Game Face

(AP Photo/Tom Mihalek, File)

With yesterday's news of Billy Wagner's elbow injuries, the Mets are left without their closer for most (and possibly all of) September, and potentially the playoffs. This forces the Mets to have a "closer by committee" system in the bullpen. If they can overcome Wagner's injury, they would join a small fraternity of teams who got by without a dominant closer. Some others include:

- The 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks only got 19 saves out of closer Byung-Hyun Kim. Kim, who sported an ERA approaching 3.00, was also ineffective in the World Series against the Yankees. The D-Backs overcame this bullpen shortcoming, winning in dramatic fashion against Mariano Rivera in the bottom of the ninth in game 7.

- The 2006, the Detroit Tigers got 37 saves from Todd Jones, but he was anything but consistent. Jones recorded 6 losses and had an ERA just under 4.00, but the Tigers were still able to make it to the World Series before falling to the Cardinals.

- In 1993, Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams tallied 7 losses and a 3.34 ERA for the NL Champion Phillies.

While these teams didn't lose their inconsistent closers during the home stretch, Jerry Manuel's crew has the potential to survive a severely flawed NL East, with the potential for Wagner's return in the postseason looming if they can get to that point. There's no underestimating the importance of mental toughness in the postseason, and the next 6 weeks will be test to say the least.

-- Tim Fiorvanti

This lineup is missing a bat. And an arm, or three.

Never was this more evident than today, when the Mets were shut-out and swept by the sub-.500 Houston Astros. New York was 1-10 with runners in scoring position, and left 11 runners on base. They just can't get it done in the clutch.

Perhaps I'm wrong. The Mets survived a sweep against the lowly Padres earlier in the season. Maybe this is just another hiccup.

The problem is, other than their 10-game winning streak, and a subsequent series or two, the Mets have been inconsistent all around. The bats haven't always delivered, the starters have been hot and cold (when healthy), and Billy Wagner and his struggles are symbolic of the way the rest of the bullpen has performed.

This mess is on Omar Minaya. Despite injuries and a new coach, the team started to click, but it was obvious to even the most casual of observer that this team was still in need of some help. And unless Eddie Kunz and a series of other minor leaguers come through in a big way, the Mets will flounder in the middle of the NL East while the Phillies, who were active at the deadline, run away with the division. A lesson learned perhaps.

-- Tim Fiorvanti

4 p.m. came and went yesterday, and the Mets roster remained unaltered. No Manny, no Jason Bay, no Raul Ibanez, no bullpen help. There is potential for a waiver-based deal before August 31st, but in all likelihood, the current roster is what the Mets are looking at for the remaining two months of the season.

There's no sugar coating this. Omar Minaya failed. The price might have been great, but short of Fernando Martinez, there really shouldn't have been any untouchable elements in the Mets system. This team isn't getting any younger, with Pedro, Carlos Delgado and a number of other older veterans who won't be on this team in a year or two. They have the THIRD oldest average player age in MLB. It's always risky to mortgage the future, but there's no telling what other years will bring. The Mets are in contention in a close division, and they should strike while the iron is hot.

Making due with their current roster may be difficult. Despite the level of their recent play, the vulnerability of their bullpen may be the most troubling problem heading towards the home stretch. The second that Billy Wagner (who has been far from perfect this year himself) went out for a game, the bullpen fell apart in the ninth inning against the Phillies.

The starting pitching is scary as well. Pedro Martinez is making his first start in three weeks, and there's no telling how he's going to hold up. John Maine is having rotator cuff trouble. Ollie Perez is had a great July, but there's no way of knowing his consitency.

The outfield situation is a patchwork, to be kind. Fernando Tatis and Endy Chavez are not everyday starting Major League outfielders, and Ryan Church is an unknown variable, dealing with post-concussion symptoms.

This team is in a world of hurt.

So where is the help coming from? The team will likely look towards some of their more advanced prospects to contribute, much in the same way that Nick Evans and Argenis Reyes have been used over the past month. Potentially look for Chris Aguila or Jesus Feliciano, OF's from AAA New Orleans, or closer Eddie Kunz or Fernando Martinez (the gem of the Mets system) from AA Binghamton.

