Twenty years ago yesterday, the Mets finished a decisive series in St. Louis, at least as decisive as a series can be in April. They swept the St. Louis Cardinals in a four game series. For any Met fan old enough to remember, that was the series in which Whitey Herzog declared that “the race is over. “No one will catch the Mets”. In that series the Mets edged the Cards 5 to 4 on Thursday evening in an 11 inning affair. The next night, the Amazin’s pummeled St. Louis 9 to 0 behind a Doc Gooden 5 hit shutout. Four more runs in the first inning Saturday night was enough to win the third game of the series. The Mets held the Cardinals as they mounted a bottom of the ninth comeback. The Sunday afternoon game was just another oh-hum Bobby Ojeda complete game victory by a score of 5 to 3. The sweep came during the midst of an eleven game winning streak that distanced the Mets from the rest of the pack and of course they never looked back.

 

Interestingly enough, that Mets team was only 4 games ahead of the Pirates after that series. Our current Mets heroes have a 5 game lead over Atlanta and Philadelphia. This weekend presents the Mets an opportunity to make a similar statement that was made to the Cardinals two decades ago. They have the best of their starters going in the series, Pedro tonight followed by the re-invented Glavine and always dependable Steve Trachsel. Their hitting has shown signs of revival in the last couple of games so if all goes well, maybe on Monday, although he would never say it, Bobby Cox may at least think what Herzog said at the end of that series in April 1986.

 

But is this current Mets team as good as the one in ’86? Currently the Mets pitching staff has the lowest ERA in the National League. They have the highest strikeout per 9 innings ratio and opposing batters have the second lowest batting average against them. The Mets’ pitchers strikeout to walks ratio is also second in the league. The OPS (on base percentage given up) is also the lowest in the National League. They are an older staff than the one from long ago, but so far the current Mets’ pitchers are just as effective. The Mets team batting average is fourth in the league and most power statistics show them in the top 5. Their on-base-percentage however is currently 11th and that is a bit alarming. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it corresponds with Reyes’s current batting slump. Overall statistically this Mets team appears as strong as the ’86 club, they certainly appear to have as much heart.

 

But no one will ever believe that the current club belongs mentioned with the last Mets World Championship team if they go into Atlanta and roll over once again. Turner field has become a house of horrors for the Mets. Over the past 10 years, if any thing could go wrong it usually did. Even though the personnel have changed over the years, the results invariably have been the same. Do the Mets make a statement as they did in St. Louis in ’86 or do they show that’s its business as usual when it comes to playing Atlanta. I am not predicting. I simply will watch and accept the results. The ’06 Mets have talent and heart. They are playing well especially after coming out of a tough series in San Francisco with that great win on Wednesday. The Braves are struggling. So on paper everything favors the Mets. But baseball is played on grass not paper and until the Mets slay their dragon, they will continue to live in the shadow of their past glory.

 

Note: I said yesterday that the Mets new ballpark is a done deal since the city council overwhelming voted in favor of using tax free bonds for the financing. This is not entirely accurate. It still has to go through the state legislature and the IRS must approve the tax exempt bonds. They both are expected to pass but if the IRS rules against the bonds, it will be back to the drawing board for both stadiums at least in terms of money to build. This is according to yesterday’s New York Times.