New York Mets Finally Shift Into High Gear

They say they are the best. Just look at all the pitching, they tell you. They should dominate their division. They should blow away opponents and coast into the World Series.

Wait a second. This is the New York Mets we’re talking about? Look at their record. For four months, they’ve been ordinary. They win some, they lose some. Not exactly a force.

“We keep the faith,” Keith Hernandez said this week. “We don’t jump the gun.”

At Shea Stadium, understatement is in. Underachievement, their detractors call it. Whatever, after four months of coasting, the New York Mets appear to be turning it on.

“We kind of waited like it was gonna happen,” Hernandez said. “If it doesn’t happen, then you’ve had an awful year as a team.”

Awful is the way they’ve played at times. There are reasons, primarily injuries to Dwight Gooden, Gary Carter and Keith Hernandez. But in New York, as the owner of the other team in town often says, the bottom line is all that counts.

“It’s getting to the point of the year where we can’t wait for other teams to fight our battles for us,” Kevin McReynolds said.

It seems as if the Mets have been waiting all year. And the rest of baseball has been waiting for them.

“The guys can see the end of the line getting close,” Howard Johnson said. “Now, it’s not as long as it seems.”

It all seems so familiar. Just like last year, only more so.

On Aug. 21, 1988, the Mets lost their fourth straight game and their lead was down to 3 1/2 games. Then they won 10 out of 12, lost two in a row, then won 13 out of 14 to blow open the National League East.

This year, they haven’t been in first place since May 23. After losing to St. Louis on July 31, they were seven games out, in fourth place and on a seven-game losing streak.

Then they got Frank Viola. They’ve won nine of 11 since, losing twice by one run.

“We’re feeling more comfortable about ourselves,” Davey Johnson said. “We’re getting good pitching and that always makes it a lot easier.”

With Gooden out, the rotation is Viola, Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez, David Cone and Bobby Ojeda. If they’re pitching well, no other staff in baseball comes close. But until the last two weeks, their potential was just that. Cone, Ojeda and Darling combined on consecutive complete-game victories this week, the first time three Mets pitchers did that since April 1988.

“We haven’t played well the last three, four months,” said Darling, who in his last two starts pitched consecutive complete-game victories for the first time in his career. “That affects the pitching staff. If you spend every night on the bench watching good pitching, you’re not going to pick up any bad habits.”

Johnson hasn’t been worrying about bad habits. His problem has been getting healthy players. And motivating them.

“We’ve had a few problems,” he said. “We lost some guys and had to play some younger guys.”

One of the chief losses was Carter. With his average in the low .100s, he brooded and cursed his play. Carter returned in late July from knee surgery and in the last week his bat has shown signs of revival. He went 4-for-4 on Wednesday against Philadelphia.

“Seeing him smile instead of coming back shaking his head has been uplifting for the team,” Davey Johnson said. “I think he’s getting healthier all the time.”

And, as Johnson said, the team’s mental health also is improving.

“Everyone wants it bad. You can sense it,” utility infielder Keith Miller said. “Earlier, the team didn’t have the right attitude. We weren’t hungry. i didn’t think so.”

McReynolds said the Mets are starting to focus on themselves, trying to forget about the other teams in the race.

“We can’t worry about the Cardinals, the Cubs or the Expos,” he said. “We have to beat everyone.

If the Mets do win, people will cite the 5-for-1 deal with Minnesota that brought Viola back to New York. In two weeks, Viola has made a difference, not only on the field, but in the clubhouse.

Most times, even after victories, the Mets lockerroom is a somber place, a battleground between players and reporters who question their lackluster performances. Viola is loosening things up.

After Thursday’s doubleheader sweep of St. Louis, he walked by a row of stalls in the clubhouse, took a beer can and threw it down, waiting for it to bounce back. Instead, the can broke and sprayed several players.

“That exploded,” he said as the wet onlookers laughed.

The rest of the NL East has been anxiously awaiting an explosion at Shea Stadium all year.