This team may need another miracle.

-- Tim Fiorvanti

Oliver Perez is on fire.
Today, the lefty helped the Mets leapfrog Philadelphia in the NL East by allowing one run in 7 2-3 innings and striking out 12 in the Mets 3-1 win over the Phillies at Shea.
In his last five starts, Perez has allowed just five earned runs over 33 2-3 innings, while striking out 39.
The Mets might want to consider resigning him after all.
— Pete Catapano

After losing 7 of 8 in the middle of May, the Mets have won three straight series', taking two of three from the Marlins, three of four from the Dodgers, and two of three from the Giants.

Pedro Martinez made a very successful return in the second game of the Giants series, going six innings and throwing more than 100 pitches.One of the most promising signs for Pedro is his velocity; he topped out at 92 mph with his fastball, and his breaking stuff had some serious bite.

The Mets head into San Diego for four with the Padres starting tomorrow. They look to beat up on the struggling Pads and keep their momentum rolling, and they're going to need it. After San Diego, the Mets face off with the Diamondbacks (first in the NL West), Josh Hamilton and the Texas Rangers, and the LA Angels (first in the AL West), before two series with the basement dwelling Rockies and Mariners.

The fate of the Mets may very well be tied to two of its more fragile, older players in Martinez and Moises Alou. Martinez has showed promising signs of anchoring down a pitching staff that has been in serious need of one more starter. Alou has suffered from a hernia as well as calf and ankle injuries, and while he may be back in the lineup by the end of the current road trip, his health could go a long way to solidifying the Mets outfield along with Carlos Beltran and the surprising Ryan Church.

The next month will go a long way towards establishing the hierarchy in the NL East. The Marlins have been anything but consistent, losing series' against the Mets and Phillies, and on the verge of losing another to the Braves.

The danger for the Mets is the Phillies pulling away with it. Philadelphia is two games up on the Marlins and four games up on the Mets and Braves. The season is barely one-third of the way done, but these next few weeks could determine if the Mets are a contender or a pretender.

--Tim Fiorvanti

Pedro Martinez, who will have a rehab start tomorrow, will make his first start with team June 3, ESPN is reporting. Pedro has been out with an injured left hamstring since April 1

— Pete Catapano

Scott Kazmir, who was "destined" to be the Mets ace but was inexplicably traded for the mediocre starter Victor Zambrano in 2004, was dominant again last night in his fifth start since coming off the disabled list. In a 7-3 win over Texas, the lefty allowed one run on three hits, while striking out 10.

This season, the 24-year-old is 4-1 with a 1.50 ERA.

Zambrano, meanwhile, went 10-14 in three years with the Mets, and is currently out of the majors.

So, where would the Mets be if their starting rotation included Johan Santana, John Maine, Scott Kazmir and Pedro Martinez? Answer: a lot closer to first place than last place.
— Pete Catapano

Weather permitting, Friday night will kick off the 12th year of the Mets and Yankees facing off in interleague play. Here are ten of the best, worst and strangest moments of the Subway series.

10) David Wright hits a walk-off RBI Single
May 19, 2006: Wright hit the game-winning RBI single off of Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning to score Paul LoDuca, giving the Mets a 7-6 victory over the Yankees.

9) The Yanks score two in the bottom of the ninth off Braden Looper
June 26, 2005: Jason Giambi hits a game winning single to bring home Alex Rodriguez and Tino Martinez, giving the Yankees a 5-4 victory.

8) Armando Benitez walks in the tying run
June 22, 2003: Four walks and a wild pitch from Benitez allow the Yankees to tie the game at 3-3 in the ninth inning. The Yankees would score four times in the eleventh inning, giving them a 7-3 victory.

7) Roger Cedeno steals home
June 29, 2002: Cedeno slid in and avoided the tag of Yankees catcher Alberto Castillo, en route to a blowout Mets victory, 11-2.

