Former manager Bobby Valentine’s overdue induction into the Mets Hall of Fame on Saturday at Citi Field provided a welcome, even needed reminder to these underperforming Mets and their unhappy fanbase that anything’s possible. Yes, even for this Mets team.
If Valentine’s 1999 Mets club, which looked dead halfway into that season, could make it to the playoffs, maybe this one can, too. Heck, this Mets squad has at least fulfilled the first part of that by playing dead early.
That ’99 team, which improbably made good on Valentine’s nutty, out-of-nowhere mid-year prediction to go 40-15 when they were at their underachieving worst, made it to October. So why not this one?
Mets baseball president David Stearns admitted Friday they have “dug ourselves a hole.” Very true. We also agree with Stearns that it’s “not an insurmountable hole.”
