You see, the Wilpon era has been one totally void of any wrinkles to the extent that if a player is said to spit too far he is weeded out. It almost seems beyond comprehension that they would take a chance on Wally Backman managing their short season Single-A affiliate, the Brooklyn Cyclones, is a pleasant surprise.

“My heart never left New York,” Backman said in a Coney Island press conference. “I’m excited about the opportunity for a new start with an organization I love.”

The fiery former second baseman, 50, had an infamous short four-day stint as manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2004. After holding an offseason press conference, the team discovered that the Oregon native had a checkered past that included domestic disputes and an arrest for DUI and quickly let him go.

“I like to play an aggressive style of baseball, and I’ve always been partial to speed and defense,” said Backman, who spent nine seasons at Shea Stadium. “My goal is to teach the kids who will be playing for me – both on and off the field – and help them to become better ballplayers and better people. There’s a right way to play the game and that’s to play hard, smart and give it everything you’ve got.

“That’s how I always played and that’s how I’ve always taught,” continued Backman. “My job is to prepare my players as best I can, and hopefully get them to Citi Field in a few years.”

Too bad that Backman himself will not be at the big league ballpark. He talks about aggressiveness and the right way to play the game. Those traits have been missing for the past few seasons, especially since Jerry Manuel has been in charge. Nice guys finish last, they say, and if not for the hapless Washington Nationals, that is exactly where the Mets would have found themselves this past season.

How do you think Backman would have reacted when Jose Reyes threw one of his public tantrums? Or when Fernando Martinez failed to run out a pop up that fell to the ground and was thrown out at first while standing in the batter’s box? Those countless base running mistakes would also have become a thing of the past with a hard-nosed guy like Backman wearing the captain’s hat.

Always giving themselves a fail-safe net, Mets VP of Business Operations David Howard stated that there is a zero tolerance clause in Backman’s contract. Because he has basically been blackballed since the Arizona debacle, Backman had little choice but to agree to that nonsense. He has been plying his trade but had to do so in Georgia for an independent league club.

Backman may not have hit rock bottom but he was closer to that surface than the other. This may be the first step in making his way back to ‘The Show.’ As a matter of fact, when the Mets were looking for a replacement for Art Howe, Backman was on their short list. General manager Omar Minaya ended up settling on Willie Randolph.

Things may come full circle and the politically correct Mets have gone against the grain for the first time in a long time by making this move. A baby steps, indeed, but one that is pointed in the right direction.

The New York Mets are expected to announce next week that their former second baseman has been tapped to manage the Class-A Brooklyn Cyclones, a move that the 50 year-old hopes leads to bigger and better things.

After being one of the hottest managerial prospects in baseball in 2004, Backman was named manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Yet he was dismissed after only four days due to alleged domestic disputes and a bankruptcy surfaced.

Out of affiliated baseball, the former “Wildboy” of 1986 bounced around the independent leagues, managing the South Georgia Peanuts in 2006 and then the Joilet Jackhammers from 2007-2009. Each year Backman was a great success with his teams and each year he was looking to get back with an affiliated team, but to no avail.

That was until Mets COO Jeff Wilpon decided to give the sparkplug a second chance by offering him an interview during the last week of the 2209 season. Although, it was thought Backman would get the Double-A Binghamton job, he was given Brooklyn, an affiliate the Mets always want to be successful.

The official announcement could come next week sometime with a possible press conference at KeySpan Park.

If they can nab the 31 year-old, it would be a real step in the right direction for the Mets. Yet, there’s still a lot of work to do before Figgins hoists his No. 9 jersey at Citi Field.

First they have to figure out where he would play. A third baseman last season, that position is secured by David Wright, so the Mets would have to move Figgins to either second base or left field. Although a huge hole is open in left, the team would prefer to have the free agent play second base, where he would be continue his one-two punch with Jose Reyes out in the field.

Of course, Luis Castillo is still on the team with two years and about $12 million coming to him, so general manager Omar Minaya is shopping his incumbent to open the door for a new, more multi-dimensional player. Already there have been rumors about Chris Snyder and Lyle Overbay, so the feeling is something will happen with the Mets much maligned second baseman.

Yet, more is needed than just Figgins. The Mets also will kick the tires for Matt Holliday and inquire about ace Roy Halladay, but something tells me that the organization will come up short there.