6) Baerga wins in a photo finish
June 28, 1998: With Carlos Baerga on third and Brian McRae on first, Yankees rightfielder Paul O'Neill caught a fly ball and then threw to first to try to double off McRae. The umpires ruled that Baerga touched home a fraction of a second before McRae was thrown out, and the Mets won, 2-1.

5) Dave Mlicki shuts out the Yankees in the inaugural Subway series game.
June 6, 1997: Dave Mlicki threw a complete-game shut out to beat the Yankees, 6-0, in the first ever regular season meeting between the Mets and the Yankees.

4) Shawn Estes throws at Roger Clemens, misses.
June 15, 2002: Shawn Estes was put in the awkward position of having to throw at Roger Clemens, whose antics in the 2000 World Series (and regular season) led Mets fans to demand retribution when he came to bat at Shea Stadium. Estes' pitch sailed behind Clemens, but he made amends later, hitting a solo home run off the Yankees starter in an 8-0 Mets win.

3) Robin Ventura acts a fool.
June 11, 2000: As fans waited to see whether or not rain would prevent baseball that day (it did), those remaining in the stands were treated to Robin Ventura, sporting a painted on goatee and a #31 jersey, doing his best impression of Mike Piazza. Ventura ran around the bases, sliding into both second base and home, sending up enormous splashes of water on the tarp-covered, rain-soaked field.

2) Day/Night Multi-Borough Doubleheader
July 8, 2000: In game one of the doubleheader, Dwight Gooden went back to the mound at Shea Stadium, only this time he was wearing a Yankees uniform. Gooden picked up the win, allowing two runs in five innings. Tino Martinez homered and drove in three runs for the Yankees, who won 4-2. Game two, which was at Yankee Stadium, is the more famous of the two games, because of moment number one.

1) Roger Clemens: Professional Headhunter
July 8, 2000: In the first of a series of bizarre events between Roger Clemens and Mike Piazza, Clemens hit Piazza in the head with an 0-1 fastball, likely in retribution for a grand slam that Piazza hit off of Clemens earlier in the year. Piazza had to leave the game, but this wouldn't be the last time that Clemens would throw at him. Next time it would be a bat.

-- Tim Fiorvanti

(Thanks in part to Newsday. Find these moments, and more, in this photo gallery.)

It's hard to look at a 16-15 New York Mets team and call them over-achievers. The team with the second (or third, depending on your source) largest payroll in baseball made waves during the off-season by trading for Johan Santana, but the performance of some of their highest-payed players has been suspect at best.

For example, their clean-up hitter:

Carlos Beltran: .219 BA, 2 HR, 13 RBI, .369 OBP, .390 SLG

And their number five hitter:

Carlos Delgado: .216 BA, 4 HR, 16 RBI, .308 OBP, .362 SLG

The Mets have had some solid production despite the lackluster efforts of these two, from both expected and unexpected sources.

David Wright continues to establish himself as one of the top players in the game, on pace for another 30 home run, 125 RBI season at third base.

Santana has been very solid for an uncertain pitching staff, posting a sub-3.00 ERA. He's showing Mets fans exciting flashes of absolute brilliance between periods of very consistent pitching, and also making Omar Minaya look like a genius (between this and not signing Barry Zito a couple of years ago, this has been a very good year for Minaya)

Billy Wagner is still sporting a trim 0.00 ERA in 12 appearances, notching seven saves thus far while striking out 13. One unearned run and three hits are the only blemishes on his impressive start.

Some of the most surprising contributions, however have come from Ryan Church, a player who was seemingly an afterthought in the trade that sent Lastings Milledge to the Washington Nationals and brought back Brian Schneider (who has also seemingly overacheived, when he's played).

Church's numbers thus far:
.314 BA, 5 HR, 23 RBI, .379 OBP, .508 SLG

Add in the fact that their starting left-fielder, their number two and number five starters, and their starting catcher have all missed significant time this season, and that 16-15 record doesn't look all that bad.

