31: Friday, July 26 vs Cardinals

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to 1986 Weekend at Shea Stadium. We are saluting the most recent world championship in Mets history between now and Sunday and we're asking some folks associated with that season to remember to remove the Shea Final Games Countdown numbers from the right field wall. It's appropriate that we bring some '86ers in here because this seasonlong tribute, after all, is the countdown like it oughta be.

If you needed to pinpoint when the buildup to 1986 began to take hold, you would have to look to 1984, the year the Mets shook off the dust of several consecutive second-division finishes and began to contend in earnest for the N.L. East crown. That was when Shea Stadium began to shake, too, with the fierce belief by Mets fans that this team was going somewhere.

Nobody represented the crossroads of hope in the stands and the inspiration for it on the field like three young men who decided to express their belief one letter at a time. That letter was a K and their place was the left field corner from which they waved their Ks — much as National League batters waved at the pitches that resulted in K after K in 1984.

The guys who founded the K Korner are here tonight: Dennis Scalzitti, Bob Belle and Neil Kenny. And joining them to remove number 31…who else but the pitcher who kept them so busy by hanging his shingle out at Shea that summer and for a decade after that, Doctor K himself? Welcome back to Shea Stadium the 1984 National League Rookie of the Year, the 1985 National League Cy Young Award winner and the ace of those 1986 World Champion New York Mets, Dwight Gooden.

30: Saturday, July 27 vs Cardinals

Ladies and gentlemen, many were the hands that contributed to building a world champion at Shea Stadium in 1986, but no two pair of them were steadier than those that built the team and those that guided it.

To remove number 30, we welcome home two gentlemen who came from Baltimore, saw what Shea Stadium could be like when a World Series was won here in 1969 and decided to try it for themselves 17 years later. The general manager of the 1986 World Champion New York Mets, Frank Cashen and the manager of the 1986 World Champion New York Mets, Davey Johnson.

29: Sunday, July 26 vs Cardinals

We are excited, ladies and gentlemen, to be joined by a group of Mets who contributed to one of the two greatest achievements in club history. They were and will forever be champions…1986 World Champion New York Mets. A few of their teammates have come home to Shea this season and removed ceremonial numbers from the right field wall, and we have a hunch that a few more will make it back here before 2008 is out.

Tonight, we have ten men who proudly wear the rings they earned 22 Octobers ago.

The clutch-hitting backup catcher on the '86 Mets, say hello to old friend Ed Hearn.

A ten-game winner during the regular season, he is the pitcher of record on the winning side in the most famous game in Mets history, Game Six of the 1986 World Series, Rick Aguilera.

His walkoff, extra-inning grand slam home run electrified Shea Stadium on June 10. He would go on to homer in the World Series, too: Tim Teufel.

As sound defensively as they came at short, a fixture in the infield on those great Mets teams of the '80s, please welcome back Rafael Santana.

A rookie in 1986, he played with the steely nerve of a veteran when it counted most. Raise your cup and show your support for the man they called World, Kevin Mitchell.

No lefty was a tougher assignment for National League hitters in 1986 or, as he proved in October, that postseason. An 18-game winner for the world champs, ladies and gentlemen, Bobby Ojeda.

You know his voice now. You knew his right arm then, and was it ever right, to the tune of 15-regular season wins and two terrific outings in the World Series. Direct from the SNY booth, say hi to Ron Darling.

He was an All-Star starting pitcher in 1986, but it was in a World Series relief role that he truly earned his Met stripes for all time. His middle-innings appearance changed the tide of the seventh game and set the stage for the second world championship in Mets history. All the way from Hawaii, please welcome Sid Fernandez.

Nobody was grittier, nobody was guttier and, for that matter, nobody among the regulars had a higher batting average in 1986 than the second baseman from your World Champion Mets. Give it up for him as he always did for you…Wally Backman.

And finally, to remove number 29, he was the third baseman on those 1986 New York Mets, he was the comeback player of the year in the National League and he demonstrated some of the greatest never-say-die determination baseball has ever seen. The Most Valuable Player of the 1986 World Series, returning to Shea Stadium as a Met for the first time since the night of October 27, 1986, please give your warmest home-team welcome to Ray Knight.

Numbers 34-32 were revealed here.

At week's beginning, I questioned the efficacy of the Mets “watch parties” promoted by bars here and there. Well, I just came home from one and have to say they can be plenty of fun.

