“Despite where we are in the standings the quest for a championship continues,” said Manuel, obviously referring to next year and the future and as to why he had a brief meeting with his slumping team with three weeks of games remaining.

The Marlins would sweep the three-game series embarrassing the Mets 13-4 in the finale and in the final few innings Citi Field was almost desolate.  Once again many no-shows in the announced crowd of 37,620 and those who remained saw sloppy baseball. So perhaps Manuel called the meeting because he has lost control of his team?

“The effort for the most part has been there,” said Manuel. “It’s some of those little things. I don’t think as a group, individually yes.”  But the Mets as a whole have resembled a team that could care less about their future, especially the past few games against the Marlins.

New York fell 16 games under .500 at (62-78) for the first time since finishing 71-91 in 2004.  Florida the past two years came to town and was responsible for the two Mets collapses in September. This year their visit in September was making sure they stayed in the NL East pennant race.

So the Mets proved to not be the spoilers. Instead they pitched well, hit home runs and saw the Mets lack of focus on the field get them more runs. Starter Bobby Parnell walked two straight batters with the bases loaded and Anderson Hernandez made an error that put Florida on the board early.

And later on in the game Angel Pagan blundered again when he forgot how outs there were when he was on base and was doubled up/  Pagan has been hitting well, three more hits and a 10-game hitting streak but there have been constant mistakes on the bases and some costly errors in the outfield.

The Mets as a team are planning ahead to the future, and Pagan is one of those individuals that Manuel has cause for concern. He could be a quality fourth outfielder next season but the mental mistakes, or lack of focus could put him out of their plans as the team tries to rebuild.

“There are a lot of positive things he does unfortunately it’s unacceptable,” said Manuel about Pagan’s obvious lack of focus on the bases. Last week on the Mets last road trip, Pagan made similar mistakes on the bases that proved to be costly. Manuel has not pointed the blame individually at Pagan and the Mets outfielder realizes it has to get better before it gets worse.

Said Pagan about his blunders of late “Right now I am having a tough time on the bases. “That can happen to anybody. I have to keep my head up. I am willing to keep working at it and getting it right. I am having a rough time and will be the first to admit it.  All I can do is come back the next day and get it right.”

But the Mets can’t afford to continue losing focus, even if Manuel calls another team meeting in the final weeks.  They want to finish with some respectability because in all probability, if they don’t, next season the novelty of a new ballpark will be over and Citi Field could resemble a ghost town.

Perhaps that is why Manuel had to have a meeting with his troops.  A good move to do one had this awful play been coming early in the season, but for the Mets all of this losing has been a constant thing since the month of May. Regardless, Parnell (3-8) once again pitched inconsistent baseball and that is also a concern.

“To come out of the first inning and not throw strikes is aggravating,” said Parnell who walked a career high five.  And very aggravating for the Mets once again having to play come from behind baseball that was a part of the Marlins series

Now it is on to Philadelphia and Atlanta for the Mets, games that were supposed to mean something in the standings, Instead Manuel has to try and keep his team focused on finishing with some respectability.

e-mail Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com

Sidelined since June 22 with a bone bruise on his right knee, Beltran missed 70 games and was one of the many offensive threats in the Mets lineup that went on the disabled list. Prior to his injury, New York trailed first place Philadelphia by two games in the NL East.

His team is playing out the schedule and perhaps shutting down and preparing for spring training was a better option for Beltran. The bruise has not completely healed but it is good enough to do what Beltran does best, that is perched in his spot out in center field and becoming the offensive threat the Mets hoped to have in what has become a dismal season.

There he was, Beltran leading off the second inning. The announced City Field crowd of 37, 474, but much smaller because of the fans who decided to stay home, gave Beltran a nice ovation. He struck out swinging but his mission was accomplished after a long rehab process.

“It felt good being out there with the boys,” he said.  “Today I felt like a kid in the playground, like when I take my daughter to the playground.  She’s having fun and that’s how I felt today. It felt good.”

Beltran looked good running the bases as he lofted a double to left field leading off the sixth inning. Same result though, with or without Beltran in the lineup as the Mets lost the first game of three to the Florida Marlins 4-2.  And Beltran almost became a hero in the seventh inning. His bases loaded fly ball to deep left was caught and the Marlins had their victory.

“I just got under that one,” he said.  It has been missing, that long ball threat in the Mets lineup since Beltran went down along with Carlos Delgado.  There was also a sliding catch in center off a ball hit by the Marlins Jorge Cantu in the eighth inning.  Mets manager Jerry Manuel could be seen smiling after the catch but will be cautious when using Beltran for the remainder of the schedule.

Though Manuel and the Mets lost another one, it was a reprieve to see one of their regular guys back in the fold. “It will probably take him a few games to really find his rhythm at the plate,” commented Manuel. “I think once that starts he will get on track. He looked pretty good.”

