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The Mets won two of three from the Pirates to finish a 3-3 road trip. With the help of Baseball-Reference.com and some of our other research tools, let’s look at some statistical notes from this series win.

Stat of the Series: R.A. Really Awesome … Again
R.A. Dickey continued his run of fine work with an 11-strikeout, no-walk gem in a 3-2 win over the Pirates on Tuesday.

This was the second straight season in which the Mets got at least 11 strikeouts and no walks from their starter. Chris Capuano had a 13-strikeout, no-walk game in a two-hit shutout of the Braves last August 26.

The Mets did not have any such starts from 2000 to 2010. The last prior to Capuano was by Rick Reed on the next-to-last day of the 1999 season, one that put the Mets into a tie for the wild card spot, against the Pirates.

Dickey was the first Met to author an 11-strikeout, no-walk start without pitching at least nine innings since David Cone against the Cardinals, June 21, 1992.

An 11-whiff, no-walk game is impressive for a knuckleball pitcher. Tim Wakefield never had one in his major league career. Hall of Famer Phil Niekro had one … in 1967, also against the Pirates.

An Ugly Finish
The Mets blew a 4-0 lead and lost on Monday with Johan Santana on the mound in the series opener.

The Elias Sports Bureau had an amazing note on this: Pittsburgh had lost its previous 160 games when it trailed by at least four runs, the second-longest streak in major-league history, shy only of the 1906 to 1910 Washington Senators (178 games). Their last win in a game in which they trailed by four-or-more runs came on June 1, 2009 and was also against the Mets.

After having made only one error all season, David Wright made two errors in this game. It was the eighth multi-error game of his career. Wright’s multi-homer games lead his multi-error games by a 17-8 tally.

Santana gave up a game-tying two-run home run in the seventh inning. It was only the second time in his Mets career that Santana gave up a multi-run homer in the seventh inning or later. The other was to Gabe Kapler of the Brewers on April 12, 2008.

Elias noted that Santana’s team lost a game in which he was given a four-run lead for the seventh time. His teams are 83-7 in those games.

Day Tripping
Wright’s 1-for-4 in Wednesday’s series finale dropped his batting average to .399 through 40 games. It snapped a streak of seven straight games in which Wright finished with a batting average of .400 or better.

Wright finished well short of the Mets record for the highest batting average through any 40-game span for a Mets player.

The mark depends on what minimum you set. Via the Elias Sports Bureau, a minimum of 100 at-bats yields Lenny Dykstra’s .440 (44-for-100) from May 27 to July 13, 1986 as the best.

Raising the bar to 120 at-bats nets Mookie Wilson’s .414 stretch (55-for-133) from August 3 to September 22, 1998 tops.

Wright’s best is a .412 from May 1 to June 16, 2009.

More on this topic, Thursday.

The Mets honored the memory of Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter -- who died Feb. 16 following a 10-month battle with brain cancer at the age of 57 -- prior to Thursday's Opening Day game against the Braves at Citi Field.

The Mets will wear "KID 8" home-plate logo patches on their right uniform sleeves throughout the season. That same logo was unveiled by Carter's family on the left-center field wall next to the 385-foot marker.

The Mets have Carter's No. 8 jersey hanging in their dugout. They all wore his blue No. 8 jersey during pregame workouts.

"In all trueness and fairness, I wish I could've lived like him," Darryl Strawberry said in a media conference before the game. "I really do. I really wish I could've lived my life like him as a player and as a person."

Carter played with the Mets from 1985-89, hitting .249 with 89 home runs and 349 RBIs. He was a vital cog on the 1986 World Series championship team, and is perhaps best known for starting the Mets' unfathomable 10th-inning rally in Game 6 with a two-out single.

Most of the Mets players hated Carter when they played against him, Mookie Wilson said. But Carter quickly endeared himself to his New York teammates both on and off the field.

"He really cared about his team," Wilson said. "Yes, he loved the camera, yes he did, but he was genuine."

Carter made an immediate impact in his first game as a Met, drilling a 10th-inning walk-off home run off Cardinals reliever Neil Allen on Opening Day in 1985.

"In your gut, you knew we had just turned the corner," Strawberry said.

Carter's nickname -- "Kid" -- was a fitting one.

"He was happy among a bunch of animals," Strawberry said. "He never said anything negative or bad about anybody. How do you do that?"

Carter's wife, Sandy, son D.J., and daughters Kimmy and Christy and their families were out in the outfield to help unveil the hope plate logo.

There was a moment of silence for Carter before the game.

Fans held signs that said "We will never forget" and "We love you Gary" and chanted "Ga-ry Car-ter!" during the ceremony.

Even though Carter was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003, his number hasn't been retired by the Mets.

Terry Collins will address his pitchers and catchers at a 9 a.m. meeting today, before the Mets' first official workout. The manager will save his 'A' material for the full-squad meeting, after position players officially report Saturday. Read a preview of Collins' upcoming remarks here. "The crux of the message is pretty obvious -- and that is, we're better than people think we are," Collins said.

Wednesday's news reports:

• Johan Santana threw his second bullpen session of spring training on Tuesday, this time 30 pitches. He is slated to pitch in the Grapefruit League opener on March 5, which lines him up for the April 5 regular-season opener against the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field. Watch Santana discuss his session and footage of him pitching here. Read more in the Times, Star-Ledger, Post, Daily News, Record and Newsday.

• Brian Costa in The Wall Street Journal wonders whether Collins is on track to be a Joe Maddon type, or whether he is more of a transitional manager, such as Jim Riggleman turned out to be with the Washington Nationals. "Generally speaking, you'll hire a manager to get you through a transition and then as you're going through that, you'll make that evaluation as to whether they can help you get to that next level," former Mets GM Jim Duquette told Costa. "Sometimes it's not the same person."

Writes columnist Mike Vaccaro in the Post about Collins' optimism about contending:

If that sounds pie-eyed -- many Mets fans will sign up right now, today, for 80 wins -- maybe it is. Again: We saw the man’s work last year. His own owner had given up the ghost at 5-13, had started poking fun at his own players in the pages of a glossy magazine, and Collins guided them to wins in 50 of their next 88 games, a mark which isn’t just representative, it translates to 92-70 over a full season. Most of those games played without his corner infielders, with his left fielder mired in a slump, with a starting rotation that was hit-or-miss just about every day, a closer with one foot out the door and a center fielder with two.

Read more from Collins' state-of-the-team address to reporters in the Star-Ledger, Post, Record, Daily News and Newsday.

