Keith Hernandez looking forward to meaningful Mets games in 2015

The coming Mets season will be the 10th for SNY and its announcing trio of Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling -- a stretch marked by mostly good TV and mostly bad baseball.

So as much as fans are looking forward to the possibility of better times in 2015, so are the men who bring them the games.

"It would be nice to be doing meaningful games," Hernandez said Tuesday at an event to promote Steiner Sports' new line of handwritten essays by athletes over pictures from their careers.

"I'm sure the players feel the same way. To be in August, September, playing games that mean something, that'd be fun."

Hernandez acknowledged the stakes are lower for the announcers compared to players -- "We sit on our butts and talk" -- but he also said there is "absolutely no substitute" for a pennant race, something the Mets last experienced in 2008.

"When you have a better team it is better play and the game is more exciting," said Hernandez, who is famously impatient when watching poor play. "I've gotten better, haven't I? But yeah, I guess I'm a stickler on fundamentals.

"The players are going to make mistakes, but I think the bottom line is, what we're driving at is, meaningful games in August and September. I think it would energize us."

So what are the Mets' chances? Hernandez is cautiously optimistic.

"I think with the decline in offense, hitting, and the rise in pitching, the Mets, that's their strong suit," he said. "If [Michael] Cuddyer can stay healthy, it's a nice addition to the lineup, a right-handed bat, a guy who is a professional hitter.

"They don't need any more guys that can strike out over a hundred times. I've always said: guys that strike out over a hundred times don't drive in clutch runs. So he's a professional bat. I think he'll help. I'm just very hopeful he can stay healthy."

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.