They give you something to do while the Mets aren't scoring.

The occasion was the launch of everybody's favorite book — surely it will be yours if you purchase a copy — Mets By The Numbers. Authors Jon Springer and Matt Silverman were there along with several members of the MBTN community who double as friends of FAFIF. A good time was had by all who weren't paying close attention to what was transpiring in Atlanta.

Which was absolutely nothing, save for the valiant, unsupported pitching of Johan Santana who must not have heard this is how we treat our aces.

Because I was deep into chicken wings and conversation, I didn't get a good look at John Smoltz, though after two decades, I think I've seen all I ever need to see of that mangy old goat. Baseball-Reference says Smoltz is a few games over .500 versus the Mets. I'm sure he's 500 games over and maybe we've won a few. It always looks worse when you're 2-3 in your bounceback season, but man did the Mets do anything today other than inspire us to order another round of Black & Tans?

The Braves aren't The Braves anymore, but they're still the Braves. I hope I've made myself clear. If I haven't, this is sort of what I mean: When the Mets go out and make a move, even a really good move, the Braves go out and match or trump it.

• In the winter of '02, as we're high-fiving over the imminent contributions of Robbie Alomar and Mo Vaughn, they get Gary Sheffield.

• Three years later, as we are ascending the ranks thanks to Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran, they manage to come up with Tim Hudson.

• Last summer, moderately jubilant that we have secured the pennant drive aid of Luis Castillo, they go out and grab Mark Teixeira, who was re-signed in January for exactly one year (whereas, as my partner so accurately put it, we filled a firehose with money and blasted Luis green in the face).

This offseason, the offseason of Santana, the Braves didn't match Johan. You don't match Johan. It was all they could do to replace Andruw Jones with Mark Kotsay. But they keep reviving bleeping John Smoltz. John Smoltz won't age. John Smoltz won't fall to pieces. Every series you turn around, John Smoltz is waiting to face the Mets. This was his 69th appearance lifetime against us, his 41st start. Both are career highs. His first start was at Shea Stadium in 1988, back when Rick Astley was riding high and the Soviet Union was at least riding. He won then, he wins now. He will, nuts to the knots behind his shoulder, keep winning against the Mets at Turner Field, at Citi Field, at whatever succeeds Citi Field. The John Smoltz Memorial Classic they'll call it. Buy a brick before they're all gone.

When it comes to pitching, John Smoltz knows his onions.

On our side of the fence, the Mets clearly aren't clicking, save for Santana and Church. Let's hope they can resist the pull of their new teammates and their old karma. It's already begun to suck Schneider and Pagan into that stale and dismal vortex that seems unchanged from last September, the one that makes you forget we're only five games into 2008. Funny, I thought that's what the Black & Tans were for.

34: Tuesday, July 22 vs. Phillies

Ladies and gentlemen, the unofficial motto of Shea Stadium for much of its life has been You Gotta Believe. How appropriate then that a man who inspired belief worldwide stepped into this ballpark on an autumn day in 1979 and brought with him, as he put it, “a message of faith and love.”

That man was Poland's Karol Wojtyla, known far and wide from 1978 until his death in 2005 as Pope John Paul II. He came to Shea Stadium in the second year of his papacy, acknowledging “the special character of this metropolis” and urging a predominantly youthful audience that “a city needs a soul if it is to become a true home for human beings.” Whatever your faith, it's a message for all New Yorkers to live by.

As we begin the second half of our final season in this ballpark, we remember the historic visit of the Holy Father to Shea Stadium on October 3, 1979. To commemorate it, we are honored to be joined by New York's Edward Cardinal Egan, who will remove number 34 from the right field wall.

33: Wednesday, July 23 vs Phillies

Ladies and gentlemen, from now until there is no more Shea Stadium, baseball will be the only order of business on this site. But as many of you know, last week Shea demonstrated more of its multipurpose versatility. Put more specifically, it showed one final time that this house knows how to rock.

The Who. The Police. Simon & Garfunkel. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. Elton John. Eric Clapton. Janis Joplin. Jethro Tull. Grand Funk Railroad. The Rolling Stones. And finally, Billy Joel. These were the headliners who made musical history at Shea Stadium these past four decades.

But before them, there was one act. And everybody who has ever played Shea Stadium bows to them and their impact on music.

There's nothing you can do that can't be done, nothing you can sing that can't be sung and nothing you can say except…the Beatles.