• Former Mets clubhouse manager Charlie Samuels pleaded guilty Tuesday in Queens Criminal Court to possessing nearly $2.3 million in Mets merchandise and memorabilia without the consent of the organization. He avoided jail time as part of the deal with Queens district attorney Richard A. Brown.

Noted Noah Rosenberg in the Times:

But Samuels’s lawyer, Michael F. Bachner, stressed after the court appearance that the charges Samuels had pleaded guilty to pointed to possession of only $50,000 in stolen property -- not the $2.3 million for which Samuels had initially been charged. He said Samuels "was always adamant that the charges for which he was indicted were false," and that he had pleaded guilty, in part, to avoid a trial. "At the end of the day, a nonjail-sentence disposition was something that we felt was appropriate in the case," Bachner added.

Read more in Newsday, the Post and Daily News.

• Mookie Wilson, who was not retained as first base coach, will remain with the organization. He will be a roving minor league instructor as well as be an ambassador for the Mets at charity and sponsor functions. Read more in Newsday.

• Shortstop Ruben Tejada has a visa issue and was due to meet with U.S. embassy officials in his native Panama on Wednesday, GM Sandy Alderson said. Alderson still believed Tejada would report on time. A Mets spokesman told reporters Tejada expected to fly to Florida on Saturday. Read more in Newsday.

• A Mets spokesman said a sizable contigent will attend Gary Carter's funeral on Friday evening in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. That includes Wally Backman, Sid Fernandez, Keith Hernandez, Howard Johnson, Roger McDowell, Bobby Ojeda, Darryl Strawberry, Rusty Staub, Tim Teufel and Wilson, plus current players Jon Niese, Bobby Parnell, Josh Thole and David Wright. Alderson, Collins and assistant GM John Ricco also plan to attend.

• A judge upheld the Mets' right to prevent a kosher hot dog vendor from selling the product at Citi Field during the Sabbath, the Post reports. Writes Mitchel Maddux:

Internal memos showed that team officials felt that Sabbath hot-dog sales did not cut the mustard under Jewish law and feared offending observant Jews. The controversy has been going on for a while. ... In 2009, Citi Field’s inaugural season, the Mets and Kosher Sports signed a pact that did not specifically address the issue -- and the company set up shop in the stadium. But soon the Mets ordered the firm not to open its hot-dog stands during Friday night and Saturday day games -- when sales are especially good. The company did as the team demanded, but also filed suit, pointing out that its contract did not specifically prohibit Sabbath sales. And it claimed the Mets did not notify it of the prohibition until after it signed the 10-year contract.

TRIVIA: Gary Carter's No. 8 has not been in circulation for the Mets since 2002. Who wore it that season?

(Tuesday's answer: Darryl Strawberry has the franchise record for strikeouts as a Mets hitter with 960, but Wright should catch Straw this season. Wright has 897 career Ks.)

Mookie Wilson, who was not retained on the major league staff as first base coach, will remain with the organization.

Wilson will work at the minor league level as a roving instructor, according to team a team official. He will not assigned to a particular team in the system.

The Mets also did not retain bench coach Ken Oberkfell and bullpen coach Jon Debus. Oberkfell, who just won a Caribbean Series title with Dominican-entrant Escogido, will serve as a coach on the staff of the independent Newark Bears. Debus was expected to remain with the Mets in a minor league capacity.

“A little roller up along first... Behind the bag... It gets through Buckner! Here comes [Ray] Knight, and the Mets win it!” -- Vin Scully, Oct. 25, 1986.

A quarter-century after committing the most infamous error in baseball history, Bill Buckner says he’s long since moved on.

“It’s been so long ago and so many things have happened and things have changed. Life goes on,” Buckner told ESPN New York 1050’s “Ruocco and Lundberg” on Tuesday, the 25th anniversary of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. “Obviously I don’t enjoy looking at it, but it’s not something that really bothers me.”

Buckner, of course, is referring to replays of the gaffe that has come to define his career -- unfairly or not.

With two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning, Ray Knight on second base and the score tied at 5, Mookie Wilson grounded a 3-2 pitch from Bob Stanley toward Buckner at first. It was a routine play, a play that should’ve been made by the normally sure-handed fielder.

But the ball somehow scooted under Buckner’s glove and into short right field. Knight game around to score, tying the series at 3 and the Mets won Game 7 to capture the Fall Classic and extend the Curse of Bambino.

“Hopefully after today, 25 years is something that everybody’s talking about,” said Buckner, who received death threats from irate Red Sox fans for years after it occurred. “But hopefully it kind of goes away for a while.”

Wilson, who joined Buckner Tuesday in the radio station’s Manhattan studio, has continued to be linked with him ever since. The ball from the indelible play is currently on EBay for $1 million, although no bids have been made on it.

“I think even though I wasn’t thinking about how Bill would react or how it would affect his life or affect my life, we were just so wrapped up in what we were doing and we weren’t thinking about the consequences of the whole thing,” Wilson said. “I was just happy to get out of that game without losing. I was in a situation where i easily could’ve been the goat, and as it turned out things kind of worked out for me.”

Earlier this year, the two made a cameo appearance on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” with Larry David.

“It was a lot of fun, and Larry was a funny guy and I think the intention of the show was to make me look good,” Buckner said. “It was fun and I’m ready to put it all to bed for a while.”

Despite the fact that the singular moment has overshadowed any of their other accomplishments and accolades in the game, Buckner and Wilson have both taken the positive out of it.

“It does get a little annoying,” Wilson said. “But there’s no getting around or denying that it was one of those unbelievable moments, and I was part of it. Of course, it’s easy to say that because we won. But I would like people to think that I had a successful career and that one groundball doesn’t define what Mookie Wilson meant to major league baseball and the organization that he played for.”

In Boston, the Buckner blow has since been softened by a pair of championships and the end of an 86-year title drought. On Opening Day, Apr. 8, 2008, Buckner threw out the first pitch and unfurled the team’s 2007 World Series championship banner. He received a lengthy standing ovation from the soldout crowd at Fenway Park.

“I was happy for them, but personally I didn’t think it affected me,” Buckner said. “It wasn’t my team, but I was happy for them. Being invited to throw out the first pitch, it was a great experience and I appreciate the management and the new ownership of the Red Sox [for giving me the opportunity]. It was a good day for me and my family. My emotions were kind of crazy that day, but overall it was great.”

Buckner always felt he was unfairly criticized for committing the error because it didn’t lose the series for his team. The Red Sox held a two-run lead and were one out from winning the Fall Classic before the Mets staged their dramatic, 10th-inning rally in Game 6. And right before his gaffe, it was Stanley that uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Kevin Mitchell to come home from third with the tying run.

