Mets Reached Their Lofty Expectations Quite Easily

For the New York Mets, this whole business about arrogance and nastiness and winning without grace began last spring in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The St. Louis Cardinals had bused over from Tampa for an exhibition game, and somehow a peculiar T-shirt found its way into a peculiar place -- the Cardinals’ clubhouse.

Scribbled across the front were these words: “New York Mets -- 1986 NL East Champions.”

Because the Cardinals were the defending National League champions, because they hadn’t gotten their world series rings, and because they didn’t figure to be any worse in 1986, this shirt was about as popular as a Coors tap in Augie Busch’s beer parlor.

Cardinals Manager Whitey Herzog didn’t care for it. Actually, what he said took about 10 minutes, was unprintable and completely unflattering to the Mets.

“They act like they’ve already won it,” he said later. “Well, I wouldn’t bet against us.”

Barely two months later, he was taking his bet to another window. “The race is over,” he said. “Nobody’s going to catch the Mets.”

The T-shirt incident says a lot about the 1986 New York Mets, who began spring training with the label Best Team in Baseball and were absolutely as good as they were supposed to be.

They have won more games than anyone else (103), they’ve gotten more attention than anyone else and they needed a mere 145 games -- third fewest in history -- to wrap up the National League East championship.

And:

-- They lead the National League in batting average, earned run average, runs, hits, total bases and walks.

-- They had eight winning streaks of five or more games. No other team had more than three.

-- They are 51-28 on the road, and no other team in baseball has even that good a record at home.

-- Five Mets pitchers -- Dwight Gooden, Bobby Ojeda, Ron Darling, Roger McDowell and Sid Fernandez -- have won at least 14 games. Only one other major league team has as many as three 14-game winners (the California Angels).

-- They virtually wrapped up their division with an 18-1 streak in late April and early May, blowing open a five-game lead after a month and making it 9 1/2 after three and 15 1/2 after four months. What’s more, baseball people say the Mets’ farm system is loaded, and that they could easily be baseball’s dominant team for the next decade.

Yet, what bothers many people and what has some of them praying the Houston Astros will knock the Mets on their rumps next week, is their style.

The Mets didn’t simply beat teams in 1986. They beat them and rubbed it in. As far back as April, second baseman Wally Backman said of the Cardinals, “They better not let us get too far ahead.”

The Mets didn’t simply trot around the bases after hitting a home run. They strutted. They gave arrogant high-fives, especially catcher Gary Carter, who acted as if he were on a mission. Wally Backman slid with spikes up -- always.

They dared to be grating.

By the time they had clinched their division, they’d been involved in four bench-clearing brawls, one each with the Dodgers, Pirates, Braves and Reds.

“I think most guys on our team and around the league would like to see the Astros beat the Mets,” Cardinals shortstop Ozzie Smith told reporters recently. “It goes back to an old issue: The Mets have had this arrogance thing all year.

“You can be a winning team and still be likeable. A lot of teams have won without scraps and fights. We won it last year, and we didn’t punch anyone because we thought someone slid too hard into third base. It’s just the way certain things are done. High fives, for instance. When Don Mattingly gives a high-five, it’s different. We didn’t try to show people up last year.”

Yet even the people who disliked the Mets would admit they are an incredible baseball machine. Like every other team in the playoffs, the Mets’ strength is pitching. Unlike every other team, the Mets do almost everything else well, too.

Gooden won’t celebrate his 22nd birthday until next month, and he’s already being compared with every great pitcher who ever lived. After going 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA last season, he’s only 16-6 with a 2.90 and 12 complete games in 1986.

Scouts say he has been bothered because umpires have stopped giving him the high strike, which has allowed hitters to wait for him to throw a pitch in the strike zone.

Also, there’s the matter of pressure. After you’ve had one of the greatest seasons ever and you’re only 20, where do you go?

“I think the pressure thing has a lot to do with it,” Carter said. “It’s tough when you’re only being compared with yourself.”

The Mets are also the only team in baseball with two 20-save relievers (Roger McDowell and Jesse Orosco) and with a staff of fifth starters and middle relievers who’d be top pitchers on other teams (Doug Sisk and Rick Aguilera to name two).

Offensively, not one Met had a career year, but several had very good ones, especially Carter (.248, 22 homers, 98 RBI), Keith Hernandez (.308, 13-79), Ray Knight (.292, 10-73) and Darryl Strawberry (.258, 24-84).

They won with more than power, too, with three players stealing more than 20 bases (led by Lenny Dykstra’s 30).

“We had the expectation of winning,” Carter said. “From spring training this year, (Manager) Davey Johnson instilled in our minds that we were going to win big. And we did. After we got off to a 2-3 start, we went like gangbusters. We won 11 straight and 18 of 19, and ran away with it. Every time we took the field, we thought we were going to win.”

In the early ‘80s, because they were finishing low in the standings, the Mets were picking high in the draft, and from 1980-83 their drafts were the best in baseball.

In 1980, they took Strawberry in the first round. In 1981, Dykstra came in the 12th. In 1982, Gooden was a first-round pick, Roger McDowell a third.

In 1983, another bonanaza, getting outfielder Stan Jefferson in the first and pitcher Rick Aguilera in the third.

The draft was bringing in other kids, too, and they were used in trades. Last winter, three draft picks went to the Boston Red Sox for Ojeda, who has been the Mets’ biggest winner (17-5, 2.64). The year before, General Manager Frank Cashen sent four kids to the Expos for Carter.

Along the way, Cashen, who really has been the architect of the team’s success, has been able to steal some players.

He got Hernandez at a time when Hernandez’s name had been linked to drug use. Sources now say the Cardinals wanted to be rid of Hernandez, period, and that picking up pitchers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey was a bonus.

Cashen also got Sid Fernandez (16-6, 3.57) from the Los Angeles Dodgers for reliever Carlos Diaz and infielder Bob Bailor. No tricks here -- Cashen’s judgements were better than those of Dodgers General Manager Al Campanis.

Similar trades brought third basemen Ray Knight and Howard Johnson and second baseman Tim Teufel, and one day last winter, the Mets could look in the mirror and see the game’s best team.

“Getting Hernandez (in 1983) turned the corner,” Cashen said. “That’s when we could see something taking shape.” From 68-94 in ‘83, the Mets went 90-72 in ’84 and 98-64 in ’85.

“What’s special is how it happened,” Hernandez said. “You just don’t see a club that’s a perennial loser go from 90-plus losses to 90 wins in one season. It just doesn’t happen.”