Carlos Beltran didn?t waste any time making his presence felt once he became a Met in January. Of course, you?d expect a guy who?s just signed for $119 million for seven years?about $17 million more than he apparently was willing to settle for to play for the Yankees?to do something significant. Beltran looked around at the Mets? feisty new manager, Willie Randolph, measured recently acquired teammates like Pedro Martinez and Doug Mientkewicz, considered promising youngsters like Victor Diaz, David Wright, and Jose Reyes, and, with no disrespect meant towards veterans like Mike Piazza, Cliff Floyd, and Tom Glavine, announced that this team would be the ?New? Mets. It was a brave statement, considering that the Mets have a history of paying big salaries to big names who implode in spectacular fashion. Anyone who remembers the 1992 team of Vince Coleman, Eddie Murray, and Bobby Bonilla knows what I?m talking about. But for the first week of the 2005 season, things seemed depressingly familiar. The Mets blew their opener at Cincinnati, unable to hold a 6-3 lead in the final innings. They lost four more in Cincinnati and Atlanta. The pitching was dreadful, the bullpen not much better. Mike Piazza wasn?t hitting. Kaz Matsui couldn?t figure out second base. Their theme song could?ve been rewritten from the closing lyrics of the Who?s ?We Don?t Get Fooled Again?: ?Meet the new Mets? same as the old Mets.? The sixth game didn?t start much better. The Atlanta Braves, behind John Smoltz and his 15 strikeouts, led the Mets and Pedro 2-1 in the 8th inning. The Mets were facing the prospect of returning home 0-6, with 50,000 disillusioned fans ready to vent their opinions on the team reconstructed in general manager Omar Minaya?s image. Once again, an off-season of hopes and expectations was quickly giving way to the grim specter of defeat. And then, everything changed. Smoltz hung a slider to Beltran, who ripped it for a two-run homer that sent the Mets to their first win. They haven?t been the same since. The Mets are 18-10 since their 0-5 beginning, their best early showing since 2002. In contrast to the passive, almost lifeless team managed by Art Howe in 2003 and 2004, the Mets under Randolph have become a small-ball playing, opportunistic team that runs, takes the extra base, and helps its often shaky pitchers with solid defense. That?s not to say the Mets will ever be confused with ?Moneyball?: their lead-off hitter, Jose Reyes, refuses to take walks, and has an embarrassingly low on-base percentage. For all their small-balling, the Mets lead the National League with 43 home runs. Cliff Floyd and Mike Cameron, perhaps still steaming over being named in trade rumors for the entire off-season, are blistering the ball. Floyd, the club?s top run producer (.356/8/25) carried the Mets through April with a 20-game hit streak. Cameron is 8-14 with 2 home runs since returning to the lineup from wrist surgery, and has blossomed in the No. 2 spot in the order. Mike Piazza, mired in a horrific slump through most of April, has revived, with 4 home runs in his last 5 games. Unfortunately, he?s only thrown out 4 of 28 base-runners behind the plate, so he remains a liability at catcher. Victor Diaz, who hit a memorable ( if meaningless) game-tying home run last September that basically sent the Chicago Cubs on their way out of the playoff chase, opened the season red-hot, before falling into an 0-21 tailspin. Nevertheless, Diaz, a powerful outfielder who?s drawn comparisons with Manny Ramirez, will need playing time in order to improve, but with Floyd, Cameron, and Beltran all red-hot, patience will be his first lesson. Beltran, whose 6 home runs and all but one of his 23 RBIS have come on Pedro?s starts, hasn?t yet taken off, but he?s hitting .316 and has anchored center field. It?s the pitching (what else) that will determine whether the Mets will be contenders or spoilers by later summer. Only Pedro (4-1. 3.06) has been consistent. Tom Glavine (1-4, 6.87), who was supposed to form a potent 1-2 punch with Pedro, is doing his best to destroy any Hall of Fame hope she may have harbored. Victor Zambrano (2-3, 5.63) is making nobody forget the trade that sent the highly touted Scott Kazmir to Tampa. Kaz Ishii and Aaron Heilman have been equal parts brilliant and unreliable. Kris Benson returned to the rotation with a solid start last week against the Phillies, but the Mets will need a lot more from him. Most importantly, the Mets are taking cues from Randolph, who brings a winning pedigree from years under the Yankees? tutelage. Randolph is not shy about taking risks: last week, he rested Floyd in the midst of his hit streak and played a still-slumping Piazza at catcher on a day game after a night game. Result: Piazza broke out with four hits and two homers, and Floyd? replacement in left, Diaz, threw out a runner at home plate. The Mets can only hope that the right moves in May will turn out to be the right moves in September.