But when asked if he’d like to criticize any of his former teammates, Buckner responded, “I’m all good.”

Over the last three weeks, Mark Simon has reminisced here about the 1986 postseason. The 1986 Mets won the World Series in an exhilarating fashion. Here's a look at Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, played on October 25, 25 years ago.

"I'm sitting here and I still don't believe it."

That's what Hall of Fame-honored sportswriter Bus Saidt wrote to open his story for my former employer, the Trenton Times, and it still holds true 25 years to the day after the most remarkable, unbelievable and amazing of the Mets' 3,854 regular-season and postseason wins. Let's review all that went into the greatest game of the greatest season in Mets history.

Game 6, Shea Stadium: Mets 6, Red Sox 5

Game 6 of the 1986 World Series began as Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS did, with Mets starting pitcher Bob Ojeda on the ropes early.

He allowed a run in the first inning on a two-out double by Dwight Evans that hit the top of the fence in left center and a run in the second on a two-out RBI single to left field by Marty Barrett just in front of Mookie Wilson.

The lead could have been bigger. Evans' ball hit the top of the fence. Had it gone over, it would have been a three-run homer instead of a single-run double. In the second inning, a catch by backpedaling right fielder Darryl Strawberry on Bill Buckner’s fly ball to right field saved two more runs from scoring.

As Vin Scully pointed out on NBC's telecast, there had not been a come-from-behind win in the World Series yet. With AL MVP Roger Clemens on the mound for the Red Sox, that stat hung over the Mets through the first four innings, in which they were hitless.

But Ojeda settled down, as he did in Game 6 of the NLCS, and that kept the Mets in the game.

They would rally to tie in the fifth inning. Strawberry walked, then stole second and Ray Knight’s single past Clemens into center field on a 2-2 breaking ball brought Strawberry home.

Wilson then had a great at-bat after falling behind 0-2. He took two balls well out of the strike zone to even the count, than fouled two off before hitting a breaking ball into right field for a hit. When Evans bobbled the ball, Knight went to third base.

That turned out to be huge, because it meant he could score to tie the game rather than just advance to third when pinch-hitter Danny Heep grounded into a double play

Hernandez made a nice play on a Clemens bunt to get a force play that thwarted a Red Sox threat in the sixth. The Mets then left runners at the corners in the home sixth when Clemens struck out Mets catcher Gary Carter with a nasty fastball on the outside corner and got Strawberry to ground out.

In the seventh, the Red Sox took the lead partly thanks to Knight’s throwing error at third base, which put runners at first and third with one out (instead of having a man on second with two outs). On a 3-2 pitch, with Jim Rice running on reliever Roger McDowell's delivery, Evans grounded out. The Mets were unable to get a double play, allowing a run to score and Boston to take a 3-2 lead.

The Red Sox had a chance for another run, but Wilson threw Rice out at the plate on Rich Gedman's hit to end the inning.

Clemens got through the seventh, but was pinch-hit for in the eighth inning with the Red Sox threatening (he’d exceeded 130 pitches by this point and there is controversy over whether Clemens asked out due to a blister, or was removed by manager John McNamara). The Red Sox had another chance to add to the lead, but Jesse Orosco got Buckner to fly out to end the eighth.

Trailing by a run with six outs left in their season, the Mets rallied. Lee Mazzilli got a two-strike single and was safe at second when Red Sox reliever Calvin Schiraldi’s throw on Lenny Dykstra’s bunt couldn’t be handled cleanly by Red Sox shortstop Spike Owen. Wally Backman advanced the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt.

An intentional walk to Keith Hernandez loaded the bases for Carter, who took three balls, then lined to deep enough left to plate Mazzilli with the tying run. Strawberry flied out to leave the teams tied heading to the ninth.

After Gedman's double play ended the Boston ninth, the Mets had a great chance to win in the home frame, putting the first two men on base (after Boston botched another bunt). But Howard Johnson failed on his first bunt attempt, then struck out. Mazzilli and Dykstra both flied out to send the game to extra innings.

Red Sox center fielder Dave Henderson, whose home run in Game 5 of the ALCS helped the Red Sox overcome a 3-1 deficit against the Angels, got a low fastball to his liking from reliever Rick Aguilera and pounced on it, crushing it for a home runjust below the loge seats in left field.

The Red Sox tacked another run on at the end of the inning when Wilson misjudged Wade Boggs' two-strike liner to left, which turned into a double, and Boggs scored on Barrett’s full-count single (Barrett was 10-for-14 in the series with men on base). That made it 5-3 and put the Red Sox within half-an-inning of their first championship since 1918.

The only solace a Mets fan could take at this point, with the season three outs from devastating completion, was that the team had the 2-3-4 hitters up in the bottom of the 10th. But when Backman popped to left and Hernandez skied to center, it looked like the Mets were done for the year.

"Everybody sitting very quietly in that New York Mets dugout," said Mets radio announcer Bob Murphy, "hoping against hope that something will start to happen."

The public address system played "Charge!" as Carter came to the plate and, perhaps overeager, Carter popped the first pitch foul, but it went out of play behind home plate. Schiraldi then missed up-and-in with one fastball and down and away with another. On his 2-1 offering, Carter slammed the pitch into left field for a hit.

Kevin Mitchell came up as a pinch-hitter representing the tying run. He started to swing at an inside fastball checked it and fouled it off. Schiraldi then went to a curveball away and Mitchell whacked it to center for another hit.

With two men on, the Mets had some life, and had one of their best clutch hitters up in Knight, who took a fastball down the middle for a strike, then hit a slow roller down the third base line that Boggs let roll foul.

The next pitch is an oft-forgotten one in the grand scheme of what happened, but the results were impressive. Schiraldi threw a tailing fastball, that came inside but Knight adjusted, curled his back foot, and got just enough of the good part of the bat on the ball to muscle it into shallow center for a hit, allowing Carter to score and Mitchell to advance to third base.

With the Red Sox lead now a run but still just an out from victory, McNamara pulled Schiraldi for Bob Stanley, with Wilson at the plate.

Wilson fouled off the first pitch solidly, than took a fastball wide for ball one and another high for ball two. Wilson fouled the next pitch off his foot, to put Boston within a strike of the title. He fouled the next pitch straight down into the dirt, and another foul behind the plate on a pitch away.

Stanley reversed course on the next pitch and tried to come inside, but came too far inside. Gedman, the catcher, reached for the ball, but never moved his body to block it as Wilson leapt to avoid it, and the ball went to the backstop. Mitchell came racing home with the tying run.