To take down number 33, ladies and gentlemen, Shea Stadium is proud to present, as it did in 1965 and 1966, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney.

32: Thursday, July 24 vs Phillies

As a pitcher's park, ladies and gentlemen, Shea Stadium will never be mistaken for a seat of power, but it has had a longstanding relationship with those who have resided in America's most famous seat of power. This afternoon we wish to recall those White House denizens who graced Shea with their presence.

During the 1969 World Series, the Mets were proud to welcome two New Yorkers in particular, the former first lady of the United States and her eight-year-old son. To represent the memory of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and John F. Kennedy, Jr., we welcome the daughter of the 35th president of the United States, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg.

In the late 1980s, after settling in the New York metropolitan area, this former president was a regular visitor to Shea Stadium. Sports had always been one of his passions and he held a particular fondness for baseball. To represent the memory of Richard M. Nixon, we welcome the son-in-law of the 37th president of the United States, Edward Cox.

Joining our special guests in removing number 32 from the right field wall, we have the man who threw out the first ball of the season in 1971 when he was the United States' ambassador to the United Nations — at the time, his uncle G. Herbert Walker was on the Mets' board of directors — and again in 1985 when he served as vice president of the United States. He would go on to the presidency and still knows some people in the White House. Ladies and gentlemen, the 41st president of the United States, George Herbert Walker Bush.

And to make it a truly federal fab four, we welcome the only sitting president who ever visited Shea Stadium. He was with us the night Jackie Robinson's 42 was retired throughout baseball and he has been back from time to time since taking up residency in Chappaqua. Ladies and gentlemen, the 42nd president of the United States, Bill Clinton.

Numbers 40-35 were revealed here.

I don't know what the heck a rulebook expert like Bobby Valentine would have made out of what just happened in Atlanta. I don't know what the rulebook even says regarding a mess like that. But sometimes the best thing to do is put the rulebook aside and work it out like 12-year-olds would have — eventually — on the sandlot.

Which is what — eventually — happened.

1. OK, the ball was trapped. Bad call by Bruce Dreckman.

2. OK, Angel Pagan clearly passed Ryan Church on his way to a cancelled rendezvous between his foot and home plate.

3. OK, but Church had to stop and tag up once Dreckman's fist went up. He can't first assess whether random baserunners are speeding past his position.

And so … you could … but then again … and how about … You know what? Atlanta, get back on the field. Met runners, come here. Not you, Church — you go home. Pagan, you go stand on third. And we're not gonna talk about it anymore. Play ball already. I SAID WE'RE NOT GONNA TALK ABOUT IT ANYMORE!

You know what? Fair enough.

I'm only left with one question: Why do you never see both managers talking something over with the umpires? Would Cox and Randolph automatically start spitting on each other or come to blows? Aren't the arguments they'll make the same whether or not the other guy's in attendance? And isn't the explanation the same for both of them?

Ah, the mysteries of baseball.

Update: Tomorrow's Santana-Smoltz, shades of Pedro-Smoltz three years ago. All I'd like to commit to memory about today's crapfest is the promise of the game coming tomorrow, which I suppose kind of says it all.

Last night, en route to the rainout, Kevin Burkhardt interviewed T#m Gl@v!ne. It wasn't to check in on the wife and kids.

The transaction was predictable. Kevin, who I think does a very good job making something out of what could be a very superfluous role, tossed him an “I have to ask you this” softball about the inglorious end of his mixed-bag Mets career. Gl@v!ne spun into damage control mode with all the aplomb of a Mitt Romney or a Joe Biden demonstrating the kind of political skills that got each of them so far in his respective presidential bids.

Paraphrasing, Gl@v!ne said people were upset with him because he didn't say he was devastated…and reminded us that he and Christine have been busy fighting the scourge of childhood cancer and he understands what real devastation is, but sure he was upset, it was a lousy start, he couldn't sleep.

Thanks for clearing that up, big guy.

Burkhardt's question was a little awkward, making it sound as if millions of us had asked ourselves last September 30, “gee, do ya think T#m is devastated?” when in reality it was Gl@v!ne himself who introduced the d-word into the Met lexicon. We didn't care that you didn't say you were devastated. We were annoyed, maybe more than annoyed on top of how livid we were over your crappy pitching, that you said you weren't devastated. It's not a fine difference.

