NATIONAL LEAGUE: INSIDE THE N.L.: METS GATHERING MO-MENTUM.Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer It's late July, and the New York Mets
So only one thing can happen: The Mets start winning. The Mets still find themselves hopelessly behind Atlanta in the National League East, but the wild card is well within their grasp. So what else is new? At one time double digits Double Digits was a pricing game on the American television game show, The Price Is Right. Played from April 20, 1973 through May 18, 1973's show, it was played for a car and used small prizes. back and one game under .500, the Mets entered Saturday 4 1/2 games behind In sports, the phrase games behind, often abbreviated as GB in tables, is a common way to reflect the gap between a leading team and another team in a sports league, conference, or division. the Dodgers in the wild-card race after winning nine of 13. The optimistic Mets have reason to believe they will make a strong playoff push despite being 12 1/2 games behind the Braves. In the past four seasons, the Mets were 60 games over .500 (181-121) after the All-Star break, after being 13 games over .500 (180-167) before the break. ``I think we firmly believe we're a playoff contender,'' Mets general manager Steve Phillips
Steve Francis Phillips (born on May 18, 1963) was the general manager of the New York Mets from 1997-2003. said. ``The 2002 season isn't about trading away our potential free agents, but toward making a run at things.'' Phillips met with manager Bobby Valentine Wilpon served as president of the team between 1980 to 2002, as Chief Executive Officer since 1980 and as Chairman of for 45 minutes Wednesday. The session obviously was positive. ``We're not going to dismantle this club,'' Wilpon said. ``We think it's a good club for the future, and we want to hold it together. I said I'd be very disappointed if we weren't a playoff team, and I still feel that way.'' The Mets proved they'll stick together by signing pitcher Al Leiter n. Baseball The infielder who is positioned near and to the first-base side of second base. Noun 1. second baseman - (baseball) the person who plays second base second sacker Roberto Alomar But it is first baseman Mo Vaughn fueling the Mets' traditional late-July surge. After batting .248 with 10 homers and 34 RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in before the break, Vaughn is batting .321 with six homers and 16 RBI in 15 games since. --Brew crew feud: The day Tyler Houston was traded from Milwaukee to the Dodgers, one of the many reasons he was excited was because he was getting out of an awful situation. He said Brewers players were on edge and baseball wasn't fun. A day later, Milwaukee rookie manager Jerry Royster and closer Mike DeJean got into an argument on the mound. DeJean was ticked off he was being yanked from the game and let Royster know about it. In turn, Royster yapped back at DeJean. The two met, DeJean was fined a few hundred bucks and all seems well - other than the Brewers trying to trade DeJean before Wednesday's nonwaiver deadline. ``I was mad at the situation, not Jerry, (but) it came out that way,'' DeJean said. ``It is something that should have happened underneath (the park). I am sorry and embarrassed for it.'' --Montreal madness: Montreal general manager Omar Minaya traded for right-hander Bartolo Colon and outfielder Cliff Floyd to provide the Expos with the needed players to make a playoff push. Colon is 3-1 with a 3.50 ERA in five starts and Floyd is batting .283 with two homers and three RBI in 13 games, but clubs aren't sold Minaya wants to keep both players. Therefore, a number of teams have called Minaya in the past few days to check the availability of both players. And whatever happens to Floyd and Colon could say a lot about the future of the franchise. CAPTION(S): 2 boxes Box: (1) WHAT'S ON (2) AROUND THE HORN |
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