Wilson fouled the next two pitches off and the Mets were fortunate on the last of those, because according to TV analyst Joe Garagiola, had Stanley tried for a pickoff at second base, he’d have had Knight out easily.

Instead came the 10th pitch of the at-bat, one that Wilson was able to roll along the first base line. The ball trickled to Buckner at first base, but then bounced right through his legs for the most infamous miscue in sports history. Knight leapt on the plate with the winning run.

As Scully noted they were "not only alive, they are well" and they would be playing the Red Sox in a Game 7 for the championship.

Turning Point
There were so many turning points in this game, and we were able to document most of them above, but there were also a couple of bad karma moments of which you may not have been fully aware.

The more well known of them is that McNamara didn’t bring Dave Stapleton in to play first base in the bottom of the 10th inning. Stapleton, a far better and far healthier defender than Buckner, had relieved Buckner at first base in all seven of the Red Sox postseason wins.

McNamara had the perfect opportunity to do so after Buckner grimaced when hit just below the belt buckle by a pitch in the top of the 10th, but chose not to make the switch.

Interestingly, Buckner was left in to play first base in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the ALCS, with the Red Sox leading the Angels, 3-0. The Red Sox blew that game too, losing 4-3 in 11 innings.

Also, someone saw fit to vandalize the visitors bullpen with spray-paint graffiti, as the initials R.C. can be seen in the background of a couple of NBC’s pre-celebration shots of Red Sox players in the 10th inning. We don’t know who committed the “crime,” but one of the shots did feature Clemens exchanging high-fives with his teammates.

What They Wrote
"Bill Buckner has just limped off the field, carrying the weight of the world on his back. He can ice those aching ankles all night so he can play in Game Seven of the World Series tonight, but there isn't enough ice to freeze the pain in his heart."
-- Ray Sons, Chicago Sun-Times

"The ghosts of World Series past, of seven-game losses in 1946 and 1967 and 1975, wrapped their cold fingers around the Red Sox' throats Saturday night and choked the life out of what the people of Boston had been calling 'The Possible Dream.'

"If the Red Sox couldn't win their first World Series in 68 years after leading ... by two runs ... with two out ... and the bases empty in the bottom of the 10th inning of Saturday's sixth game, well, maybe it's impossible after all."
-- Kevin Modesti, L.A. Daily News

"Their history has been one of pathos and heartbreak, of lofty dreams and crushing disappointments. But no night in the 68-year-old losing legacy of the Boston Red Sox could match what befell them last night."
- Peter Pascarelli, Philadelphia Inquirer

"It was enough to make you believe there are curses that haunt this team. It was enough to make you believe that the Mets are on some highway toward destiny."
-- Jayson Stark, Philadelphia Inquirer

"From 200 miles away, you could practically feel New England quaking with fear, grief and disbelief. The Boston Red Sox were one out away from their first World Series championship since 1918 early this morning, and the New York Mets rose up like the ghosts of Denied Christmases past and extended big-league baseball's most extraordinary postseason by one more game.

"The denouement of this stirring October drama is scheduled tonight at Shea Stadium, but the forecast is for rain, possibly lasting two days. But 48 hours of steady showers would likely not produce more moisture than the tears shed by the Red Sox's long-suffering fans last night."
- Barry Lorge, San Diego Union

"I can only imagine what the good citizens of Boston are doing now. Are the blindfolds in place? Are they out on the window ledges? Have they wrapped up the sharp instruments?"
- Tony Kornheiser, Washington Post

"If the World Series had been a pleasure cruise to the fans of most teams, it has been to two generations of Bostonians, a stateroom on the Titanic, a deck chair on the Lusitania, first class passage on the Hindenburg."
-- Bruce Lowitt, St. Petersburg Times

"It would not happen this time, the Boston Red Sox had promised. Not in this World Series. Their failures belong to the past. That was then, this is now. Alas, the team that lived by the last strike in the American League playoffs died by the last strike when the World Series was in hand against the New York Mets in Game 6."
-- Hal Bock, Associated Press

Quote of the Day
"My legs didn't have any effect. I felt good out there. It just shows you anything can happen. I feel lousy. Tomorrow, hopefully, will be a different story. We don't have a day or two to forget about it. You can't get down about it.

"Hey, we outhit them tonight. We hit good out there. We just made some big mistakes. I hate to say I missed a ground ball. I did concentrate on that ball. I saw it well. It bounced and bounced and then it didn't bounce. It just skipped. I can't remember the last time I missed a ball like that, but I'll remember that one."

"It was a slow roller with a lot of spin on it. I thought I watched it good. I was playing deeply Than I normally do because I didn't want it to get through the infield.

"If Mookie didn't run so fast I'd get down on a knee to block it. It bounced and bounced And then skidded right under my glove. I was waiting for it to bounce. It didn't."
-- Bill Buckner

Further Reading
Perhaps foreshadowing a bizarre night, with Buckner at the plate in the first inning, a Mets fan, Michael Sergio, parachuted onto the playing field. He would be escorted away by police, but not before getting some laughs and a high-five from Mets pitcher Ron Darling.

Earlier this year, New York attorney Eric Turkewitz interviewed Sergio for his blog. His story can be found here.

Stats/Notes To Remember
1-- There have only been three instances in World Series history in which a game ended on a play that was ruled as an error.

The Mets have been involved in two of them- this one and Game 4 of the 1969 World Series, in which the Mets won when Orioles pitcher Pete Richert hit J.C. Martin in the back with his throw on Martin’s bunt attempt, allowing Rod Gaspar to score the winning run.

2-- Baseball Info Solutions, a Pennsylvania-based company, does video review of every play from every major-league game. Their video tracking found that in 2011, there were 20 balls hit to the same area, and at the same approximate speed that Wilson's ball was hit to Buckner. All 20 of those were turned into outs.

3-- Bill Buckner made his major league debut for the Dodgers on September 21, 1969. He pinch-hit in the ninth inning and popped out.

What was prominent about that game? The Giants beat the Dodgers that day, 4-3 in walk-off fashion.

The game ended on a ground ball to Dodgers shortstop Maury Wills.

It went through his legs for a game-ending error.

We asked Mets bloggers, a couple of our ESPN friends and an ex-Mets employee to reminisce about Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Feel free to share your stories in the comments section below.

Michael Baron, Metsblog
October 25, 1986 was my mother’s 41st birthday, so my father was obligated to take her out for dinner rather than go to the game. Instead, he sent me with my cousins to Game 6 of the World Series, which I knew was do-or-die.

