The Mets went from acting like the aging, 1980s Frank Sinatra who croaked out songs and needed a teleprompter to remember the words to the swingin’, fedora-wearing, ’50s-era, care-free Sinatra in the span of three weeks. They’re playing with the confidence of a team that has the world on a string. They have a bounce in their step that they hadn’t had earlier in the year and are completely rejuvenated. Who are these guys?

The Mets go into the second half of the season with a nine-game winning streak, and everything seemingly going right for them. Jerry Manuel has them hustling and playing an aggressive, fearless brand of baseball. I walked into my living room with the Mets game on the TV the other night, and Gary Cohen just got finished saying Carlos Delgado hustled out a double. My head spun 360 degrees around. Carlos Delgado? Hustle? In the same sentence? They’re taking the extra base, beating out would-be double plays and stealing more bases.

Some of the oldsters on the team are now gone. Moises Alou certainly would have helped the team if he could have stayed in the lineup, but it’s probably a good thing that the Mets now know he’s out for the season instead of constantly waiting and hoping for him to come back. There’s a rumor El Duque’s just around the corner but nobody’s really holding his breath. And is it a coincidence that the Mets started winning when Luis Castillo went on the shelf? It certainly helps that players like Damion Easley and Fernando Tatis have found the fountain of youth. And Delgado is stinging the ball almost every at bat. Who knows how long they’ll continue to produce, but it may have to be for the rest of the season because the Mets really don’t have the chips to make a major move at the trade deadline. They only have a few real prospects left, and its doubtful Omar Minaya will give them up for somebody like Raul Ibanez. And they probably don’t have enough of anything to get Xavier Nady.

While the veterans have been playing like youngsters, a litter of kids have stepped up their performance. Mike Pelfrey was the NL pitcher of the week, Oliver Perez is pitching lights out and the whole bullpen has been phenomenal (maybe the magic’s in the beards the whole staff are growing―I haven’t seen this much hair since my daughter’s preschool production of Planet of the Apes). Jose Reyes is back to being the best leadoff hitter in baseball, and David Wright is among the league leaders in RBIs.

The Mets just look like a completely different team right now than the one in April, May and June. Their pitching has been making history (keeping opposing teams to three hits or less in five consecutive games, four shutouts in six games), the fielding has been sharp, their execution has been spot-on and they actually know what situational hitting is now. They have a 17-8 record under Manuel, and playing like a team instead of a collection of lackadaisical individuals. Let’s see if the All-Star break doesn’t snap their momentum. The way they figure it, they’ll need about 43 more wins to secure a playoff spot, so, just like in the movie Major League with owner Rachel Phelps, they’ve put a life-size cardboard cutout of Fred Wilpon in the clubhouse, but will strip off a piece of his clothing after each loss, hoping to keep him as fully clothed as possible and roar into the playoffs.