Bobby Valentine and Mets owner Fred Wilpon both stood in the middle of the Mets clubhouse Saturday, prepared to deliver the most important and most powerful speech of their lives.

Obviously, this wasn't about team spirit or catching the Braves or Phillies. Instead it was about life and death -- or, to be more precise, about the values of courage over fear.

"You cannot let them defeat you," Valentine told his team. His words needed no other translation. The Mets resume play in this troubled season Monday night in Pittsburgh, and in just five days they'll return to Shea and New York City, the site of the worst terrorist attack in America's history.

For that reason -- and because the Yankees are on the road for another week -- the Mets are closer to this tragedy than any major league team. Shea's parking lot is being used for a staging area for rescue vehicles, and the ballpark is less than a mile away from LaGuardia Airport.

That means the skies over Shea are filled with planes on final approach, close enough to see the landing gear and flaps lowered. On Saturday, during a somber workout, no one could resist staring at the planes as they glided just beyond center field, holding the gaze for a half-second longer than usual.

Perhaps it'll never again be possible to admire a commercial jet. Instead, those who sit in the stands at Shea will wonder if the plane is truly on course.

Irrational? Maybe. Certainly understandable. This much is certain to the Mets, though: Nothing is impossible anymore. The players couldn't stop talking about their seven-hour bus ride from Pittsburgh on Wednesday, after their series with the Pirates had been canceled.

Of course, everyone had seen the images of destruction on television, but it wasn't until the Mets crossed the George Washington Bridge, which connects New Jersey to Manhattan, that they fully understood the enormity of the attack.

There was smoke, fires, chaos -- all reigning in lower Manhattan, all of it visible from the bus. John Franco said, "it was totally silent for about five minutes as we were crossing that bridge. No one could believe what they were seeing."

Mike Piazza recalled feeling "physically sick" at the sight of New York's destruction, a horror that lingered with the Mets even through the weekend.

Of course, the Yankees weren't immune, either. They went through a listless batting practice in the Bronx on Saturday and Sunday, preparing to resume their season Tuesday in Chicago.

Joe Torre said, "It was strange driving here, even though it was something you've been doing every day for six years. It's a horrible thing. I don't think things will be normal for a long time, if ever again."

The Yankees and Mets will also be responsible for greater security measures than most other major league teams, for obvious geographical reasons.

The Bombers at least have a few extra days to prepare for the expected huge September crowds. The Mets, however, have no such luxury, and were working furiously to implement what senior vice president Dave Howard called "safety measures that will be both visible and not so visible."

Fans will be subjected to random searches of their bags and belongings, and the stands will be patrolled by both uniformed and undercover members of the New York City police department. The Mets say they will supplement that force with additional security, although Howard declined to say how many officers will actually be present Friday night.

Most significant, though, is the Mets' decision to eliminate thousands of parking spaces near the stadium, in compliance with the police department's directive. No car can be parked within 100 feet of any entrance, obviously to protect the structure from bombs.

Shea's ample parking has long been one of the club's selling points, in stark contrast to the eternal traffic jam at Yankee Stadium. But in this strange new reality, walking a little further from one's car hardly seems like a sacrifice anymore.

It was Yankees general manager Brian Cashman who put the week's disasters into its crispest perspective, when he was asked if the Stadium could ever truly be considered safe again.

After all, the ballpark is one of New York's most pronounced landmarks, brightly lit every single night of the year, even when the Yankees are out of town or during the offseason.

Cashman exhaled long and slow, and admitted, "From now on, whenever we all go to work, we'll wonder, 'What's next?' Every time I kiss my wife and daughter goodbye, you wonder if you'll see them again. That'll be the same for everyone in this country, not just the Yankees or the Mets or people in baseball.

"One thing I know for sure," Cashman said. "My daughter is going to grow up in a different world than I did."

Bob Klapisch of The Record (Bergen County, N.J.) covers baseball for ESPN.com.