Almost a quarter-century later, those who rooted for the New York Mets in the late 1990s and early 2000s will be glad to know Mike Piazza is still delivering familiar zingers to all-time great Mets rival Chipper Jones, whom Piazza enjoyed calling by his given name back in the day.
“I saw…” Piazza said before pausing and grinning. “Larry — Chipper — a few weeks ago.”
Of course, Piazza also knows Jones and the rest of his rivals turned buddies on the Atlanta Braves got the ultimate last laugh by outlasting the second-place Mets for the National League East title in 1998, 1999 and 2000 — the seventh, eighth and ninth crowns for Atlanta in its record run of 14 consecutive division championships — and earning a six-game win in an instant classic NL Championship Series in 1999.
“I’ve said before the frustrating part was when we were going up against the Braves and everyone’s saying ‘Well, you guys always struggle with them’ — well, they had four Hall of Famers, so they were a good ballclub,” Piazza said with a laugh while making a promotional appearance at Citi Field last Friday afternoon. “We always had our good games, great battles with them. Obviously, we were never really able to get over the top with them.”
But this season, the Mets have their best chance to directly knock off the Braves since way back in 1969, when they won the NL East and beat NL West champion Atlanta (no, really, Atlanta was in the NL West for the first 24 years of divisional play) in the first NL Championship Series.
The first-place Mets took four of five from the second-place Braves at Citi Field earlier this month and have another chance to lengthen their lead — currently 5 1/2 games — beginning tonight, when they visit Atlanta for the opener of a four-game series.
The Mets — whose +475 odds to win the World Series at DraftKings are the fourth-best in baseball entering play today behind only the Los Angeles Dodgers (+380), Houston Astros (+425) and New York Yankees (+450) — have been in first place in the NL East every day since Apr. 12 and are 17-5 since the All-Star Break, a span in which they have scored the fourth-most runs in baseball (115) while allowing the fewest (65). They have trailed just twice — both in Friday’s 2-1, 10-inning loss to the Philadelphia Phillies — in nine games since Aug. 6.
First baseman Pete Alonso and shortstop Francisco Lindor are each likely to finish in the top 10 of the NL MVP voting and on pace to exceed or approach Piazza’s team record of 124 RBIs set in 1999. Max Scherzer is 8-2 with a 1.93 ERA despite missing more than six weeks with an oblique injury in his first season in New York while Jacob deGrom has a 1.62 ERA and 28 strikeouts with just one walk in three starts since returning from a 13-month stint on the injured list. Both Scherzer and deGrom are scheduled to pitch against the Braves.
“I think they’re a very good ballclub and I think they’re doing a lot of things right and I’m excited about the ability of them to bounce back after a couple of hurdles this year,” Piazza said. “If you play the game the way they’re playing the game, there’s no question they can beat anybody.”
The Mets have also received a boost lately from trade deadline acquisitions Daniel Vogelbach, Tyler Naquin and Darin Ruf, all of whom were toiling for sub-.500 teams. While none is the big name that tends to get all the attention as the deadline approaches, the trio has combined to hit .311 with six homers and 23 RBIs in 106 at-bats while fitting in easily within the clubhouse — much like 2000 acquisitions Mike Bordick, Bubba Trammell and Rick White, all of whom helped the Mets reach the World Series.
“I think the trade deadline sometimes becomes so overhyped because it becomes an event and everyone wants to make a splash,” Piazza said. “But in this situation, I think the team just needed to get healthy. They brought in some guys, they’re playing well, fitting right in. So it’s good. I think also, as a player, you come to a new situation, the team’s competitive, it’s a good team, it’s going to give you a shot in the arm.”
As someone accustomed to watching the Braves figure out a way to frustrate the Mets, Piazza was particularly energized by the convincing series win at Citi Field — and what it might portend for this week and perhaps his off-season interactions with Jones and the rest of his one-time foes turned friends.
“I think maybe it’s good that it’s sort of the next generation — sometimes you just need to sort of turn the page and new guys don’t know about the sort of struggles we had,” Piazza said. “They were at a time when they needed a good series and I felt that was an interesting test of a team. Everyone’s like ‘is this their struggle point?’ and they were able to dig down deep and have a good series. So I think and hope that that’s an indicator for good things to come in the future.”
