Sports

PIAZZA: WE BLEW A BIG OPPORTUNITY

MIKE Piazza strolled into the Mets clubhouse yesterday at 12:05, garment bag slung over his shoulder and crisp white shirt open at the collar under an expensive black suit.

He did not look like a man expecting to play a baseball game in less than an hour, not even one as big as the one at Shea yesterday.

The Mets had beaten the Braves the previous two nights, Monday night in an excruciating 12 innings and Tuesday in a tidy nine.

They entered yesterday’s game atop the NL East and 3½ games ahead of the fifth-place Braves. With the temperature hotter than a John Smoltz fastball, there was every reason to expect that Bobby Valentine would be giving his franchise player the day off.

Every reason except one.

Before the Mets can even think about overtaking the Yankees in this town, they still have to learn how to catch the Braves.

And yesterday was a chance for them to sweep a series from their decade-long nemesis for the first time in seven years.

When Piazza walked over to the lineup card, there was his name where it usually is, in the cleanup spot, between Robbie Alomar and Edgardo Alfonzo.

“I see my name on the card, I play,” Piazza said after the Mets kept their sweepless record intact with a lifeless 2-1 loss. “We’ve got an off day Monday, so maybe on Sunday . . . “

Piazza wasn’t lobbying for a day off or making excuses for his own quiet 1-for-4 day.

But his presence in the lineup put the lie to Valentine’s post-game attitude, in which he roughly equated a mid-April game against the Braves with the first day of spring training.

“What, do they have an April trophy or something?” Valentine said. “I don’t think today’s game means anything. We’ve got a lot of games left with these guys.”

Truthfully, early-season wins over the Braves have never translated into late-season success for the Mets.

Last year, the Mets beat the Braves four of six over their first nine games. The hex was said to be broken.

But in between, they were swept by the lowly Expos. That turned out to be a truer barometer of where the 2001 Mets were headed.

Accordingly, a win yesterday would have guaranteed the Mets nothing.

Except to leave the Braves with something to think about until their next meeting in June.

“Frankly, I don’t think that [stuff] works,” Valentine said. “It’s good to talk about, though.”

But if Valentine meant what he said, why would he risk burning out his 33-year-old catcher on a day that would scorch cactus?

And with the versatile Joe McEwing on the bench, why not rest Alfonzo or Alomar?

“You can’t believe everything Bobby tells you,” Piazza said with a laugh. “This was a big game for all of us. This was a win that really could have given us some extra momentum. We really hated to miss this opportunity. I don’t think [the Braves] would have panicked, but every game we win now is one less we have to win later down the line.”

Close as it was, yesterday’s loss reminded you that over the past 10 years, little has changed.

The aging Braves still know how to win. The new-look Mets are struggling with the concept.

The game came down to two outfielders – one who uses his head and another who would have trouble locating his. Especially if it came off an opponent’s bat.

B.J. Surhoff, Atlanta’s 38-year-old reserve rightfielder, made the play of the day when he charged what should have been an RBI single by Jeff D’Amico and turned it into a rare 9-3 putout, making it look as routine as a groundout to second base.

“You don’t see that play very often,” Valentine said.

The flip side was demonstrated by Roger Cedeno, the Mets starting leftfielder, who should have ended the fifth inning with a running catch of a liner off the bat of Rafael Furcal.

Instead, Furcal’s liner caromed off the heel of his glove – it was generously scored a hit – plating Marcus Giles from second with what would turn out to be the winning run.

“I caught it,” Cedeno said. “Then, when I hit the ground, the ball popped out. Hey, I tried my best.”

And that is the scary part, for Cedeno and the Mets.

They both tried their best. But once again, neither’s best was quite good enough.