The 1st place Mets? Who wouldda thunk it? Not me

Can you say Amazin? You don’t have to be as stunned (or as stunning) as my friend Nikki in Long Beach, C-A. THE FIRST PLACE METS!! The turnaround has been a shock. If you’d told me that the Mets would be sharing the N-L East penthouse with the Phillies this morning-you all KNOW I wouldn’t have taken that bet.

I’m still not totally sold on the club. Johan Santana is a prima donna now using the Billy Joel concert as an excuse for his hideous performance last night. Hard to believe that Santana is a student at the O. J. Simpson School of Alibis. I thought I was getting an ace, not a guy who has yet to let the team ride on his back.

BUT-this team suddenly is more relentless than MMA star Robbie Lawler. Last nighr’s ninth inning rally was classic. I knew something good was afoot when David “Stormy” Weathers entered the game for the Reds. Suddenly, Delgado and Tatis are Mantle and Maris. Therein lies my dilemma: Outside of Pedro Martinez, who I can’t count on-just like El Duque-the starting pitching is good to great. Pelfrey, Maine and Ollie Perez are settling in. You hope Santana will inherit some intestinal fortitude soon and start getting it done. MORE AFTER THE JUMP

Other difficulties: When will Tatis start playing like he hasn’t been in the majors in three years? When-not if-does Delgado resemble an aging Todd Zeile rather than a 30 year old Delgado? How long do you get by with Endy Chavez and without Ryan Church? Love him or not, Carlos Beltran doesn’t get a day off simply because they need him.

Final complaint: Billy Wagner is a closer in the Armando Benitez/Mel Rojas mold. If the Mets do get to the World Series in October, they’ll be plenty of replays of the blown save in the All Star Game, because oh by the way, the American League has home field advantage-thanks in no small part to Billy the Kid. I had more confidence in Skip Lockwood back in the day-Skip never blew a big game. To be fair, the Mets of the late 70’s and early 80’s were eliminated from playoff contention the first week of the season., so there weren’t many big games to blow. Maybe I can hire a hypnotist to get Wagner to stop choking in big spots. Perhaps Nikki can cast a spell on Wagner or use the Heimlich maneuver. For right now: Ride the wave, and Let’s Go Mets. I’d love to be proven wrong.