Once a person has casually brought up his admirable work on behalf of aiding the youngest victims of a terrible disease, he makes us look small for questioning any of what we perceive as his shortcomings in something so silly (yet strangely so lucrative) as baseball and its attendant reactions. But we're not biting. You say you didn't sleep much after that final game? Welcome to the rest of us, T#m. We have families. We have concerns. We — surprise, surprise — have lives outside the Mets. Yet we were whatever it was you said you didn't say you were. And we weren't compensated lavishly for any of it.

Old news, old wounds at this point. My only real interest in invoking Gl@v!ne these days is to hope Johan Santana devastates him and his teammates Sunday afternoon. Still, with Friday night rain having given me the void in which to contemplate it clear into Saturday morning, I do wonder if it could have been different there at the finish.

How?

Alternate History 1:

T#m Gl@v!ne pitches valiantly, the Mets lose, 9/30/07

We write of him something like…

You can't blame Glavine for this. Maybe for the two previous starts, but he came through like the pro and the Hall of Famer he is Sunday and I appreciate him more now than I did when he won his 300th, when he beat the Dodgers and Cardinals last fall. Yes, his two previous starts were killers, but whatever happens now — even if he returns to, yeech, Atlanta — we and he can go in peace. It hasn't been for naught.

Alternate History 2:

T#m Gl@v!ne pitches brilliantly, the Mets win, 9/30/07

We write of him something like…

So that's why we signed Tom Glavine a half-decade ago. So that's why you invest in two Cy Youngs and 242 career wins. So that's why you cast aside a generation of enmity and hand someone like that the ball every five days for five years. So that's why we're going to Philadelphia Monday afternoon for a one-game playoff. So that's why so many of us were wrong about this man.

Alternate History 3:

T#m Gl@v!ne pitches as he did, reacts differently, 9/30/07

We write of him something like…

Glavine sucked, but at least owned up to it. Geez, I didn't think anybody could look worse than I feel right now, but he appears to have taken this debacle pretty hard. I don't know that it helps matters — no, actually, I do; it doesn't — but as a footnote, it doesn't hurt to know that at least one of these players understands the dimensions of a disaster like this. It's almost like Tom is bearing the burden for the rest of us. Maybe he wasn't Manchurian after all.

There are better things worth imagining.

40: Tuesday, July 8 vs Giants

Ladies and gentlemen, as we welcome the team formerly known as the New York Baseball Giants into Shea Stadium, we are reminded of the links the Mets share with their forebear whose history is all too often overlooked when discussing the development of baseball as our national pastime and our Metropolitan passion. Look no further than the orange NY the Mets wear on their caps to understand that the road to Shea Stadium truly wound through the Polo Grounds, and that road began to take shape long before 1962. It dates to the 19th century and wraps around names like John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, Bill Terry, Carl Hubbell, Mel Ott and Monte Irvin to name just a few of the New York Giant greats.

Yes, the Mets and Giants, as the only two National League entries to explicitly represent the City of New York on a going basis, can be said to have sprouted from the same family tree. Yet it is just as true that they have grown apart over the years. Mets management looks forward to rectifying this historical oversight at Citi Field with the opening of the William A. Shea New York Mets Hall of Fame and National League Museum, an institution that will celebrate the rich heritage of the Mets, the Giants, the Dodgers, the Cubans, the Bushwicks, the Bridegrooms and almost every team that made a mark on Big Apple baseball. It will, in fact, be home to our own beloved Home Run Apple, on display forever more for fans to reach out and touch. It will stand as a symbol that where New York baseball heritage is concerned, the Apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

That said, the New York Mets and the San Francisco Giants are clearly separate entities and their shared history is that of opponents. And at no time in the 46 seasons that they have played each other has their competition cut so close as it did in October of 2000, when the Mets played and defeated the Giants in the National League Division Series, going ahead and clinching those playoffs right here at Shea Stadium.

To recall that most memorable of Mets-Giants showdowns, we have the two standout players from eight autumns ago.

• An instant fan favorite, he inscribed his name into New York postseason baseball history with a 13th-inning home run that turned the tide in that series. It was one of many dramatic hits he collected in four seasons as a Met, but none was bigger. Please welcome the outfielder from Honolulu, Hawaii and the inspiration for Benny Bean coffee, Benny Agbayani.

• Joining Benny to peel number 40 from the right field wall was a solid, occasionally spectacular starting pitcher for the Mets for eight years, including an All-Star season in 1997. The game with which he is indelibly associated, however, is Game Four of the 2000 NLDS when he threw a one-hit shutout against the Giants and secured the Mets a berth in that year's league championship series. A pretty fair righthanded pitcher from Fresno, California in his own right, say hello to Bobby Jones.

