Huh?

Well, April is almost up, and the Mets have a 7 game lead on the Braves and Phillies. 

Did I just make that up?  Could this Mets team be finally playing to its potential?  Who are these guys and what have they done with my Mets?

First, they get off to a 10-2 start, then lose 2 to the Braves at Shea.  That's it right?  Back to reality?  They split with the Padres on the road, watching Mike Piazza homer off of them, sit through 2 weeks of another Carlos Beltran leg injury (a hamstring this time), then win 2 of 3 at San Francisco, and win their first series of the year at Turner Field.

They've won big, they've won ugly, they've won close games, blowouts, one-run games, and shutouts.  They've won after tough losses and key injuries. 

They've won with Kaz Matsui!

Gone are the days when they struggled to stay above .500.  When they'd get a lead, only to see it disappear.  When Pedro Martinez or Tom Glavine would pitch a gem, only to lose.  When a David Wright error would cost them the game.  When they couldn't catch a break.

Now, instead of finding ways to lose, they are finding ways to win.  They beat the Giants after Barry Bonds crushed a game-tying bomb off of a Billy Wagner 97 (or 99, depending on which sports outlet you watch or read) MPH fastball.  They beat the Braves at the Ted despite scoring only one run off of brief ex-Met John Thomson.  They've won despite the fact that Pedro Martinez was supposed to be a shadow of his former self. 

Martinez has gone 5-0, the first Mets pitcher to do so since Frank Viola went 7-0 in 1990.  And he's done it as Pedro The Finesse Pitcher, barely hitting 90 on the gun.  As the expression goes, pitching really is like real estate.  Location, location, location.

Carlos Delgado (Despite his sombrero on Saturday.  I guess you could say he was swinging "liberally") looks like the guy who sent baseballs flying into the cocktails at the Hard Rock in Sky Dome when he was a Blue Jay.

And the bullpen is performing as advertised.  Aaron Heilman is getting stronger, Duaner Sanchez hasn't allowed an earned run, and Billy Wagner has 7 saves and a 0.69 ERA despite not having his best fastball.  Darren Oliver, Chad Bradford, and even Jorge Julio have been a solid supporting cast.

So, one month down, and this team appears to be for real.  Can they keep it up?  The immediate future continues to rest on the starting rotation.  Pedro, Glavine, and Trachsel must continue to pitch well.  And Victor Zambrano needs to keep his walks under, say, 10 per game, and if Brian Bannister recovers quickly from his hamstring injury, his loss won't hurt as much.

No matter how it is broken down, one thing is for sure.  The Mets couldn't have asked for a much better start to 2006.