With Brian Schneider (hopefully) healed, Alou finally taking his spot in left field, and Pedro Martinez on the mend, the summer months look promising for the Mets.

-- Tim Fiorvanti

Tragic story from Shea Stadium Tuesday night: A 36-year-old father of two fell from an escalator while leaving the game and died. This sort of thing has happened twice before –- at Shea in 1985 and at Yankee Stadium in 1999.

But in doing our research, we stumbled upon another stadium tragedy that seems to have been overlooked in today’s media reports.

On May 19, 1929, a 17-year-old female Hunter College student and a 60-year-old male truck driver were trampled to death in a Yankee Stadium stampede. Sixty-two others were injured. At a time when more tickets were sold than seats were available, a sudden storm hit the Stadium, sending panicky fans in the right field bleachers to seek shelter.

The International Herald Tribune reports that “ ‘Babe’ Ruth rushed to the open bleacher in an effort the stem the wild rush for shelter. Fighting and pushing his way through the crowd he found the woman crushed beneath the trampling feet. He fought his way back to the field but the woman died in his arms before aid could arrive.” (We, however, couldn’t track down any verification of this part of the story.)

While every team in the majors honored the 61st anniverary of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball's color barrier Tuesday, the Mets took things up a notch by unveiling the Jackie Robinson Rotunda construction at Citi Field. The main entrance to the Mets' new home will contain eight large pictures of Robinson and have an 8-foot statute of his number in Dodger blue. In the above photo, Mets owner Fred Wilpon gives Rachel Robinson, Jackie's widow, a tour Tuesday.

Mets manager Willie Randolph escorts Rachel Robinson, left, widow of Jackie Robinson, and Robinson's daughter Sharon from the field after a ceremony honoring Jackie Robinson before the Mets' game at Shea Stadium against the Washington Nationals on Tuesday.

Photos from the ceremony are here

See a video from the ceremony here

Photos by AP

Here’s a transcript from an interview amNewYork did with former Mets All-Star pitcher Ron Darling as part of our coverage of Shea Stadium's final home opener.

Darling, now a Mets television analyst for SNY, played for the Amazin’s from 1983-91.

What were your first impressions of Shea when you first saw it in person?
The first time I saw it, to me, it was heaven. It was the Holy Grail. It was everything you wanted it to be, because I was 22 years old, just called up to the big leagues and Tom Seaver’s in the locker right across from mine. I just thought I’d gone to heaven. What in my right mind do I deserve to be in this big league ballpark with a big league uniform on?

And then my first Opening Day in 1984, I just always thought was an amazing day. From that time forward, 1984 to now, I’ve always considered … Opening Day day 1 on my lunar calendar.

As far as the new stadium, do you think it’s time for something new for the Mets?
“I’ve said the most difficult part is you’re driving a VW Bug and you’ve got a Maserati in the driveway. It’s just really hard to compare both stadiums. I will say this, the Mets and the Wilpon family have done an amazing thing because I think not since Camden Yards has a ballpark tried to capture the old with the new, and new to the lay person means luxury boxes, it means Wi-Fi, it means more bathrooms, it means sexier food. But for baseball fans like myself, for them to try to encapture what it was like in a neighborhood field to have Ebbets Field and that rotunda for Jackie Robinson, I mean, what other team in baseball has ever thought about doing that?

It seems like the Mets are always in the Yankees’ shadow, and especially Shea has always been in Yankee Stadium’s shadow. Do you think the new stadium will help the Mets compete for respect in New York?
“Things go and come around. When I was playing on this Met team in the ’80s, the Yankees were fighting for a dollar. So things can go and come around. That being said, the history and legacy of the Yankees is without peer. Yankee Stadium has a history like no ballpark in America — I don’t care about Wrigley, I don’t care about Fenway Park, both places I love. To put the Mets up against that, I think you’re always going to come up a little short.

