METS SEE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Just outside of Citi Field in the borough of Queens, two billboards hover over the subway line that brings New York Mets fans to the ballpark.

One billboard asks the team’s owners to leave. The other simply demands: Sell the Team. A Mets fan from New Hampshire raised $6,700 through Kickstarter to vent his spleen.

The Mets have had six consecutive losing seasons and haven’t been to the playoffs since 2006.

They’ve only appeared in the postseason once in 14 years. Hence the fan anger.

But the Mets are off to a good start in this young baseball season. Their 7-5 win over the Miami Marlins on Thursday night was their fifth straight victory and their 7-3 record leads the National League East. The five-game winning streak is their longest since 2013.

They battled back from deficits twice against the Marlins, who grabbed an early two-run lead on Giancarlo Stanton’s home run in the first inning. Lucas Duda had three hits for the Mets, including an RBI single in the seventh that put them ahead to stay. Wilmer Flores hit a three-run homer for the Mets in the fifth.

Maybe those billboards helped focus the players. The Mets are 4-0 at home.

Whether they can sustain their play is an interesting question. Both the Marlins and the Washington Nationals are struggling, with the Nationals a preseason favorite to reach the World Series. The Atlanta Braves, widely considered to be a disaster, are 6-3. The Philadelphia Phillies haven’t shown much.

Rest assured that Mets ownership isn’t going anywhere. That’s just not happening. The team? Well, as the Mets used to say a long time ago, Ya gotta believe.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .