Mets will go as far as pitching lets them

      They return the reigning major-league hits king (Lance Johnson) and the man who last season set a major-league record for home runs by a catcher (Todd Hundley).
      They have one of the game's most talented young shortstops (Rey Ordonez) and recently acquired a sweet swinger (John Olerud) who once flirted with .400.
      So, could this be the year the New York Mets start winning and stop being the butt of David Letterman's jokes?
      Well, the answer probably doesn't lie with the aforementioned players. Instead, it rests with the pitchers for the Mets, who are participating in Big League Weekend at Cashman Field until Monday.
      "I think we have a pretty good team," said New York manager Bobby Valentine. "The offense is pretty stable, but I think we'll be as good as every team in baseball, and that (means) we'll be as good as our pitching."
      That pitching was pretty decent Saturday night when Bobby Jones and five relievers held the potent Seattle Mariners to four hits in the Mets' 4-0 exhibition victory before a Cashman crowd of 11,310.
      However, those pitchers walked eight batters, and before Saturday's game, New York's staff had compiled a 5.08 ERA this spring. That's not a good sign for a team that last year had its sixth straight sub-.500 season (71-91) despite Hundley's 41 homers, Johnson's 227 hits and Ordonez's often spectacular fielding.
      "Pitching's the key to any team's success, and we're no exception," Valentine said. "We're playing the Seattle Mariners, who didn't make the playoffs last year (even though) they scored 6.2 runs a game. So pitching is the name of the game."
      -- SLEEPLESS IN VEGAS -- Seattle completed its two-day Big League Weekend stint with two losses and almost as many errors (6) as hits (8).
      Among the struggling hitters were Ken Griffey Jr. (0-for-7), Joey Cora (0-for-5) and Edgar Martinez (1-for-7).
      -- FINLEY POWERS PADS -- In the afternoon game at Cashman, Steve Finley homered to right field in his first two at-bats as the San Diego Padres beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-4.
      Facing Red Sox starter Tim Wakefield, Finley (2-for-3, two walks) hit a two-run shot in the first inning and a solo blast, his fifth of the spring, in the third.
      -- STARS GET TWO -- The Triple-A Stars, who open their season Thursday at Cashman, received two prospects Saturday when the Padres -- Las Vegas' parent club -- completed a four-player trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
      San Diego sent outfielder Mark Smith and pitcher Hal Garrett to the Pirates in exchange for outfielder Trey Beamon and catcher Angelo Encarnacion. Both spent most of last season at Triple-A Calgary.
      -- NO BIG MAC -- Oakland slugger Mark McGwire will not be at Cashman today when his Athletics teammates face San Diego in a Big League Weekend game.
      San Diego and Oakland will play at 12:05 p.m. today in the first game of another day-night doubleheader. The Mets play the Red Sox in the second game at 7:05.