Although COO Jeff Wilpon told fans in a letter and the press a day after the season, the Mets will have a similar payroll as last season, it also means the club will need to make some tough decisions when it comes to filling positions. Make no mistake, the club won’t have a Yankee-like payroll of $200 million, rather, it will come in between $145 – $150 million, so there will be some limitations here.

All of that means the Mets will have between $25 – $30 million to play with coming into this offseason with the expiring contracts coming off the books, and factoring in pay raises for next season. Figgins will cost between $8 – $10 million so right off the bat, you are down to $22 million for a couple of bats and a starter.

If they can dump Castillo, they will probably have to take a similar contract back, which means that will be somewhat of a wash. Yet if it fills a hole, like catcher with Snyder or first base with Overbay, it will mean more money to spend elsewhere.

It also means the high priced free agents will be too rich for the Mets if they get Figgins. Scott Boras wants $18 million a season for Holliday and if they Mets could pull off the trade for Halladay, he will command a Johan Santana kind of contract of $22 million a season.

If Holliday’s price comes down to say between $12-$15 million per season, then the Mets would be able to afford the former Rockies outfielder. It will also allow the club to start the season with Omir Santos behind the plate if Castillo can’t fetch a catcher like Snyder.  It will also allow the team to use Daniel Murphy at first with Ike Davis waiting in the wings down in Buffalo.

The bottom line is this though…the Mets will only have about $15 million to spend on a big bopper in the lineup if they add Figgins.

Then the Mets will have about $7 – $10 million to get another starter, like Jason Marquis or Randy Wolf, and fill in the bullpen.

All of this sounds nice in November and will mean nothing if Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana, and David Wright are not healthy next season. But it is a plan and a start, which is all a Met fan can hope for right now.

(BRONX, NY)  There were a few tense moments in the press box before Tuesday’s World Series opener, as the rain seemed to intensify the closer it got to game-time.  As if on cue, at about 4:00 PM, the precipitation slowed, then stopped.  A few moments later, the sun shone on Yankee Stadium.  It continued to shine long after Apollo’s chariot had completed its journey – on the Phillies.

There were some that questioned whether the new Olympus would be as intimidating to opponents as the palace it replaced.  At least for one night, the Phillies proved them right, as Chase Utley provided the thunder of Hephaestus, and Cliff Lee delivered the lightning of Zeus in a 6-1 win over the AL champs.

Twice, Yankees’ ace CC Sabathia grooved a fastball over the heart of the plate to Utley, and twice, the Phillies’ All-Star second baseman made him pay.  It was all the offense the Phillies would need, and gave the team a critical 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven Fall Classic.

The last six teams to win Game 1 – and 10 of the last 11 – have all gone on to win the World Series.

***

Hard to believe the Phillies waited until Utley was 26 to give him a full-time job.

Utley shared second base with Placido Polanco for the first two seasons of his career.  But in 2005, a new manager named Charley Manuel, awarded him the starting second base job after a solid spring training.

He finished his first season as a full-time player with a .291 average, 39 doubles, 28 homers and 105 RBIs.  He’s put up the best numbers of any second baseman in baseball over the last five seasons, and is a player, said Fox broadcaster Tim McCarver, who is a “gamer”, which he considers a compliment of the highest order.  From a guy that played with Joe Morgan and Pete Rose, that’s quite a call-out.

“He had a good night tonight,” said a deadpan Charlie Manuel.  “He’s got real quick hands … he’s got a good cut, and very good to coach.”

Utley went just 4-for-19 in the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers.  But he took advantage of some early command issues by Sabathia, who was otherwise solid for seven innings.

Lee, on the other hand, was brilliant, striking out 10 and allowing just one unearned run in a complete game win.  He was sharp from the first pitch, continuing what has been an incredible run in a Phillies’ uniform.

When Ruben Amaro Jr. finally told then-Toronto GM J.P. Riccardi that his asking price for Roy Halladay was too high, he set his sights upon another Cy Young Award winner.  When he did finally acquired Lee from the Indians, he did so without relinquishing either his top prospect (Kyle Drabek) or his impressive left-handed rookie pitcher (J.A. Happ).

***

Pedro Martinez will start Game 2 for the Phillies on Thursday, coming off a stellar performance in the NLCS against the Dodgers, throwing seven scores innings in an eventual  defeat to the Dodgers, 2-1.