But that being said, maybe it’s a nice time, with these new ballparks, that all that gets washed clean. Maybe it’s a new slate. It’ll being interesting to see how both teams go forward because I think both teams are trying to do what they’ve always done, and the Yankees have always been perennial winners and the Mets have always aspired to that. But I would say now both teams are about the same, and I’m not saying one team is better than the other. But both come in every year with a chance to win, and that’s all you can ask of your ballclubs.

I want to ask what your most memorable moment was at Shea Stadium. I’m guessing you’re going to say 1986, maybe Bill Buckner.
I’m not. Two memories of Shea Stadium: One is the most positive, not even close to any other memory …. My memories are of the people who worked there. … To this day the warmest memories I have are when I threw my last warm-up pitch, I would walk through the bowels of the stadium. Everyone from the lady that was in charge of the room where the wives and girlfriends stayed, to the police officers, security officers, you’d make this gauntlet walk between all these people of about a hundred yards, where they would all shout encouragements, slap you on the back, shake your hand before you went out to the arena. I’ll never, ever forget that because that’s real people working real jobs working real hard, a lot of them working two jobs, caring enough to wish you well in this journey to try to win a ballgame. That to me, is always the warmest memory.

As far as baseball is concerned, the warmest memory I’ve had -- and I’ve only told a handful of people this story -- is that in 1987, I had a no-hitter, I think, through five innings against the Cardinals. We were trying to chase them down. Vince Coleman, with one out, bunted, and I caught the ball, tried to get him out, but I broke my thumb at that time. So I got two more outs, then went to the bench. By that time, my thumb had blown up, so I no longer could pitch, need surgery, the whole thing. So as I was walking out after getting it iced and looked at and tweaked, I was walking out to my car, which was parked behind the apple -- I used to always protect it behind the apple because it was convertible. Terry Pendleton, who hit that famous home run in ’87 off Roger McDowell that beat us that night, hit my car and then hit me. I thought it was kind of funny that I not only broke my thumb that night, but that it was a double-whammy that Pendleton’s home run ended our chances and double-hopped and hit me as I was going to the hospital. “

Photo by Getty Images

April 8th 2008 will forever mark a momentous day, as that day the greatest Internet prank in history was pulled off.

Shea Stadium was Rick Rolled, on OPENING DAY!

Now, for those who aren't familiar with Rick Rolling, it involves sending someone a link disguised as something else, and instead of getting a picture of say, cute animals, you get a video of Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up.'

The Mets started an online contest some weeks back where people could vote for the song that gets played in the 8th inning of Mets home games. Among the choices were Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, and The Monkees. However, some Internet blogs, including awesome Deadspin weekend editor Matt Sussman and Fark, thought it would be a great idea to start a write-in campaign for Astley, as what could be better than some deliciously bad 80s music during the 8th inning.

Lo and behold, Astley received the most votes, but the Mets brass were not pleased with this outcome and stopped short of declaring "Never Gonna Give You Up" the winner. The team plans on playing the top 6 voted songs over the first six home games and will gauge fan participation before naming a winner. Astley's song came blaring out of Shea speakers today during the Mets home opener, and was obviously booed.

It's unlikely we'll hear the vocal stylings of Astley at Shea ever in the future, but seriously, how freakishly awesome is it that a couple of Web sites were able to pull this off.

The other remaining finalists include Bon Jovi’s “Livin on a Prayer,” The Monkees’ “I’m a Believer,” Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Out,” Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” and The Foundation’s “Build Me Up Buttercup.”

Need a Rick Astley fix? Check out this incredible Rick Roll video.

-Lizzy

Ron Swoboda played nine seasons in the major leagues, his first six with the Mets (1965-70). His diving, game-saving catch in Game 4 of the 1969 World Series -- which robbed Baltimore’s Brooks Robinson of an extra-base hit with two runners on – still stands as one of the iconic plays in Mets history.

Here is an interview amNewYork did with Swoboda, now a radio announcer for the Mets' Triple-A affiliate in New Orleans, for our coverage of Shea Stadium’s final home opener. (Check back Tuesday afternoon for an interview with Ron Darling.)

