PHOENIX – They may not like to hear this, but the Mets are about to discover whether they’re ready for playoff-caliber baseball.
After 25 games, they’ve done a pretty good job of taking care of business. They’ve won six of their last seven series and their 15-10 record is a complete reversal of where they were a year ago. They haven’t fallen six games back in the NL East, as they did in April 2001, so that’s a relief.
Starting last night, however, the first-place Mets embarked on a nine-game stretch against Arizona, Houston and San Francisco. This winter, all three teams were considered at least as good as the Mets. The Diamondbacks are the defending world champions. The Astros are co-favorites with the Cardinals in the NL Central. The Giants have Barry Bonds. ‘Nuff said.
The Mets opened a three-game set against the D’backs last night before heading to Houston on Friday. When they return to Shea, Bonds brings his traveling road show to New York. It’s a difficult part of the schedule; the three teams had a combined record of 42-32 entering yesterday.
Four-game win streaks are great, but when three of those victories come against Milwaukee, people want to see what you can do against the big boys. Anybody who’s watched the Mets for longer than a series against Bud Selig’s Brewers believes this team is still not hitting on all cylinders – or hitting the way it can.
That’s not to say the Mets aren’t up to the challenge. Mike Piazza’s return is imminent and Roberto Alomar’s new spot hitting leadoff in the order could potentially kick them into overdrive.
Alomar, whose average was as low as .170 a little more than two weeks ago, has scored four runs in the four games he’s hit from the top spot, going 5-for-14.
But the Mets’ offensive marks as a club are still dismal. They had to go on a hitting tear to raise their team mark to .243 from the .230 it was during the Expos series in Montreal about two weeks ago.
In the National League, the Mets’ vaunted offense isn’t measuring up. They are 14th in the league in on-base percentage, at .312, and tied for the league’s second-worst OPS percentage at .675. That’s on-base percentage plus slugging percentage, a fairly exotic stat that tells you what you already knew: The Mets aren’t hitting well.
Meanwhile, the club’s stellar pitching staff is about to be put to the test. Entering last night’s play, the Mets led the NL in team ERA at 2.66 and were second in strikeouts with 191, but they’re about to face some of the best hitting clubs in the league. The Diamondbacks, Giants and Astros were second, third and fourth in the NL in runs and all had team batting averages of .259 or higher.
The challenge is one that is easily manageable, though. Al Leiter (2-1, 1.13 ERA) worked last night against Rick Helling. Steve Trachsel drew the short straw and has to pitch tonight against Randy Johnson, but the Mets get Todd Stottlemyre instead of Curt Schilling tomorrow. Thus, they had a great opportunity to win two out of three.
It’s too early for anybody to label these games make-or-break, but certain stretches of the season indicate how good a club is. And the Mets were about to find out just how good they can be.