We were seated in our usual Loge Box 472A at Shea Stadium, the first box in fair territory in left field. It was an emotional night through nine innings, but as Dave Henderson’s go-ahead home run hit the scoreboard just beneath us in the tenth, I had never heard Shea grow so quiet. However, just a few minutes later, I had never heard Shea roar so loud.

When Bob Stanley knocked Mookie Wilson down and Kevin Mitchell scored the tying run, strangers around us were yelling, screaming and hugging. By the time that little roller squeaked through Bill Buckner’s legs, those same strangers began to kiss each other.

From those seats, it was hard to see the ball roll through Buckner’s legs, but as the Loge began to shake and the roar of the fans grew to the loudest I had ever heard in that building, all this six year old knew was something extraordinary had happened and the Mets were playing tomorrow.

Linda Cohn, ESPN anchor
Did I really think the Mets were going to do the unthinkable as I sat on my couch in my home in Astoria, Queens?

Yes, that’s where I was. Astoria, Queens, located just minutes away from Shea Stadium. Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t give up. I didn’t shut off the television. Hey, no matter how bleak I never shut off a game that involves one of my teams when there is always a chance.

I'll always remember my doubt and disappointment disappear when that ball went through the wickets of Buckner. So much for sitting on my couch. I jumped straight up and neighbors dropped by to peel me off the ceiling.

Taryn Cooper, KinersKorner
I just remember sitting at the edge of my mom's bed, watching the end of the game. I was 10 years old, my dad was actually AT the game, and my mom was sleeping or at least trying to (she's not a sports fan).

I was in charge of taping the games on the old VHS recorder, and I usually edited the commercials. Of course, I was in shock after the Red Sox took a 2-run lead, I forgot to reset the tape! I realized it after the rally had taken charge, then of course, the end. I was 10, so a lot of this was a daze. But I do remember that my dad called my mom a little bit later, to tell her he had met some people at the game who couldn't make Game 7, but had four tickets.

Guess who was going to Game 7? **THIS CHICK!!**

Dennis D'Agostino
I was the assistant PR director for the Mets then.

When Henderson swung and the ball passed over the infield, I knew it was gone and I remember saying to myself, “Hit something! Hit a plane, hit a bird (this was a year before Dion James did hit a bird!), hit something!!” What it hit, of course, was the Newsday sign beyond the left field fence.

When I got down there, Rick Cerrone of the Commissioner's Office called down to the clubhouse phone (remember, no cell phones, e-mails, text messages, Tweets or twits back then) and said that we were to bring Davey Johnson into the interview room as fast as possible (while the Sox were still celebrating), and that would take care of our interview room obligations (in other words, no players). Then the Sox would take it over.

I distinctly remember that when Gary Carter came up I remembered thinking that if there is a God in heaven that He won’t allow this guy, who played so hard and waited so long, to make the last out.

I think the whole Kevin-Mitchell-in-the-clubhouse thing is a bit overblown. Mitch WAS in the clubhouse, but if you watch the tape he’s on deck during Carter’s at bat, so it wasn’t like they had to hold up the game to go look for him.

What I will remember most of all was the scene in Davey’s office when Keith Hernandez came in after making the second out -- Jay Horwitz was sitting in front of the big TV set, cross-legged on the floor. Keith was behind him in the blue Adidas director’s chair, a Budweiser in one hand and a cigarette butt in the other.

Charlie Longo, one of our clubhouse kids, was sitting at Davey’s desk. Darrell Johnson, the old Red Sox manager who was now working in our minor league department, was sprawled on the couch.

I was hovering in the doorway. I saw the wild pitch (soundless) on a little monitor outside near the big bat rack, then raced into Davey’s office to see Keith and D.J. hugging and motionless in front of the TV, with me, Jay and Charlie jumping and screaming.

Then the phone rang again and it was Cerrone, this time screaming, "Mookie and Knight [in the interview room] if you win!!"

The rest, as they say, is history.

Howard Megdal, Lower Hudson Mets Blog
At age six, I actually saw Game 6 about 12 hours after everyone else. At my mother's behest, I was sent to bed while my father recorded the game on our VCR.
Obviously, I couldn't wait to see it in the morning, and he couldn't wait to show it to me. Two days later, I got to stay awake on a school night and see the Mets capture their last World Series championship. I still remember racing with my father up to their bedroom, jumping up and down and screaming to wake my mother. I like to think my daughter and I will do the same thing to my wife someday.

Greg Prince, Faith and Fear in Flushing
When Backman led off, I was filled with hope. He was Wally Backman, .320 hitter, and I trusted him to start a rally. After Backman made out, I remained filled with hope because Keith Hernandez was up and I couldn't imagine Keith not coming through in a desperate situation. When he made out, I gave up.

When Carter got his hit, I refused to believe it was anything more than a tease. When Mitchell got his hit, I thought it was just cruel to keep the tease going. I didn't buy into anything until Knight's hit, because I assumed Knight was going to revert to his 1985 self (.218) and make the last out.

When he didn't, I was fully invested in the possibility the Mets could come back, but I also decided Mookie Wilson was going to let me down in some kind of cosmic throwback to his rookie year when I waited for him to become the kind of player Tim Raines was and all he turned out to be was Mookie Wilson. While my dark cloud of foreboding grew ever wider, Mookie jumped out of the way of Bob Stanley's pitch, the game was tied, and I fully stopped expecting the worst.

For a fan who subscribed heart and soul to "You Gotta Believe," it took total apostasy toward the Mets' creed to find myself a born again believer.

Gus Ramsey, ESPN producer
I watched the game in the common room of my dorm at Rollins College.
When Mookie was up I remember saying to my roommate, and fellow Strat-O-Matic baseball player, Troy, “We really need a catch-x (Strat-O-Matic for potential wild pitch or passed ball) here.”

And moments later Stanley threw the wild pitch.

Then when the ball went through Buckner’s legs I jumped up and ran circles around the common room with my arms in the air.

I still get goosebumps and giggle whenever I see that moment.

Shannon Shark, Metspolice
My friend Jim and I used to call each other the second the other guy's team was eliminated. Islanders/Rangers or Mets/Yankees.

I watched the first 9.5 innings in the living room with my dad, and then went into my bedroom to be depressed and wait for the call. It never came.

The next day Jim told me he had my phone number dialed except for the last digit.

Matt Silverman, MetSilverman.net
I had used the last of my savings to travel to New York from college in southwestern Virginia for the NLCS and the first two games of the World Series. Broke and preparing to be broken hearted, I sat in my friend's dorm room at Roanoke College in the bottom of the 10th inning, trying to think how I was going to make good on previously friendly bets I had defiantly doubled after the Mets went down two games to none.

