Henderson Leads Mets By Cubs

Rickey Henderson has turned those boos at Shea Stadium into cheers.

All it took was some big hits by him and some wins by the Mets.

Henderson homered for his 1,000th RBI and Al Leiter shut down Chicago for eight innings as New York beat the Cubs 5-1 Sunday night and extended its winning streak to five.

Henderson went 3-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs, raising his average to .325. He walked in the first, homered in the second to reach 1,000 RBIs, drove in another run with an infield single in the fourth and doubled in the seventh.

After that, the 40-year-old outfielder came out of the game and went straight home.

"I think the word I got in the fifth inning is he was aching all over," Mets manager Bobby Valentine said. "We'll see if he can keep that feeling a little longer."

When the Mets were struggling early in the season, fans at Shea turned their ire on Henderson and Bobby Bonilla, two high-priced acquisitions who weren't producing.

"I think he's fabulous," Valentine said. "I think he's getting better. He goes out every day with the same determination and gives the same effort as I think he did 20 years ago."

The Mets, a major league-best 32-13 since an eight-game losing streak dropped them to 27-28 on June 5, remained a half-game behind Atlanta in the NL East and are two games ahead in the wild-card race.

"When you get that confident feeling," Leiter said, "there's happiness, there's smiles, the music's loud. There's just a good feeling. We're really starting to roll."

Leiter (9-7) allowed one run and seven hits in eight innings, struck out seven and walked two before Jason Isringhausen finished. Leiter was taken out after 129 pitches.

"I get sick and tired that we don't have a complete game," he said. "There are other teams that have one. But when you just have the goose egg up there, it's something to write about."

Cubs starter Dan Serafini (2-2) walked five in the first inning, and the Mets took a 3-0 lead without even getting a hit.

"I got in a groove eventually, but after that first inning it was too late," Serafini said.

Serafini wound up allowing five runs four earned and four hits in six innings.

Chicago opened a six-game road trip 0-3 following a three-game winning streak.

"We played against a team that's almost in first place," said Sammy Sosa, 1-for-4 with a strikeout, "but there's still a long way to go."

Henderson opened the first with a walk and advanced when second baseman Jeff Blauser dropped Manny Alexander's throw on Edgardo Alfonzo's grounder.

John Olerud's walk loaded the bases, and the Mets got their first run when Henderson tagged and scored on Mike Piazza's popout to Blauser in short right field.

A walk to Benny Agbayani reloaded the bases, and consecutive walks to Robin Ventura and Melvin Mora produced two more runs.

Gary Gaetti hit an RBI double in the second. Henderson's eighth homer made it 4-1 in the bottom half, and Rey Ordonez scored from second in the fourth when Alexander knocked down Henderson's bouncer up the middle and couldn't come up with it.

There wasn't any scoring after that.

"I'm tired of us talking about being on a winning streak," Valentine said. "We've been a good team all year long and we're building on that."

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