So call them the best-of-four Mets and understand that they believe their
best is yet to come.
They took another confidence-building step Thursday night when they
completed a four-game sweep of the anything-but-poisonous.
Diamondbadks and inched closer to the leaders in the National League Wild Card
race.Their 3-1 victory,largely the work of the tag team of Pedro Martinez and
Victor diaz,moved them beyond the Nationals,kept them even with the Marlins
and put them within 1 1/2 games of the leaders,the Phillies.
They're that close to the Phillies because a series of good things happened
since they left New York late Sunday in search of away-from-home success.
The opposition was less than formidable,but that wasn't the only reason the
Mets completed their fourth series sweep this sesson,the first one longer
than three games.
They plated with a sende of urgency Willie Randolph said he had detected
before the flight ti the desert and a degree of relentlessness that encouraged
the manager.And they achieved a baseball oddity.Schedules don't provide many
four-game series,so four-game sweeps are rare.But,sweep or not,the Mets seem
to play better when the schedule yells "Four."
They have won 15 of the 20 games they've played in five four-game series.
Find some other set of games in which this team has played at the.750 level.
There's no explanation.But there is an awareness that this season provides a
final four of a different sort -- four games at Shea Stadium,Sept.20-Oct.2,
against the Rockieds,who aren't even as competitive as the Diamondbacks.
"We know,"Cliff Floyd said. "It could come down to that."
But the schedule has other obstacles for the Mets before their Rockie ending,
not the least of which is their three-game weekend series in San Francisco,
where they seldom have prospered, a blink-of-eye homestand against the
Phillies, and a 10-day excursion to Miami,Atlanta and St.Louis that includes
a four-game series against the Cardinals.
Now that they have won four straight road games -- regardless of site -- for
the first time in three years, the Mets see the remaining 2005 schedule as
less menacing.
"I think we're feeling better about ourselves every day,"Tom Glavine said.
Adding to the Mets' belief was what they witnessed Thursday -- Pedro Martinez
charming the Snakes and actually getting a win for his work. The Mets had won
only one of his previous five starts, and he hadnt won any.But,with the
assistance of Diaz, Martinez(13-5) gained his 13th victory, his first since
July 23.
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