Then bing, bam, boom, Kevin Mitchell scored on the wild pitch to tie it. Having grown up with the Mets in the 1970s, I knew that thoughts of impending victory usually resulted in crushing anguish. So I concentrated on Mookie Wilson. I'd always liked Bill Buckner as a Cub, but I liked him more on the Red Sox that evening.

Mike Silva, New York Baseball Digest
I fell asleep during Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. I woke up to hear my dad throw his Mets hat across the living room and talking to my mom about how they blew a great season. I was in that half asleep/half-awake mode, but the next thing I know is I hear my dad jumping after the Buckner error and saying "hello, Oil Can Boyd" after the play.

I can remember laying in bed and listening to my dad's emotions of the moment. I was just getting into baseball and that playoff run was what got me into the game.

The Mets have made major changes to their coaching staff. Chip Hale has been named bench coach of the Oakland A's on a two-year deal.

Read the news story here.

Here's the team's press release:

The New York Mets today announced that Bench Coach Ken Oberkfell, Third Base Coach Chip Hale, First Base Coach Mookie Wilson and Bullpen Coach Jon Debus will not return to the major league club for the 2012 season.

Tim Teufel will take over as Third Base Coach and Ricky Bones will become Bullpen Coach. Hitting Coach Dave Hudgens and Pitching Coach Dan Warthen will return to Manager Terry Collins’ staff in the same positions next year.

Hale declined an offer to remain on Collins’ staff to pursue another Major League coaching opportunity. Wilson and Debus will be offered other positions within the organization.

Teufel was the Manager of the Buffalo Bisons (AAA) of the International League for the 2011 season and Bones was Pitching Coach.

The Mets will announce further additions to the Major League coaching staff in the coming weeks.

R.A. Dickey took a no-hit bid one out into the seventh inning when Shane Victorino doubled. The Mets nonetheless won the opener, 2-1. It was Dickey's final start of the 2011 season. Because of Friday's rainout pushing Dickey's start back a day, Miguel Batista now is scheduled to start Wednesday's series finale against the Cincinnati Reds.

The Mets then produced five unearned runs in the third inning of Game 2 thanks to Hunter Pence's drop of Willie Harris' deep fly ball en route to a 6-3 victory and sweep of the doubleheader, which upped Philadelphia's losing streak to eight games. The Phillies have the longest skid since clinching a postseason spot since the advent of the World Series. Overall, it's their longest losing streak in 11 years.

Manny Acosta recorded both saves, the first Mets pitcher to notch two on the same day since Armando Benitez on Aug. 15, 2000 against Colorado.

Sunday's news reports:

• Darryl Strawberry says Jose Reyes should stay with the Mets. Of course, Strawberry is not in position -- nor is anyone else -- to know how close the Mets' offer will be to the top bid. "You don't know that when you're young but when you look back over it you realize, 'God, that was so stupid, I was so young, what was I thinking about leaving New York City to go to L.A. or anywhere?'" Strawberry said. "(New York) is the greatest place to play, the greatest fans. Are the expectations high? Is the media tough? Yeah, it's part of it. You just have to learn to live with that." Read Strawberry's thoughts on topics such as the Citi Field dimensions here. Read more on Strawberry's remarks about Reyes in the Record, Post, Daily News and Newsday.

• Reyes went 1-for-3 with a walk and steal in the opener, then sat the nightcap. Milwaukee's Ryan Braun leads the NL batting race at .331, followed by Reyes at .330 and Matt Kemp at .325.

• Newsday columnist Ken Davidoff says the Tampa Bay Rays would have been big suitors for Reyes before the trading deadline should the Mets have opted to deal the shortstop. Writes Davidoff:

The Rays, armed with one of the best farm systems in baseball, were prepared to give up significant prospects to rent Reyes and then recoup draft picks upon his departure this coming winter. You wonder how that would've played out for both sides. Sure, the Mets would've faced a mutiny by their fans with a June trade, but we know now that Reyes' sticking through the season hasn't quite filled Citi Field in September. And their future would look brighter with those Tampa Bay imports, and of course they could've made a run to bring back Reyes. As for the Rays, would Reyes somehow have managed to stay healthy? Or would that pesky left hamstring have flared, blowing up what would've been a blockbuster deal for the American League East paupers?

• Post columnist Mike Vaccaro says a full generation of Mets fans have now grown up knowing the Yankees to be the dominant team in the city. Writes Vaccaro:

So an entire generation of New York baseball children have been born, raised and sent off into the world knowing only one pecking order in New York City. The Mets have had their moments: 1999, 2000, and 2006, and even the agonizing Septembers that followed. There remain a lot of Mets fans, through their struggles, in the same way there always were plenty of Dodgers fans in the ’30s and Giants fans in the ’40s. But it’s a resounding Yankees town now.

• The seasons for Lucas Duda (headaches) and Jason Isringhausen (leg numbness from herniated disc) may be over. Meanwhile, Angel Pagan was out on Saturday, two days after striking himself in the back of the head with his swing. And Jason Bay needed to depart Game 1 with continued illness effects, which sidelined him the entire series in St. Louis.

• Dillon Gee's season is complete. He's the first Mets rookie to win 13 games since Dwight Gooden in 1984.

• Mookie Wilson has left the team for the remainder of the season due to a death in his family. Wally Backman will coach first base during the final four games.

• Read more on Dickey's flirtation with the first no-hitter in franchise history in the Record, Newsday and Star-Ledger.

• Andy McCullough in the Star-Ledger previews Mike Pelfrey's final 2011 start.

BIRTHDAYS: Former reliever David Weathers turns 42. ... Infielder Argenis Reyes, who appeared in 25 games with Triple-A Columbus in the Cleveland Indians organization, turns 29.

Mets first base coach Mookie Wilson is going to miss the rest of the season as he attends to a death in his family, manager Terry Collins said Saturday. He is leaving for a funeral Sunday. Collins said Wally Backman will be the team's first base coach for the final four games of the season.

Hours after the Atlanta Braves won an afternoon game to officially eliminate the Mets from postseason contention, the Amazin's lost to the Washington Nationals, 2-0.

"You would have thought that with the resources that we've had and the players that we've had that we would have the opportunities to go to the playoffs more that once and that hasn't happened," David Wright said. "And obviously, that's disappointing. There's only one thing to do and that's play better."

