(Valley Cottage, July 28, 1998) Well, things are looking up in Mudville these days, as the Mets start to win some games. Visions of a wildcard berth dance in the heads of Met fans once again. Catching the Cubs may all boil down to Piazza getting hot and Sosa cooling off -- and the odds are in the Mets' favor. The Cubs do not have the starting pitching that the Mets do. Let's face it, catching the Cubs is a whole lot easier than chasing the Braves.
We last reported on the recent sorry state of the Mets. What has changed over the last week to lead to these new, winning ways? Some Mets are starting to hit. McRae has started to hit home runs on a consistent basis and is the club's new "power man." He's earned the centerfield job hands down. Brian's no superstar, but he looks like one within the context of the Met lineup. Olerud remains consistent, Alfonzo has shown signs of life, Hundley continues his spring training exrecises in leftfield, and Huskey has won the rightfield job. Gilkey is now the odd man out, a late-inning defensive replacement for Hundley in left. Keeping Bernard out of the lineup has seemingly added to the number of Met runners on base. Ordonez has started to get on base. On a hot streak before his injury, he raised his average to the .260 level. There is no longer an automatic out in the team's eighth spot. Piazza is Piazza. His mere presence on the field makes the Mets a better team -- much like when Keith Hernandez joined the Mets, the team has risen to his level.
The starting pitching is a constant -- and even looks better than when we last reported now that Reynoso has come back from injury and Nomo has shown signs of being the Nomo of old. These encouragements, plus the successful return of Leiter to the rotation, have given the Met team added confidence and taken pressure off the hitters. The Mets are beginning to "believe" that they can take the wildcard in the NL if they just turn things up a notch and end the season with a strong finish.
And the bullpen bums are getting better (couldn't get no worse!) We're still nervous every time they bring in Franco, Tam has been sent down, and Rojas is again being used in game situations, but the relievers have been good more than they've been bad, and that's a wonderful thing.
The Mets are now playing a homestand against the West Coast clubs that may really be make-or-break for this team. If they can benefit from the home field advantage and win a mess of these games, the Cubs will be looking over their shoulders and remembering what happened in 1969 -- the year a man landed on the moon and the Miracle Mets stole a division pennant away from the team in the Windy City.
