In My Write Mind

It was something simple. A hot-shot rookie with five tools, loads of potential, didn’t even think before he did it.

He certainly deserved it after smacking a game-tying home run to keep the game going. To keep his team in it. So, innocently, instinctively … he did it.

And got chastised by his manager. Strongly. And he had to understand that it wasn’t so much what he did, but when he did it. The timing of it all.

The motto for this year is “The Team. The Time. The Mets.” Not yet.

As well-timed as the home run was, the reaction to it, the time of year it was, made it suspect at best. The rookie did what most of New York can’t do. What they know better than to do so early, before the fat lady singeth, before what Yogi Berra and Lenny Kravitz said actually happens: when over is really over.

The rookie messed up. He exhaled.

It all starts with the manager. Willie Randolph, out of Holly Hill, South Carolina and Brooklyn, USA, now managing the second-best team in the major leagues out of a dugout in Flushing, Queens. He’s been around long enough to know that what the rookie did was done on pure instinct. That when Lastings Milledge went deep and extended a game two Sundays ago against San Francisco a few more innings, gave his team a chance to win, he couldn’t help but high-five a few fans on the way back out to his position in right field.

Couldn’t help but exhale.

His manager, an All-Star second baseman and former captain of the New York Yankees and a man who’s been around the game for what seems like forever, took Milledge to task because the game — just like the season — wasn’t over. Of course, he understood. It was Lasting’s first major league home run. Big spot. Everything.

But he had to let the rookie know that it wasn’t the time to exhale. That when you play in New York, with the expectations and the microscope and the scrutiny, you have to hold your breath. Have to wait to exhale like a crappy early-90’s movie. You have to keep your wits about you, or your “whit” … and wait to shoop.

It’s that type of mentality that has kept the Mets rolling thus far. They just go out and play. Just go out and give their manager their all each and every night. They follow his example. No bravado. No showing-up of the other team. They just work. Just like their manager used to work.

And it’s worked. So far.

That’s why you won’t find Willie Randolph go crazy about the fast start, how first place in June will mean nothing if the Mets don’t go all the way. You will never see him go overboard complimenting his team on their early season success. He’s the first to play the “woe-is-us” card to the media, pointing out the random, almost non-existent blemishes on his team’s resume.

He’s been through it all before. Been a part of several Yankee teams that were built to win and came up short. He played here for 13 seasons, was a five time All-Star, won a World Series. Was a coach here for 11 more, winning four championships along the way.

Last year was the build-up to where they are now. Eighty-three wins, twelve more than the year before. This year, they’re 39-23, second only to a team in Detroit that is the surprise of the season. This Mets team? Not a surprise. They spent the off-season trying to improve. Got Carlos Delgado and Paul LoDuca from Florida. Got a stud closer in Billy Wagner. Fortified their bullpen and their bench.

They got ready to work.

Now, they’re a good mixture of young and old. Two all-world starters in veterans Pedro Martinez and Tom Glavine. A young and talented left side of the infield in Jose Reyes and David Wright. A healthy Carlos Beltran in center field. The manager also knows about the rest, about how his left fielder hasn’t hit a lick so far this year, how the remaining three-fifths of his pitching rotation is being held together by duct tape. He knows that he has to roll the dice each time he puts someone out at second base. He knows how easily a bullpen can fall apart once the temperature rises during a hazy, hot New York summer.

He knows that there are 100 games left to play.

And now the rookie is here, getting his first taste of New York. First taste of first place. The first of what will hopefully be many years of big hits, of innocent acknowledgements with fans while running out to his position.

Although, if he listened to what his manager told him, if he listens to his experience, follows his example and goes out and just works,if what he told him made a “Lastings” impression … it may be the last time.

Hopefully, he will realize like they’ve all realized, that you’ve got to hold your breath when you come to New York. And that even when you’re in first place halfway through June, it’s when you’re the last team standing at the end of the season that you can have your “shoop” moment. Then, and only then … when over really means over, is when you can stop waiting.

And exhale.