39: Wednesday, July 9 vs Giants

A great tradition at Shea Stadium in its first two decades, ladies and gentlemen, was the annual celebration of Old Timers Day. As the Mets were too new for too many Old Timers of their own, it always gave the club great pleasure to welcome back great baseball stars of the past, no matter what uniform they wore in their previous lives. In that sense, no ballpark in America could claim a better appreciation of baseball history than Shea Stadium.

One of those Old Timers Days in particular was a very special occasion. On July 16, 1977, the Mets crowned their ceremonies with a salute to New York baseball royalty, the four centerfielders who defined the position in the city before the Mets were born. It was a breathtaking moment to watch these four men, legends all, enter the field of play through — where else? — the center field fence.

Two of those centerfielders, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, sadly are no longer with us. But two are and both grace us with their presence today to remove number 39 one position over, in right field. One was a Giant, one was a Dodger, both were Mets and both mean the world to millions of baseball fans. With them is the songwriter who was inspired by a photograph of their appearance that Saturday afternoon to compose a tribute that turned into one of baseball's most famous musical odes.

Ladies and gentlemen, give a great big Shea Stadium welcome as they enter once more through the centerfield fence to the Say Hey Kid, Willie Mays, the Duke of Flatbush, Duke Snider and the author of “Willie, Mickey and the Duke,” Terry Cashman.

38: Thursday, July 10 vs Giants

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to this break in the action at Shea Stadium. There will be no additional fee should this game go into extra innings, but we will have to go a long way to match the bargain the fans at Shea Stadium received when the Mets and Giants matched up on May 31, 1964.

That was a Sunday and, as was the custom in those days, there was a doubleheader. One game ended. Another game began. And it continued. And continued. And continued some more.

Thirty-two innings of baseball were played at Shea that afternoon, evening and night, twenty-three of them in the second game. A day of baseball that began shortly after 1 P.M. ended at nearly 11:30. Another half-hour or so, and the Mets and Giants would have finished off May and played into June.

Needless to say, a lot of players saw action on May 31, 1964. We have several of them here today to remove number 38 from the right field wall.

The starter and winner for the San Francisco Giants in the opener, he's a Hall of Famer and has many friends and admirers here in New York. Ladies and gentlemen, the Dominican Dandy, Juan Marichal.

From the nightcap, the starter for the Mets, a pitcher who appeared in 62 games that season, setting a workload record that would stand for quite some time, Bill Wakefield.

An outfielder who hit .300 for the Mets in '64, his three-run homer in the seventh tied the score at six all and was the reason so many Sunday dinners went uneaten in the Metropolitan area that night. Say hi to Joe Christopher.

When a game goes long, plenty of pitchers take the ball, but usually one has to stay in and take one for the team. That job in this marathon went to the righty who gave manager Casey Stengel nine innings of relief. It was experience like this that helped make him such a valuable pitching coach in later years. Welcome home to Shea Stadium Galen Cisco.

If you think a day of baseball that lasts 32 innings can take it out of you, you're probably right. For one man who played that very long day, it would be his final day in the majors. Give a nice round of applause to one of the Mets' pitchers from the nightcap, an original Met, Craig Anderson.

And finally, as a bookend, we have another Hall of Fame pitcher, the winner in Game Two. He contributed ten innings in relief and though he might have had a little help from under the bill of his cap in settling matters that Sunday night, it was getting late and nobody complained. Please greet one of the greats of his time, Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry.

37: Friday, July 11 vs Rockies

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We hope you're enjoying the opener of this final series before baseball's All-Star break. The National League squad this year will be managed by Rockies skipper and former Met Clint Hurdle and we wish Hondo luck in securing home field advantage for the senior circuit in the 2008 World Series, wherever it happens to be played.

The All-Star Game has always held a certain magical spell over fans, particularly the young ones who thrill to see, for one night, all the greats of the game on the same field, especially the players from his or her favorite team on such a big stage.

To remove number 37 from the right field wall, we've assembled a galaxy made up of some of the All-Stars who have represented the Mets through the years. Joining us tonight:

• Twice the Mets' representative at midsummer classics, he rejoins the Mets payroll in 2011: Bobby Bonilla.