Your rookie season was ’65, Shea’s second season, so it was still brand new. What were your impressions of it then?
I had been in a couple of big league ballparks. I had been in Yankee Stadium as an amateur. I had been in Baltimore Memorial Stadium. I was in the Polo Grounds as an amateur up in New York. Shea was just incredible because it was really higher than all of them. It just seemed so full of expression. They did so many things. The fans there seemed so into the game and happy to see you there, and it didn’t seem as much about winning and losing as it was people were just happy back in ’65 that National League baseball was back in New York and in this beautiful ballpark.

That was the second year of the World’s Fair. The World’s Fair had started in ’64 right across the street from the ballpark. So Shea was there with everything that was happening with a World’s Fair back when World’s Fairs still mattered. So it was pretty electric, the whole scene around Shea Stadium. And we did a lot of visiting of the World’s Fair ground, and because of the World’s Fair, the place was jammed. They drew over three million that year.

It was pretty amazing. And of course, I got to play a little bit in it. And it was difficult if you had been in big league ballparks with big, high backgrounds – their thing was triple level and very high. So if you were in the outfield there, fly balls didn’t often come out of the stands. You had to use the stands as a background. It was difficult to adjust to in the beginning. You could easily lose balls or take bad angles and embarrass the hell out of yourself.

It seems like Shea gets picked on a lot among New Yorkers, especially when comparing it to Yankee Stadium …
I knew Bill Shea pretty well, the guy they named it after. He always liked to tell this story about coming out to the ballpark on the No. 7 train from the city and listening to a couple of people speculating on how the stadium got its name, and one of them said, “I don’t know. It’s named after somebody who died in some war.” He would always tell that story and laugh like hell. That’s kind of an egoless guy. But Bill Shea was extremely important in helping bring National League baseball back to New York. But he was a helluva guy on top of a being a pretty high-octane lawyer.

Knowing the guy they named it for and respecting him and having most of the memories of my little New York Met career were all in Shea Stadium so it holds so much for me. When I go into the place now, you know it doesn’t hold up. Ballparks become economically obsolete before they are architecturally obsolete, and Shea’s probably been economically obsolete for a while now even though it still holds up all right. It was a no-frills kind of a ballpark when they built it.

It seems like Yankee fans are still coming to grips with the fact that their stadium is being torn down. But Mets fans seem to think it’s time for something new. Are you in that group?
I think so. I think it’s so constricted in there. In this day and age, in the economic realities of modern baseball, you really need some place that can help you generate more income. Shea made that a lot more difficult.

Do you still pinch yourself over what the ’69 Mets accomplished?
It surprised me. And everything we clinched that year in ’69, we clinched at Shea Stadium. We clinched the division, we clinched the league, we clinched the World Series at Shea. So that’s another big part of it. We had three pretty interesting champagne celebrations that season in Shea Stadium. You don’t forget that type of stuff. We figured it out, though. We all probably learned something about champagne, which is shoot the New York state, the cheaper stuff, on yourself and drink the good labels.

Your catch in ’69, does it surprise you that all these years later it still stands as one of the great moments in Mets history?
Somebody said, "You spend nine years in the big leagues and play in the World Series, you ought to leave with at least 10 seconds of highlight film." And I think I just made it. I think the total improbability of what was going on with the Mets in ’69 -- and that catch just being one of many things, but it seems to have developed some legs. And for an average player like himself, who wouldn’t have anything like that for a memory if I weren’t lucky enough to be on that ’69 team, it’s pretty cool.

Looking back at the stats, the ’69 Mets didn’t have a great batting average or hit a lot of home runs. Obviously, pitching was a strength. But how do you characterize how this team was able to win a world title?
I think something magical happened. I think it was almost the absolute synergy of a lot of things coming together. Good pitching becoming great pitching after the All-Star break. Donn Clendenon showing up right in the middle of that lineup ready to play and produce some offense. Defense behind great pitching looks a lot better than it is, so we looked like a real good defense and didn’t need to score many runs. And I think we had the advantage that year of kind of coming out of the weeds. I think we snuck up on people. The absolute easiest, most exciting baseball I played in my life was ’69.

