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They can still pitch, but let's face it: The reshuffled rotation is minus an ace

By Jeff Pearlman

Piazza's productivity and durability are crucial for the Mets, whose offense was merely middle of the pack last season.  Bob Rosato ENEMY LINES An opposing team's scout sizes up the Mets "I wouldn't count the Mets out, but this team is significantly weaker than it was last year. It's tough to win without outfield production, and losing Mike Hampton really hurts.... Even so, when you look around the league, this staff is in the upper echelon because it has a lot of proven guys. Al Leiter has looked outstanding this spring. He keeps getting better. His cutter is devastating to righthanders. Four years and $42 million was a shock, but Kevin Appier has the knowledge to get outs even though his stuff has diminished somewhat. He still has that big curveball, and he locates well. Rick Reed is the poor man's Greg Maddux -- a big key is having him healthy for the whole season. Glendon Rusch has learned how to pitch inside and is a lot more aggressive.... Mike Piazza works his butt off behind the plate, but he'd benefit the team most if he played first base. He might hit 70 home runs if he played there. He has a weakness way up in the zone, but if you miss a hair below that, he'll hit a tape-measure shot.... Edgardo Alfonzo has no defined weakness at the plate, no place in the zone a pitcher can go when he gets in trouble. There aren't many hitters like that.... Jay Payton might be an All-Star someday. He has compact strength; his power is gap to gap, but as he matures, he might learn to turn on balls more.... If Armando Benitez would put aside his machismo and mix in a breaking ball occasionally, he could be a lights-out closer. When he gets in trouble, he tries to throw harder and harder, and as hard as he throws, his fastball doesn't have a lot of life."

One Friday afternoon in October, a couple of days before the Subway Series was to begin, Mets lefthander Glendon Rusch stopped by the Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, N.Y. It was a nothing-special trip, one of those dull, wander-around-in-search-of-a-CD days. He'd visited the mall plenty of times. No big de --

Hey, Glendon!

Huh?

Yo, Glendon, go kick some Yankee butt!

Wha?

Hey, Rusch, you're going down!

Do us proud, g!

Was this really happening? Were the people of Long Island actually approaching the Mets' Mr. Anonymity? Yelling encouragement? Egging him on? "I'm from the west coast, and nobody recognizes me out there," says Rusch. "Here I am, on a team with the Piazzas and Leiters, and fans knew who I was. New York's the only place that happens."

Rusch exposed himself to the Big Apple because, in a season that began with subzero expectations for the 26-year-old Royals castoff, he emerged as arguably the league's best No. 5 starting pitcher and -- under closer scrutiny -- one of its best lefthanders, period. He had the league's sixth-best road ERA (3.70), but he received the lowest run support per nine innings of any NL starter (3.7). "We thought trading for Glendon would be a worthwhile chance," says G.M. Steve Phillips. "Did we expect last year's production? Let's just say it was a very pleasant surprise."

Now, with Mike Hampton gone to Colorado, the Rusch bar has been raised. Although the Mets added two free-agent starters -- 15-game winner Kevin Appier, 33, from Oakland and the innings-eating Steve Trachsel, 30, from Toronto -- there should be concern over a rotation that, beyond Rusch and ace lefthander Al Leiter, is made up of three soft-throwing, thirtysomething righties. No. 3 starter Rick Reed has maintained impressive consistency since '97, but he's a 35-year-old control pitcher.

Rusch, once one of the Royals' top prospects, fell on hard times in K.C. In '98 he was 6-15 with a 5.88 ERA; he had abandoned his two-seam fastball and lost confidence in his changeup. With his arrival in New York, though, bad turned good. "It gave me a new life," he says. "A switch in uniforms can sometimes change everything."

The Mets enter 2001 with a lineup featuring mostly the same men in the same uniforms. However, a Rusch-like improvement is needed from Robin Ventura, who struggled through his worst season since his rookie year of 1990. Ventura's .232 average was a lifetime low, and his .954 fielding percentage was fourth-lowest among regular NL third basemen. It was painful to watch the six-time Gold Glover, and even more painful to be him. Ventura played 141 games, but even as fans moaned and tabloids ripped, he never openly complained about the bruised right rotator cuff that sent him to the DL for 15 days in July and caused yearlong discomfort. "Robin definitely went through stretches when his shoulder affected his swing," says first baseman Todd Zeile. "But people who criticized didn't realize how much his presence helps. Even when he was struggling, Robin found a way to come up with a big hit, a big RBI."

As long as Ventura and Mike Piazza (105 or more RBIs in each of the past five seasons) stay healthy, the Mets will have no trouble surpassing the 807 runs they scored last season, which ranked seventh in the league. That number, as well as the Mets' puny 66 stolen bases, will rise dramatically as long as Timo Perez, the fleet-footed rightfielder who emerged from the Japanese minor leagues, bats as he did in 24 regular-season games (.286) and not as he did in the World Series (.125, 2 for 16). At his best Perez is a slap-hitting bundle of energy with the speed to steal 40 to 50 bases. Before last season he was a nobody, unwanted by the Hiroshima Carp, his old team in Japan.

As Rusch proves, such is a route the Mets embrace.

Issue date: March 26, 2001

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