Why the Mets rule NY and other burning questions

	Pedro Martinez has been dominant, going 3-0 for the first-place Mets. Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
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If there was any lingering doubt in Omar Minaya's mind whether the Mets were more than New York City's off-Broadway alternative to the $200 million production across town, it was erased on Monday afternoon, when the well-coiffed general manager arrived at the team's clubhouse at Shea Stadium. Three hours before game time, a throng of reporters packed the space as if it were backstage at a Springsteen concert. "Holy cow," Minaya uttered as he surveyed the mob scene.

Gotham is abuzz over the Mets, and from veteran ace Pedro Martinez, the fastball-slinging showman, to fresh-faced phenom David Wright, the new prince of the city, the players are embracing their team's growing celebrity. And Wright is fast becoming the Shea fave: the affable 23-year-old receives marriage proposals in the mail as often as he collects extra-base hits and spends much of his pregame warmups blissfully bouncing from one autograph-hunting horde to another. Wright -- who last season posted a .911 OPS at age 22 (only three third basemen have put up a better OPS before turning 23) -- has the poise, talent and looks to become the Big Apple's biggest baseball bachelor since Derek Jeter.

Powered by its stars, the Mets were off to their best start in history and had built the largest division lead (five games) in major league history through 12 games. But does that mean they'll be playing in October?

"Here's the biggest reason why the answer is probably yes: The National League looks even weaker than it's been in years," says an NL advance scout. "So on paper, there might not be a better balanced team [in the NL] than them. People would throw St. Louis in there, but the lineup is a lot weaker than in past years, with Larry Walker gone and Jim Edmonds hurt. And we've seen how suddenly mediocre their pitching can look in October. The Mets have a fearsome lineup that's going to score plenty of runs, a great closer and a very solid rotation. If Pedro gets 30 starts, this team could run away with the division."

The Mets are hot. Here are some other burning questions around the league:

• Should ESPN start production on Shelton on Shelton?

I talked to Chris "I'm not a home run hitter" Shelton last week, and he's the first to say that his preposterous power surge -- Red Pop is the fourth player in history to swat nine homers in his team's first 13 games -- won't last. But his growth as a hitter isn't what has impressed the Tigers the most. It's his defense at first base. It was because Shelton was such a mess with the glove that the Pirates gave up on him in 2003. A Rule 5 pick by the Tigers, Shelton committed himself this offseason not to refining his swing but to improving his glove work.

"A year ago at camp he was a complete disaster defensively," says a Tigers source. "He looked clueless out there, but he's worked so hard over the past year. The kid is a hard worker, and amazingly, he's an adequate defensive player now." Meanwhile, how many homers can we expect from Shelton this year? Before the season scouts projected a 25-to-30 homer season for a blooming hitter who had 18 homers in just 388 at-bats last season. Don't be surprised if Shelton finishes with a total north of 40.