Darryl Strawberry says it’s time the Mets get their act together.
His team won a World Series title in 1986, and there’s been a drought ever since. If the Amazin’s want to win one again, Strawberry says they have to show more fight.
“They’ve got to get a little bit more fire in their belly,” Strawberry told The Post. “I see them going through the motions.”
Strawberry, 48, will be inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame next month. He will appear at a charity luncheon next Saturday at Citi Field, along with a Mets Hall of Fame cast that includes Keith Hernandez, Mookie Wilson, Rusty Staub and Bud Harrelson as well as new inductees Dwight Gooden, Davey Johnson and Frank Cashen.
Maybe by then, the Mets will be out of their slump.
“This team can find it, but the players have to be able to find it between each other,” Strawberry said. “I think that is what they are really missing, the attitude, the swagger about being in New York, and representing New York. Other teams don’t fear them. There’s no fear. They’ve got to get to that point where other teams fear them, whatever it takes. Teams feared us when they came to the ballpark.
“They say it’s a different time now. It’s not a different time. It’s baseball; it’s still the same game,” he said, his voice rising with passion. “If nobody fears you, they are going to beat all over you and they are going to laugh at you, and that’s what teams do to the Mets now.
“They beat all over them and they laugh at them,” he said. “Teams never came to Shea Stadium thinking they were going to beat all over us and laugh at us. We would have kicked their heinie on the field and off the field. That’s just the way we were.
“I’m sorry, I love those guys and I’ve been with them. I want them to win,” he said. “I’m not a former player who doesn’t want them to win, I care about the organization. I like the manager. I care about them winning, but nobody is going to give it to them. They need to understand that: You’ve got to go out and you’ve got to take it.”
He doesn’t see that in these Mets.
“It’s like, ‘If I get a hit, OK; if I don’t, I don’t,’” he said. “Me, I’m going to tear my helmet up, I’m going to tear my bat up, I’m going to tear something up, I’m going to tear the clubhouse up if I’m not hitting in crucial situations. That’s the kind of player I was. I had to bring it out, the emotion. They need to show that emotion and pull together. When something like this happens, we have to have a team meeting among the players, why are we [stinking], why are we not pulling this together.”
Straw continues to live life with passion.
“I’ve been able to build myself up to be the person I wanted to be outside baseball,” he said. “I have a foundation for children with autism, me and my wife, Tracy. We’re involved in a ministry in St. Louis in helping others, just a lot of great things, including the new restaurant.”
His restaurant, Strawberry’s Grill, will open soon in Douglaston. He is partners with the group that runs Justin Timberlake’s Southern Hospitality restaurant on the Upper East Side.
“I wanted the restaurant to be in Queens. That’s my real home with the Mets fans,” Strawberry said. “It’s going to have incredible barbecue and the best hamburgers in the world.”
And one great Strawberry shake.
Tickets for Saturday’s luncheon can be purchased by calling (718) 803-4074 and online at Mets.com/HallofFame. A tax-deductible donation of $325 also includes a ticket to that night’s game against the Diamondbacks, and food and beverage.
kevin.kernan@nypost.com