There is a difference between letting things happen and trying to make them happen. And letting them happen is a helluva lot easier. And when you don’t have the responsibility or the weight of expectation, we seemed to exist in that sort of nexis of all of that.

How often do you make it back to Shea?
I get back a fair amount. I enjoy going up there and watching them play. I’m a fan. I’m a real fan. And it’s cool now that we (the New Orleans Zephyrs) are the Triple-A affiliates, which is great because I get to see some guys that go to the big leagues and get to give it a try in the show. It’s fun, and it’s neat. I’m a Met fan. I care what happens to them.

What else do you remember about Shea?
The other thing you can’t say too much about is the level of expression they allowed the fans back then. Banner Day was incredible. We were on the field for that. We were out there laughing and looking at the banners and judging them. And then they took all the banners and hung them on the facades. All those decks had that stuff up there. The fans back then had an incredible level of expression that was allowed. You can’t do any of that now, and I think that’s sad. You don’t get to know the fans as well. We felt like we knew the fans, and they knew us in Shea.

We were the biggest babysitters in the city because you could give a kid a few bucks and send him out to Shea. It was a very safe area, and they could get on the train, get off the train, get home and no problems. So we had this tremendous relationship with the fans at Shea Stadium. I can’t imagine it being like that anywhere else.

“You felt like you knew these people. Back then, you weren’t making a whole hell of a lot so you were not on some other socioeconomic plane that exists right now. You weren’t afraid of your fans. It was a good time. We were very, very lucky to have our time at that time.

(Photo Compilation by Tim Fiorvanti)

If more than 8,000 Internet users get their way, Mets fans will be “Rickroll’d” at least 81 times this year.

They’re trying to turn Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” into the eighth-inning sign-along anthem that will be played at all Mets home games. Members of the Web site Digg, whose users drum up support for Web links by voting on them, are pushing the song as a write-in candidate on a Mets.com voting page.

“Rickrolling” happens when a link to a Web video, purportedly of another subject, actually plays Astley’s 1980s pop hit.

Other options for Mets fans include “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi and “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond. Voting ends Monday at noon, so if your heart’s been achin’ for some Rick Astley, vote early and often.

The Mets home opener is Tuesday against the Phillies.

-- Tim Fiorvanti

Johan Santana started earning his $137.5 million yesterday, fooling batters and sprinting for grounders in a three-hit performance during the Mets’ 7-2 win yesterday.
While the new ace stood tall for seven innings, the Mets’ offense was mostly quiet except for a tour-de-force rip through 10 at bats at the top of the fourth.
The opposing pitcher was 6-foot-9 former NBA player Mark Hendrickson.
The Mets' six-run pileup began with a sharply hit ball to left from the bat of Carlos Beltran, who reached second base easily. Carlos Delgado, effective even without a hit in three at bats yesterday, then discriminated through five pitches to earn a base on balls.
Beltran chugged home when Angel Pagan laced a curving liner down the third base line and Delgado scored when Ryan Church singled to right. Catcher Brian Schnieder and Santana then came up and went down for the first two outs of the inning.
That left leadoff man Jose Reyes with a two-out challenge. The shortstop answered with a single to left that scored Pagan. Luis Castillo then walked to load the bases and open the way for David Wright’s three-run double.
It ended where it began — with Beltran, who lined out to center field top end the volcanic inning.
Things fell into place for the Mets on opening day.
— Max

Woo hoo! A chance to write about a Midwest team in reference to New York.

The Amazin’s are set to play the Jon Garland-less White Sox in Memphis, Tenn., next spring in the second ever civil rights exhibition game. The March 29 game will be preceded by a panel discussion on civil rights in baseball led by Harvard University’s Charles Olgetree.

The first such event was held this year pitted the Cardinals against the Indians, who got pounded.

“We decided to make it an annual event,” commissioner Bud Selig told the Associated Press. “It was a proud moment for baseball.”

--Emily Ngo