Rookie Chris Schwinden is on the mound Thursday afternoon for the Mets, attempting to halt a five-game losing streak and prevent the Nats from earning a four-game sweep at Citi Field. The last time the Mets lost a four-game series to that franchise, it was twice eight years ago, when the Nats were the Montreal Expos -- in September 2003 at Shea Stadium and April 2003 in San Juan.

Thursday's news reports:

• Major League Baseball released its 2012 schedules. The Mets open the season at home on April 5 against Atlanta. They travel to Toronto and Tampa Bay and host Baltimore in addition to the annual pair of series against the Yankees. The Sept. 11 game next season will be at home against Washington.

• Johan Santana's course has been altered. Rather than pitch in Game 3 of the South Atlantic League championship series for Savannah on Thursday, Santana instead will throw a simulated game Sunday in Fort Myers, Fla., where he resides. He then will participate in the fall instructional league for young minor leaguers, which also will be held in Fort Myers for the second straight season. Santana no longer is due to appear in the majors this season. Read more in Newsday, the Record, Post and Star-Ledger.

• Jose Reyes elaborated on his hamstring tightness, calling the muscle "shaky." He went 1-for-5 Wednesday, including getting robbed by Nats center fielder Rick Ankiel to end the game, as his average slipped to .331. Milwaukee's Ryan Braun went 1-for-4 and is now hitting .329.

• Wright's seventh error in nine games led to two third-inning unearned runs against Mike Pelfrey in Tuesday's defeat. The last Met with that many errors in a nine-game span was Rey Ordonez in April 2002, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The last Mets third baseman with seven errors in a nine-game span: Jeff Kent in June/July 1996. He was traded two weeks later.

• The Mets honored their minor league award winners in a pregame ceremony at Citi Field on Wednesday. Josh Satin was named organization player of the year, while St. Lucie left-hander Darin Gorski -- who won the Florida State League ERA title -- earned pitcher of the year. Catcher Cam Maron was named the organization's top player at Kingsport. Watch video of the Hicksville, L.I., product here. And click here for the full list of award winners.

• Savannah, the Mets' lone remaining active minor league team, resumes its best-of-five South Atlantic League championship series against Greensboro on Thursday at home. The series is tied at a game apiece.

• Mookie Wilson unveiled artwork that he and Bill Buckner partnered to produce. Wilson on Wednesday told the story of the first time he talked about the '86 World Series moment with Buckner following that historical event. Wilson was playing with the Toronto Blue Jays and was stretching when Buckner, then with the Kansas City Royals, approached him and jokingly asked if Wilson would hit some grounders to him. Read more in the Star-Ledger.

• Carlos Beltran bashed his 300th major league homer on Tuesday, on a tumultuous day for the Giants organization in which Bill Neukom is out as managing general partner.

• With the Mets eliminated, read reflections on what went awry in Newsday, the Post, Times, Journal, Record, Daily News and Star-Ledger.

BIRTHDAYS: Former reliever Satoru Komiyama turns 46. ... Charley Smith, who played infield for the Mets in the mid-'60s, was born on this date in 1937. He passed away in 1994.

After their cross paths in a way that would change baseball history in the fall of 1986, Mookie Wilson and Bill Buckner did not see eachother again for three years.

Wilson, now a coach on the Mets' staff, was in Toronto and Buckner was in Kansas City in 1989 when they ran into eachother during pregame warmups. Wilson was stretching before a game when Buckner stood over him and asked, 'Can you hit me some ground balls?'

The two men have approached their moment in history with a certain amount of levity ever since.

They've signed memorabilia together at card shows and talked freely about the moment in which Buckner allowed Wilson's grounder to go through his legs in the bottom of tenth inning of Game 6 in '86.

"We get along very well," Wilson said on Wednesday.

Which is one of the reasons Wilson and Buckner decided to commission a painting commemorating the moment.

It's easy to see why Wilson would agree to do the painting. His hit, after all, helped the Mets win the 1986 World Series.

But why Buckner?

"He can't run away from it" and can't deny that it happened, Wilson says, so Buckner "wants to show it's not an issue."

Said Buckner: "We have been signing the same photo for the past 25 years. It’s a great shot, but we wanted something new and different. That was a play that has come to define us and this is a beautiful depiction of that play.”

The two men also recently appeared together on an episode of HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

"I have a great appreciation for the man, knowing the man behind the player," Wilson said. "He's a great human being."

According to the Mets, the original painting will be housed in the team's Hall of Fame and Museum at Citi Field.

It was painted by renowned Toronto sports artist Rob MacDougall. Framed 16 x 20 prints are available for sale at www.theplay86ws.com. Wilson and Buckner have autographed each print, which has been authenticated by Major League Baseball.

For more information on purchasing the artwork, contact Sports Celebrity Marketing S.C.M. Inc. in the United States at 954 642 0707 or via email at Elaine@sportscelebs.com or in Canada at 905 873 8405 or via email at paul@sportscelebs.com.

Willie Harris had a tiebreaking two-run pinch-hit single in place of debuting Josh Satin and the Mets won Sunday's rubber game against the Nationals, 6-3, Sunday afternoon.

The Mets now make their final trip to Sun Life Stadium, which the Marlins share with the Miami Dolphins. The Marlins move to a baseball-only stadium with a retractable roof in 2012. Read the Mets-Marlins series preview here.

Monday's news reports:

• Terry Collins told the Daily News his recommendation is for his entire coaching staff to return intact. Hitting coach Dave Hudgens has a two-year deal. As for pitching coach Dan Warthen, the lone remaining member of the 2010 staff, Collins said: "Danny has done an excellent job. He gets them ready. He is sharp. It's a good situation when the players like the coaches. They have fun. They laugh. They have great communication with each other. That helps a lot. ... I do think they should all be back. They all did a great job, and there is something to be said for stability."

• Satin started at first base and went 1-for-2 in his major league debut. He singled in his first plate appearance, off ex-Met Livan Hernandez.

• Ike Davis will meet the Mets in Miami. Optimism abounds that he will avoid surgery on his troublesome left ankle. Davis worked the past three days in Port St. Lucie, Fla., taking grounders, swinging off a tee and with soft tosses, and playing catch. Read more in Newsday.

• Jose Reyes received his first day off Sunday, as a late scratch once it was deemed Ruben Tejada was ready to return from a hand injury. Josh Thole also returned, as a pinch-hitter. Thole, like Tejada, was forced to leave Thursday's game in New York. Thole had been struck on the thumb/wrist with a fastball from Miguel Batista while expecting a slider.

• Johan Santana should throw a bullpen session Tuesday in Miami for Mets staff. He will pitch in a minor league playoff game Friday. If all continues to go well, and the Mets' affiliates are done with the postseason after that, Santana could find himself in a major league game at least for a couple of innings as soon as the following week.

