The clubhouses, the dugouts and the field were completely
barren at Shea Stadium yesterday afternoon, except for Billy Wagner, out there throwing with a trainer. Wagner felt strong and upbeat under the overcast sky. It was merely overcast. By his reckoning, there weren't the same bleak clouds that shrouded the Mets a year ago.
It is a subject that will come up every day this month, even when the game is rained out and especially when the Phillies are in town. We all know that 2007 won't end unless the Mets make the playoffs in 2008. Manager Jerry Manuel, to his credit, has consistently said as much.
But for better or worse, mostly for better, the Mets are a whole lot different from they were last September, the most heart-wrenching month they've ever had.
"I think the thing that's different about us this year from last year is we weren't playing good at all last year," said Wagner, who showed up at Shea even though the game was postponed, because he didn't want to miss a day of rehab for his pitching elbow. "We started out OK, but we really never played consistent."
"Me and [Tom] Glavine would talk about how we didn't play well. And it wasn't anything to do with coaching or individual players. As a team, we weren't playing good defense, we weren't pitching well, we weren't having timely hitting," he said. "This year, we're coming into September where a lot of guys are swinging a good bat, our pitching is going well, our bullpen is holding its own and we're playing fantastic defense. I think that is a positive from where we were last year."
A skeptic could make a decent list of ways the Mets actually were better off 12 months ago, starting with Wagner. He was pitching last year, and not just hoping to pitch, as he is now. Still, he was optimistic.
"Today was a real good bounce-back day," he said, alluding to a rough bullpen session Friday.
If you made a list of reasons why the Mets might have a real good bounce-back year, Manuel would rank pretty high. He seems calmer with a two-game lead than Willie Randolph did with a six-game lead on this date in 2007. We're going to stick with that opinion even though Wagner yesterday defended the former manager, saying, "I keep hearing Willie getting bashed ... I'd probably say his best managing was when we weren't playing well because he was trying to make the moves, he was trying to make things happen."
The bottom line is that Randolph didn't make things happen and couldn't make the collapse of 2007 go away. "I don't think it was one thing or the other with Jerry. I think we finally kind of hit our stride," Wagner said.
Still, if we're contrasting one year to another, a new manager makes the 'A' list. Let's face it, last Sept. 7, we all would have bet there would be a woman on a national ticket. But our money would have been on Hillary Clinton, not Sarah Palin. The point is, the world can change a lot in a year.
Mets fans would have to admit their world actually looked better in some ways last September. John Maine was healthy and flirted with a no-hitter. Luis Castillo didn't look as if he was ready for an over-70 softball league. And the team didn't have to live down the albatross of a collapse. Mostly, though, the before-and-after picture favors the "after."
These days, the Mets can be confident of a first-rate start every time either Johan Santana or Mike Pelfrey pitches. Last year, they had to scramble just to find someone to take the ball down the stretch. Every fifth day, they gave the ball to Glavine, who was totally out of gas.
Now, they also have a rejuvenated Carlos Delgado and an invigorated Jose Reyes. Their bullpen might make Manuel reach for the Maalox sometimes, but it is deep and it has been good lately. "After all the criticism," Wagner said, "a lot of guys have stepped up."
Damion Easley doesn't have his foot in a cast this time. Ryan Church and Brian Schneider don't carry late September baggage (they were on the Nationals, who won five of six from the Mets in the last half-month). Best of all, the Mets don't have a seven-game lead, which proved the ultimate jinx.
There is no guarantee these Mets will have a better finish, but they clearly are a different team. And that can only give them a better shot.