• Ten wins by the Fourth of July made him too good for Tommy Lasorda to ignore, welcome back 1978 National League All-Star Pat Zachry.

• He was the last Met to win 20 games in one season and, en route to that total, was called on to join the N.L. stars in Wrigley Field. Say hi to 1990 Mets All-Star, Long Island's own Frank Viola.

• A two-time Cy Young winner in the American League, he came to the Mets and demonstrated some of the best control the game had ever seen in 1994, winning 14 while walking only 13. No wonder he was an All-Star that season, Bret Saberhagen.

• He is co-holder of the Met record for most home runs in a single season and was named to the National League All-Star team in 1996 and again in 1997. One of the most popular Mets of the '90s, give a warm welcome to Todd Hundley.

• And closing out our All-Star salute is one of the great closers in Mets history. Best known for closing out the last Mets world championship, he held onto his glove in the 1983 and 1984 midsummer classics. Let's hear it for the southpaw who pitched forever. Ladies and gentlemen, Jesse Orosco.

36: Saturday, July 12 vs Rockies

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen, on this late Saturday afternoon, scheduled as it was to accommodate our friends at Fox television. Because the Mets and Rockies are their Game of the Week, we are able to welcome back to Shea an announcer who honed his craft and became one of the best in the business during his sixteen years as a Mets broadcaster, a tenure highlighted by his work during the 1986 championship run.

A popular voice in New York and eventually everywhere — you might even say that oh baby, they love him — we have asked Tim McCarver to step out of the Ralph Kiner Television Booth for a few moments to remove number 36 from the right field wall. And to accompany him, we have three of his fellow announcers from that golden era of Mets baseball:

• He was Tim's and Ralph's partner in the Channel 9 booth from 1983 to 1989 and described the last out of the '86 division-clincher. Give a warm Shea Stadium welcome to Steve Zabriskie.

• He called one thrilling moment after another from the WHN radio booth alongside Bob Murphy in 1986 and later worked with Timmy on TV. One of the most recognizable voices in all of sportscasting, Gary Thorne.

• And a longtime colleague of Tim's who became known to Mets fans over SportsChannel, Fox Sports New York and MSG. Won't you make Shea Stadium rock one more time for Fran Healy?

35: Sunday, July 13 vs Rockies

It was 31 years ago this evening, ladies and gentlemen, that New York experienced a night like no other in modern times, a night literally and figuratively darker than any other. It was the night of the 1977 blackout and, wouldn't you know it, it plunged Shea Stadium into darkness smack in the middle of a game between the Mets and the Cubs.

To commemorate that most unusual event in Shea Stadium history, we've gathered some eyewitnesses…well, they'd have been eyewitnesses if they could have seen what was going on.

From the Mets bullpen, he was as in the dark as anyone else a little after nine o'clock that night, but his pitching always brought a little light to the situation. A terrific reliever and longtime member of the Mets organization, he helped engineer the Colorado Rockies' amazing pennant drive last season as their pitching coach, please give a warm hand to Bob Apodaca.

Umpiring from behind home plate and with no choice but to suspend the game after an hour-and-a-half when it became obvious the lights were not coming back on anytime soon, say hi to longtime National League ump Harry Wendlestedt.

On the mound and in his windup in the bottom of the sixth, he actually completed the July 13 game when the action was picked up again in September. Talk about a complete game: he went nine innings over two months! The Chicago Cubs' pitcher on the night of the great blackout of 1977 and a future Met, Ray Burris.

And leading our contingent of blackout veterans to the rightfield wall in broad daylight to peel number 35 from the wall, he was the Mets third baseman enjoying a banner season in '77 but had the misfortune of being at the plate when Shea went dark. His thoughts, he later related, were, “God, I'm gone. I thought for sure He was calling me. I thought it was my last at-bat.” Obviously, he had some more at-bats and plenty of life left. Please welcome home to Shea Stadium, Lenny Randle.

Numbers 46-41 were revealed here.

Turns out the Mets have guys who play and guys who pitch when Pedro Martinez is otherwise engaged. They're not so bad.

Season's back on, one supposes. Might as well put this .667 winning percentage and our remaining 159 games to good use. Get well, Pedro. See you when we see you, whenever they say that is plus however long it will actually be.

When you win by 13 runs — and we can say that as if it happens regularly because two of the Mets' last three wins have been thirteen-zip teal whitewashes if you don't gag at the thought of including the final weekend of 2007 — you have to dig pretty hard to find something to complain about…unless terrible umpiring is in your midst. Then it's easy.

