David Wright's new challenge: Making the playoffs

FLUSHING, N.Y.

Standing behind home plate at Shea Stadium, Gabrielle Mileti sobbed.

David Wright of the New York Mets had just stopped where Mileti stood with her husband and 4-year-old son, who is ill with an incurable disease. Wright talked briefly with the family, smiled for photos, then autographed a pair of batting gloves and handed them over.

With a goodbye, Wright moved along to greet more of the fans gathered behind a barrier as the Mets took batting practice before Friday's game with the Philadelphia Phillies.

And the aching emotion of the moment overtook Mileti.

"It's just wonderful that he'd even do this," said Mileti, of New Rochelle, N.Y. "I didn't expect any of that. I'll be a David Wright (fan) the rest of my life."

Hours later, in the quiet of New York's 3-0 loss, Wright reached into his locker to touch a uniform top hanging there.

"Putting on this jersey, especially in this city, you can put smiles on people's faces," Wright said.

Chesapeake's Wright realized that early. One of the first things he did upon becoming the Mets third baseman four years ago was create a charitable foundation.

Wright's eagerness to raise money and give time has him up for baseball's Roberto Clemente Award for public service. (Chesapeake's Michael Cuddyer, of the Minnesota Twins, also is in the running.)

"It's huge," Wright said of his nomination. "Unbelievable."

It is a particular satisfaction of Wright's life off the field. Now, for Wright and his teammates, the need for fulfilling work on the field intensifies again here in September, their cruelest month.

The last time the Mets came this way, epic failure followed. A year ago, they led the National League East by seven games with 17 to play. They lost 12 of the 17, virtually powerless to stem a tide of poor performance and panic.

The Phillies passed the Mets on the last day of the season to win the division. New York missed the playoffs, and dispersed to a winter of wrenching introspection.

Back again in first place - by two games over Philly entering today's doubleheader - the Mets must again deal with the expectation and pressure of pennant-race baseball.

September's beginning has promise: the Mets swept three in Milwaukee before the Phillies' Brett Myers shackled them Friday on three hits over eight innings.

September's ending? Only one will do.

"You work extremely hard during the offseason and spring training and the first 140-whatever games to get to this point," Wright said. "To be in the driver's seat come the second week of September is all you can ask for."

On a personal level, this season already has been one of major achievement for Wright. A .311 career hitter before this season, Wright is "down" at .291. But with 27 home runs, 104 runs batted in and 98 runs scored, Wright is again one of the most prodigious run producers in the game.

He recently became the first Mets player ever to drive in 100 runs four times; that they were Wright's first four full seasons adds to the feat. And in baseball history, only three third basemen have hit at least 25 home runs in four consecutive seasons before they were 26 years old - Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews, Oakland's Eric Chavez and now Wright.

He won't turn 26 until December. Nonetheless, he's old enough to be fifth all-time in Mets home runs - 124 - and to bear a greater brunt of responsibility for the Mets' fate.

"When things kind of went bad last year, it snowballed and we weren't able to cut it off and get on with the next game," Wright said. "I think if we hit a little bump, I think we - me included - will know how to get through it this year."

Wright has naturally slid into a leadership role that's to be expected from the boyish, ubiquitous face of the franchise. To Wright, that means being vocal when vocal is needed. But more so, it means being a consistent, engaged, rock-like presence on the field.

That's why he lashes himself over inevitable failings - forgetting the number of outs as a baserunner, as he did in a game last month, or pressing to improve his .237 average with men in scoring position.

"To me, going out there, being in the lineup every day, playing the game hard, I think guys feed off of that," Wright said. "Those are the guys I follow. I don't think that it's necessarily I have to be the leader on the team. I have to be a leader on the team."

And because it's been that way with Wright since April, interim manager Jerry Manuel insists it stay that way in September. The worst thing the Mets - individually or collectively - can do now is try to recreate themselves, said Manuel, who succeeded the fired Willie Randolph on June 17.

"It's so important that these guys play the way they've played it to this point," Manuel said Friday. "If we need a base on balls, take the walk, don't try to do more than that. If a ball is hit to you, stay fundamentally sound.

"If we do those things... then you have to beat us. And if you beat us, we have to tip our cap."

In the final days of Shea Stadium, as the facade of new Citi Field looms hard against Shea's outfield walls, an image less inviting - an '07 repeat - looms before the home team.

But within the faithlessness of baseball, you tip your cap to at least one Mets' advantage - the faithfulness of David Wright.

Tom Robinson, (757) 446-2518, tom.robinson@pilotonline.com