Manuel thought that eighth inning drive to left would make it.  “He gave it a pretty good ride,” said the Mets manager. But with the bases loaded this season and two outs the Mets are batting an abysmal .073.  A healthy Beltran next season, along with David Wright and perhaps Delgado, or another potent hitter can make a difference with the bases loaded. For now though, having Beltran in the lineup again can bring some optimism during this dull September stretch at Citi Field.

Hanley Ramirez and Cameron Maybin supplied the runs for Florida hitting two-run homers off Mets starter Tim Redding (2-5) in the third and fourth innings. Florida, with the lowest team payroll in baseball stayed in the playoff hunt, six games behind the first place Phillies in the NL east division and 5/1-2 behind NL wild card leader Colorado.

“Probably the worst day I had command with a fastball,” said Redding who threw 102 pitches in five innings. “When you’re not locating your best pitch the other team knows that,” he said.  Luis Castillo went 3-for-4 and his fifth inning single to second base, which allowed Angel Pagan to score form third, was his 38^th infield hit which tied him for the National League lead with Michael Boum of Houston.

But the attention was on Beltran who could make the final weeks of the season a little more interesting for Manuel and Mets fans. And even more interesting if Delgado returns as expected next week.

Second game of the three game series Wednesday evening at Citi Field and Beltran is expected to be in the cleanup spot again.  “The knee feels good,” said Beltran. And those are good enough words to hear for the Mets and their fans in what has been a season of all bad news.

e-mail Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com

The crowd was anticipating something with flash bulbs going off with every throw of the nine-pitch at bat.

It was a great moment for the Mets, during this early season and right now, the biggest home run in Citi Field’s four games.  That’s what the Flushing faithful should be happy about, not Sheffield’s personal accomplishments.

For the fans at the new park to treat Sheffield like his name is Darryl Strawberry absolutely makes no sense. Up until a few weeks ago, the 40 year-old made his living killing the Mets. This is a former Marlin, Brave and Yankee, who has hit 30 of his 500 home runs off their favorite team. That’s the second most against any club, with only the Giants – he has to impress his buddy Barry Bonds – giving up more dingers at 34.

This is not your hero. Or your guy, even if he is related to one of your guys.

Of course, Sheffield was gracious after his shot, saying, “Everything happens for a reason. There was a reason why I hit 19 last year and got released to come here to do it on the biggest stage. That’s what makes it so special for me and my family.”

Very well, and this is a special moment for Sheffield. But this is not a watermark moment for the Mets. Just remember this, if Sheffield cost more than $400,000, he would probably have hit his 500^th elsewhere.

Yet, that’s the story of the Mets. They get the players to achieve their milestones here, after earning the right to get them elsewhere. In recent years, we saw it with Tom Glavine getting his 300^th win, Pedro Martinez hitting his 200^th and Carlos Delgado smacking his 400^th home run.

This is not a recent phenomenon, though as Duke Snider got his 400^th homer as a Met, and Willie Mays hit his 650^th and 660^th in blue and orange. Even the always media friendly Eddie Murray hit his 400^th with New York, after collecting most of them in Baltimore.

For some strange reason though this all makes perfect sense. Mets always traded on other team’s success. Heck, even the new ballpark is build to look like the former home of the Brooklyn Dodgers, so why not add Sheffield’s milestone to the list.

And if you missed tonight, Delgado is only 28 homers away from his 500^th, so the Mets can ride his Toronto years as well.

Of course this will continue and the Mets aren’t the only team reaping the benefit of other’s milestones, but it seems like it happens more in Queens because the club hasn’t produced players that put up those kind of numbers. Uncle Doc and Strawberry imploded upon themselves, while Edgardo Alfonzo’s back just conked out on him. Pretty much, that’s about it.

Maybe David Wright and Jose Reyes will be around long enough to have their Met milestones enjoyed by the Met fans, instead of seeing their Amazin’ success cheered by those wearing other colors.

But for now, this is all you have, which is more of a statement of the franchise than anything else. So, go ahead Met fans, cheer your long time villains for killing your team, because after two collapses and one Hall of Famer in 47 years, there’s no other place to go.

Although the Mets lost the game, 6-5, the fans did enjoy the new ballpark, which the Mets will now call home.

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Sure, the ping of the metal bats sounded strange and the Mets staff was just as confused patrons trying to get around, but this was baseball back in Queens, just like it oughta be.

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The Mets open Citi Field for two preseason games against the Boston Red Sox on April 3rd and 4th and then the official opening day will be nine days later on April 13th versus the San Diego Padres.

Click on the video to take a closer look.

According to some of the workers at the site, Shea should be entirely gone by Feb. 20. As you can see by the pictures and video below, only the infield sections remain – Gates B, C, and D on the outside -at the old stadium and now, workers are taking down the upper deck on the third base side.

With this type of progress, it looks like there will be plenty of parking at Citi Field on Opening Day.

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