Beltran's fifth-inning home run that was a double but was really a home run was a lot easier call with the benefit of replay than it was in real time, I'll grant the boys in blue that. But you called it right once, there was ample reason to not overturn it, the Marlins didn't seem to be arguing all that strenuously, so what the fudge? You have a Helsinki arms agreement conference and you overturn? You decide Beltran hit a double suddenly? You take a run off the board?

How do players not all act like Paul Lo Duca in that situation? Maybe it's because they're not all juiced like Paulie allegedly was at times, but still. When I saw mild-mannered Carlos Beltran and calm and reasonable Willie Randolph gentlemanly accept the revised and wrong ruling, I was ready to go Lo Duca on umpire Rick Reed's ass. Just on principle, mind you. It changed the score from 6-0 to 5-0, which is a rare baseball occurrence (I didn't know you could lose yardage in this sport), but even that wasn't the point. The point was you bastards had it right and you went out of your way to make it wrong.

I was ready to jump through the TV and strangle whomever's windpipe would give me satisfaction. That's when I marveled that more athletes don't do that, that more athletes don't take the Lo Duca route. If I had hit a handsome home run, I would want credit for it. I would not look kindly upon being called back from the adulation of my teammates in the dugout to have to stand on second while Carlos Delgado did not drive me in. I would thirst for justice.

When you wonder why ballplayers make so much money, I think much of it is for achieving an exalted mental state that keeps them from assaulting the necessary authority figures who grow worse at their jobs year after year. I salute Carlos Beltran for his self-control now much as I steamed at it last night. And I would suggest the Mets put someone like me on the bench to emerge raging mad at the next atrocious call so I and not and not one of their useful players can be ejected. Every team should have one. Call him the Designated Jerk. He gets thrown out, he gets suspended, he gets expelled, no problem. He's just the Designated Jerk. You can always find another one.

Though it goes against all my post-2007 impulses (and we are, as Mets fans, living in a post-2007 world), but the run that was removed didn't really worry me in terms of the outcome even if you can never be certain and all that. The Mets were not fighting in their weight class in this series, which, along with the tiny reality that it's only three games, makes it difficult to assess if the Mets are truly a .667 team, if Ryan Church is really a .385 hitter, if David Wright is going to steal MVP votes from Angel Pagan, if Ollie Perez will unanimously win the newly named Ollie Perez Award. That's the kind of stuff you can't seriously get a handle on until you've played a fifth, maybe a sixth game.

These Marlins weren't ready for prime time, or even the 4:30 start on Monday. That the Mets didn't sweep them is caution enough against not taking them seriously. We've gone into the two previous seasons with a bushel of dates versus teams that the experts deemed 1962 Mets in waiting. The '06 Marlins straightened up and went 78-84. The '07 Nationals stirred in the second half, managed to go 73-89 and won five of six in September versus a club that was lounging in first place. The '08 Marlins may suck at times but they will find ways to unsuck when we don't need them to. Thus, when Angel tagged up in the ninth to make it 13-0, I didn't want to hear word one about unwritten rules and rubbing it in. The Mets need to rub like there's no tomorrow and score as many runs as they possibly can. If you want to be a heavyweight, keep pounding.

They're off to a good start in that respect.

So was WFAN's broadcast last night. You know that thump-thump-thump montage of highlights they play as the introduction to every game, what is known in the industry as the rollup? Usually it's five clips from five slightly memorable games from the current season or, as it was on Opening Day, last season? Last night, expecting nothing special, I was blown away:

• Curt Gowdy called the final out of the 1969 World Series

• Lindsay Nelson described the jubilant mob scene at the end of the 1973 playoffs

• Bob Murphy announced the Mets were champions of the world in 1986

• Gary Cohen tracked the fly ball into Timo Perez's glove that clinched the 2000 pennant

• Howie Rose spontaneously combusted when David Wright drove in the winning run against the Yankees at Shea in 2006: “Put THAT in your books!”

The last time I was as unable to speak was when Endy Chavez climbed a fence against the Cardinals. It was as breathtaking as it was chilling and it was a perfect way to open a road game in Shea's final season (all of the aforementioned happened in Queens). I hope we hear more monumental moments from the past in that slot, just as I hope we hear great highlights from 2008…and that those are suitable for replaying in 2009 and beyond, too.