[teedubya]

Hrmmm...

2 wild card berths in 1999 and 2000, though...


1997-2004: Piazza , Bobby V, and the Subway Series

While the 1990s started horribly for the Mets, things started looking up in 1997. While they missed the playoffs by only four games, they improved by 17 games over 1996. Their switch hitting catcher, Todd Hundley, who had broken several records the year before, was having another great season. However, he went down late in 1997 with a devastating elbow injury and needed Tommy John surgery. For a time, it looked like the Los Angeles Dodgers were going to be shopping their superstar catcher, Mike Piazza, in a trade rather than pay the exorbitant salary that 1997's MVP runner-up was going to demand at the end of the 1998 season. In a puzzling move, on May 14, 1998, the Dodgers sent Piazza to the Florida Marlins who were purging themselves of every high salary they could to alleviate their claimed financial problems. The Marlins' move made more sense when, just a week later, they re-traded Piazza to the Mets for Preston Wilson and two prospects. The Dodgers had no free agency problem, the Marlins had young players with small salaries and the Mets had their new lineup-anchoring catcher.

After the 1998 trade, the Mets played well but missed the 1998 postseason by only one game. With only 5 games left in that 1998 season, the Mets could not win a single game against both the Montreal Expos at home and the Atlanta Braves on the road, the Mets could have forced a 3-way wild card tie by winning their last game. Although it seemed like a terrible ending to a good season, Met fans felt confident that the team was moving in the right direction. After signing Mike Piazza to a seven-year contract, the Mets acquired Armando Benítez from the Baltimore Orioles, and signed Robin Ventura, Rickey Henderson, Bobby Bonilla and Roger Cedeño to fill out the needs for the start of the 1999 season. John Olerud anchored the heart of the Mets' order.

1999 started well for the Mets but Bobby Bonilla turned out not to be the player the Mets had hoped he would be and the Mets played well to begin the season. When June came around, the Mets started to fall. On June 6, after losing two games to the New York Yankees, the Mets started taking action by firing their coaching staff except for their manager, Bobby Valentine. On that day, the Mets, in front of a national audience on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, beat New York Yankees 7-2 and they never looked back. Both Mike Piazza and Robin Ventura started to have MVP type seasons and Benny Agbayani began to have an important role on the team. Also this was the breakout year for Mets second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo, as he had 100 rbi's, and Roger Cedeño, who broke the single season steals record for the Mets. At the very end of the season, the Mets had to play a one game playoff against the Cincinnati Reds to see which team would advance to the playoffs. In that game, Met ace Al Leiter pitched the best game of his Met career as he led the team to a 5-0 victory to advance to the playoffs. In those playoffs, they defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks to advance to their first NLCS since 1988, only to lose to the Atlanta Braves in six exciting games which included the famous "grand slam single" by Robin Ventura to win game 5 for the Mets.

In the offseason after the 1999 NLCS defeat, the Mets traded Roger Cedeño and Octavio Dotel to the Houston Astros for Derek Bell and Mike Hampton. Also Todd Zeile was signed to play first base. The Mets were heading to the 2000 season as a powerhouse in the National League.

2000 began well for the Mets as Derek Bell became the best hitter on the team for the first month. The Mets enjoyed good play the whole year. The highlight of the season came on June 30 when the Mets beat their rivals the Atlanta Braves in a memorable game. With the Mets losing 8-1 to begin the bottom of the 8th, the Mets rallied back to tie the game when Mike Piazza hit a three run home run to put the Mets up 11-8 to give them the lead and eventually the win. The home run was a line drive shot to left field and to this day is replayed in almost every Mike Piazza highlight reel. The Mets easily made the playoffs winning the National League wild card. In the playoffs, the Mets beat the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals to win their fourth ever N.L. Championship. Mike Hampton won the NLCS MVP for his great pitching performances during the series as the Mets headed to the 2000 World Series to face their cross town rivals, the New York Yankees. Unfortunally for the Mets, they were defeated in the much-hyped "Subway Series". Even though they lost 4 games to 1, they scored only three fewer runs than the Yankees. This was the first all-New York World Series since 1956, when the Yankees defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers.

In the seasons following the 2000 World Series, the Mets struggled mightily as the result of several poor player acquisitions, including Mo Vaughn, Roberto Alomar, Roger Cedeño (again) and Jeromy Burnitz. These acquisitions were made by then General Manager Steve Phillips, who was fired during the 2003 season. Phillips was credited with building the 2000 World Series team, but also blamed for the demise of the Mets' farm system and the poor play of the acquired players. The Mets record in 2003 (66-95) was among the worst in baseball, and Piazza had missed two-thirds of the season with a torn groin muscle. His steady decline around that time mirrored the Mets' fortunes for the first half of the decade.