Evolving Amazins Look to Move Up   The cover of the 2000 New
York Mets media guide shows Robin Ventura being mobbed by
teammates after his heart-stopping grand slam "single" in Game 5
of last year's NLCS against the Atlanta Braves. "Amazin' Again"
it says in big, bold Mets blue-and-orange letters—and this
longtime Shea observer couldn't agree more. After all, if you
had a team that, after 170-plus games, came within two wins of
making it to the World Series, wouldn't you think it "amazin' "
if your general manager spent the ensuing off-season replacing a
good third of the players who brung ya there?  Just how broke
was this team that it needed the kind of winter alterations
engineered by action-obsessed Steve Phillips? Good question—and
one that the Mets GM keeps answering with the kind of
talent/salary business talk that's come to dominate pro sports
of late rather than with any actual baseball logic. For his
part, manager Bobby Valentine—he of the tenuous one-year-left,
"we'll talk more after you've won som