Champions took the drama out of a Seventh Game Climax right away. Jackson was plastered for 5 runs right off the bat, so to speak and didn’t record an out until 3 runs scored and the bases loaded, and even that produced another since it was a sac fly. The final score was 6-1 and the AI named Williams (14 for 28, 4 homers, 11 RBI) as the MVP in a losing cause but I may have went with Niekro’s 2-0, 2.00, 2 complete games and that important double. Jackson was 0-2 with a 6.92 ERA.
The Rookie of the Year winners were Del Unser over actual Stan Bahnsen and Bob Moose over Johnny Bench, with neither of the historical winners getting even 1 vote. Bob Gibson won the Cy Young as he did in the real ’68, but he did it in San Fran and not St. Loo. Roger Nelson won the AL Cy, when in reality he was an expansion selection for KC; actual winner Denny McLain didn’t get a vote. It looks like I checked off pitchers don’t win the MVP since I saw no hurlers got votes, so Gibson couldn’t
duplicate ’68 and Hank Aaron won the NL award. Carl Yastrzemski won it in the AL because he got 13 1st-place votes to Horton’s 11; 2 other Bosox got votes, the Hawk and Andrews.