The New York Mets' 2012 season was the franchise's 51st season and its fourth in Citi Field. The team celebrated its 50th anniversary, as they became a team in 1962. Johan Santana pitched the first no-hitter in franchise history on June 1, 2012. The Mets missed the post season for a 6th straight year.
Offseason
Shortly after the 2011 season ended, the Mets made changes to their coaching staff, keeping only pitching coach Dan Warthen and hitting coach Dave Hudgens. 3rd base coachChip Hale went to the Oakland Athletics to join manager Bob Melvin. General Manager Sandy Alderson said that the "changes were necessary for us to move forward." Former A's manager Bob Geren was named to replace Hale. The additions were intended to improve the depth of the bullpen, which was sub-par in the 2011 season. They added reliever Ramon Ramírez and center fielder Andrés Torres, in exchange for the starting center fielder Ángel Pagán. They also signed Frank Francisco to be their closer, and added Jon Rauch, who is the tallest current player in the major leagues, to be the set-up man for Francisco. For 2012, the Mets made several construction changes to Citi Field's dimensions. In center field a new 8 foot wall was built in front of the 16 foot wall, coined by fans as "The Great Wall of Flushing." In right field, a new wall in front of the existing Mo's Zone was also built. The Mets overhauled their uniforms for 2012. The cream colored pinstriped uniform became the primary home uniform, while the snow white uniforms served as the alternate home uniform. The black drop-shadows were removed from the pinstriped, snow white and road gray jerseys and the black two toned cap was retired. The black jersey and all black cap was worn on a limited basis on the road and was retired at the end of the season. The Mets wore two patches, one commemorating the team's 50th anniversary and another honoring Gary Carter, who died of brain cancer on February 16, 2012.
Regular season
The Mets began their 2012 season with a surprising three-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves. The Mets outscored the Braves 12 to 6 in the series. During that series, Frank Francisco became the third player in major league history to record a save in every game of a season-opening series of at least three games, following Derrick Turnbow of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2006 and Salomón Torres of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2007. On June 1, Johan Santana made club history by becoming the first Mets pitcher to throw a no-hitter, in an 8–0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. This was also the first no-hitter to be pitched against a defending World Series champion since a former Met, Nolan Ryan, did it against the Oakland Athletics in their 1990 pennant season while with the Texas Rangers. On June 27 against the Chicago Cubs, the Mets became the first major league team to hit a home run cycle. Daniel Murphy began with a two-run home run, his run in 352 at-bats, then in the fourth, then Ike Davis hit a three-run home run followed by Murphy's solo home run off of Casey Coleman, who had replaced starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija. In the sixth inning, Scott Hairston, who was typically a utility outfielder throughout the first half of the season, hit the cycle ending grand slam off of Coleman. The Mets won the game, 17–1. R.A. Dickey won the 2012 Cy Young Award, becoming the first knuckleball pitcher to do so.
Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits; R = Runs; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts; ERA = Earned run average;