• Read game reports from Sunday's rubber-game win in Newsday and the Daily News.

• Outfield coach Mookie Wilson told Mike Puma this about Lucas Duda's right-field play in the Post: "He's not your typical outfielder. I don't want him to think he has to try to make the (highlight) play. Just let the game come to him and let him understand it's going to take reps so that he feels comfortable. His defensive ability, it is what it is. He runs well enough, he has plenty of arm, there is not a question about that. It's about trying to understand it's going to take reps for him to be completely comfortable. Just don't panic." Duda aggressively went after Ryan Zimmerman's flare to right field Saturday, allowing the ball to get behind him and the winning along with the tying run to score. On Sunday, Duda misread Danny Espinosa's liner and the shot sailed over him for a double.

• Warthen had this to say about Mike Pelfrey's high pitch count (106 in 4 2/3 innings), according to the Record's Steve Popper: "(When) he goes out there and tries not to give up runs, he starts getting too fine with his pitches. … He’s got the ability but you can’t strike anybody out until they have two strikes on them. He has the pitches, has enough of a slider, has enough of a fastball, but he has to be ahead in the count. Out of the stretch position he just throws too many balls.”

BIRTHDAYS: Catcher Rod Barajas, now of the Los Angeles Dodgers, turns 36.

Additional notes from Sunday's improbable win in the Subway Series finale in Flushing ...

1-- Ronny Paulino's two-out, game-tying hit was among the "clutchest" the Mets have had in quite some time. A check of Baseball-Reference.com shows it was the first time the Mets had gotten a game-tying or go-ahead RBI with two outs and two strikes in the ninth inning in more than four years.

The last was a game-evening home run by Damion Easley in the 10th inning of an eventual win over the Rockies on April 24, 2007. The Mets would win in 12 innings on an Endy Chavez squeeze bunt.

2-- My Yankeemetrics-writing statistical counterpart in Stats & Information, Katie Sharp, made sure to share that getting two-out baserunners against Mariano Rivera is a significant accomplishment.

The Mets had four in a row reach base safely, including one via error, after Rivera got the first two outs in the ninth.

Opponents were 6-for-37 with one walk when faced with a two-out situation versus Rivera prior to Sunday's outburst.

3--The Mets now have five walk-off wins against the Yankees. Sunday's came seven years to the day of one of the wackiest -- a 10-9 win that ended when Kazuo Matsui beat Tanyon Sturtze's throw home on a dribbler to the right of the mound by Shane Spencer.

4-- Jason Bay's walk-off hit was the first game-ending hit by a Mets player this season. (They previously had won in walk-off fashion on a Justin Turner hit by pitch.) By calendar date, this is the second-latest the Mets have earned their first walk-off hit in a season.

The latest came in the strike-shortened season of 1981, when the Mets did not produce their first walk-off hit until current first base coach Mookie Wilson's game-winning homer against the Cardinals on Sept. 20.

5-- Speaking of anniversaries, the win came on the 25th anniversary of one of the most memorable wins for the 1986 Mets, also a come-from-behind walk-off triumph.

The Mets beat the Astros in 10 innings that day, 6-5, rallying from a 5-3 deficit in the 10th inning. Darryl Strawberry tied the game with a two-run home run off Astros reliever Frank Dipino. Two outs later, Ray Knight -- who had struck out in four straight plate appearances -- homered to win.

Mike Pelfrey and Manny Acosta combined to surrender three two-run homers and the Mets lost the opener to a six-game road trip, 8-1 to the Rangers on Friday night.

Saturday's news reports:

• Barbara Barker in Newsday tells the story of how Dillon Gee, who faces his hometown team Sunday, came to be drafted by the Mets. Gee had been invited to a tryout camp at a junior college, but it was called off because of rain. Writes Barker:

Gee's father, Kevin, had taken a day off from his job with the Fort Worth fire department to attend the tryout. As they prepared to return home, Kevin noticed that the team had pulled a few of the players aside and told them not to leave. "They were going to bus those kids two hours to the Astrodome in Houston for a tryout," (mother) Kelly said. "Dillon was not one of those kids." Kevin approached a friendly-looking scout and told him he really ought to see his son pitch. The scout told him if he wanted to make the drive on his own with Dillon, they would take a look at him. The Mets liked what they saw, or liked it enough to end up making Gee the 633rd overall pick. He signed with them for only $20,000.

• Francisco Rodriguez was not thrilled with any implication he did not want to remain a Met. As for the Yankees, the Post reports they're not interested in him in the Bronx anyway. And a second article in the newspaper quoted an anonymous Mets official saying it's too dangerous to do business with the Yankees, so the only scenario in which the teams would engage in a swap is if the Mets are overwhelmed. Read more in Newsday.

• Read game stories in the Record, Star-Ledger, Newsday, Post, Daily News and Times.

• Pitching coach Dan Warthen said Chris Capuano, who had adominal cramping last outing, will be fine to pitch on turn Wednesday in Detroit. Read more in the Star-Ledger.

• Davey Johnson is poised to become manager of the Washington Nationals. Mookie Wilson approves.

• Jeff Pearlman looks at the Mets getting fleeced of Tom Seaver in an all-time horrific trade. The Journal article notes that Jose Reyes, should he be traded, would not rival the Seaver deal in terms of trading an icon. Writes Pearlman:

Like Seaver, Reyes is often the only reason to watch the Mets play. Like Seaver... well, never mind. "The comparison isn't a good one," says Marty Appel, a baseball historian who spent much of the 1970s as the New York Yankees media relations director. "Tom Seaver was an icon. Tom Seaver was the franchise. Trading him was like the Braves trading Hank Aaron or if the Pirates traded Roberto Clemente. Jose Reyes is a great player. But is he what Tom Seaver was to the city? Not even close."

• After Texas' Josh Hamilton broached the topic of blue eyes being a detriment to daytime hitting, Jason Bay agreed. "I do know that if you have blue eyes you are more susceptible to brightness or whatever," Bay told The Times' David Waldstein. "I know that, and I do have very blue eyes.”

BIRTHDAY: Alejandro Pena turns 52. Pena went 9-4 in two seasons with the Mets, before being traded in mid-1991. Pena eventually would inherit the closer role for the NL champion Braves and was the losing pitcher in Game 7 of the World Series against the Twins. ... Carlos Delgado turns 39. Delgado hit 104 home runs for the Mets and his .506 slugging percentage for the team ranks fourth in franchise history. -Mark Simon