The veteran right-hander provided the Phillies with some solid pitching down the stretch, going 5-1 with a 3.63 ERA in nine starts.   In 12 career postseason starts, Martinez is 6-2 with a 3.13 ERA.  However, at old Yankee Stadium, he went 0-2 with a 6.28 ERA in three postseason games, two of which were starts.

Utley is exactly the type of gritty, rise-to-the-occasion player which has filled the Phillies’ roster the past two years, and those traits might be what ultimately carry the Phillies to their second straight world championship over a team which is widely considered better than the team which owns 2008 World Series rings.

Yes, that’s right, it’s the Yankees who have to take that title from Philadelphia, not the other way around, as it might have often seemed leading up to this season’s World Series.

Behind Utley, the Phillies served early notice that they won’t be intimidated in the least by any sort of Yankee postseason mystique.

For all the talk of how dominant Sabathia had been this postseason (and, he was) and how powerful the Yankees’ lineup is (and, it is), it seems that a certain thing was forgotten by many fans and media members about the team in the opposing dugout –- that Philadelphia, not New York, is the defending world champion, and that the fightin’ Phils, with a payroll of nearly S100 million less than that of their 2009 World Series counterparts, possess both the ability and all of the intangibles needed to overcome the mighty, favored Yankees.

The other main story in Philadelphia’s 6-1 Game 1 victory besides Utley’s heroics was that of the Phillies’ own ace starter, Cliff Lee, who finished a complete game as the only pitcher in baseball history to strike out 10 batters while allowing no walks and no earned runs in a World Series game.

Pitching on the grand stage as a Game 1 World Series starter in Yankee Stadium, it was Lee who showed up the Yankees and shut them down the way many thought Sabathia would stop the Phillies’ powerful lineup.

Lee certainly didn’t shy away from such an opportunity. “I’ve never been nervous in the big leagues,” he said, a few moments after winning the first ever World Series game played at the new Yankee Stadium, a victory which comes six months and twelve days after Lee won the first regular season game ever played in the same building, on April 16th, as a member of the Cleveland Indians.

After very nonchalantly sticking out his glove to catch a pop-up on the mound by Johhny Damon in the 6th inning as if he was shagging a fly ball during batting practice, and later in the 8th inning, fielding a bouncing ball behind his back, to retire Robinson Cano, Fox television announcer Joe Buck remarked, “His body language is like he’s pitching in spring training… Cliff Lee has made it look easy.” Tim McCarver jokingly added, “Yeah, he’s just getting his work in.”

That attitude typifies the Phillies and why they lead the World Series 1-0 as last year’s champions even though the Yankees are favored and thought of by most as being a stronger team from top to bottom.

As Utley said, it doesn’t matter in the Phillies’ clubhouse what others think of them or what they think of a team like the Yankees in comparison. “We have confidence, we know we have a good team,” Utley said.

Without Utley, who set a major league baseball record in Game 1 by reaching base in his 26th postseason game (matching his uniform number), the game’s final two innings (during which the Phillies tacked on four runs after Sabathia left the game), might have played out much differently, and Lee’s spectacular efforts might have gone to waste.

However, it didn’t matter to the clutch left-hand-hitting Utley that Sabathia hadn’t allowed a home run to a left-handed batter all season. Utley hit the ninth pitch of his third inning at-bat, sending a two-strike, 95 mph fastball into the right field seats for a 1-0 Phillies’ lead. Sabathia then retired the next eight hitters until Utley’s next at-bat. So, what did the ultimate gamer Utley, do then? He smacked another 95 mph fastball, this time, on an 0-2 pitch, even further than his earlier home run, into the right-center field stands, to put the Phillies up 2-0, in the sixth inning.

Before Utley, the only other left-handed hitter to homer twice off a lefty pitcher in a World Series game was legendary Yankee Babe Ruth, in 1928, off of the Cardinals’ Bill Sherdel.

It’s only one game, and this World Series is far from over. But, Utley’s play on Wednesday night exemplified the scrappy, determined nature of the Phillies, and why the Yankees may be on the verge of yet again, vastly outspending the rest of major-league baseball with free agent mercenaries like Sabathia, only to possibly fall short of a world championship yet again.

Recent history doesn’t bode well for New York in that regard. The last six World Series winners have all won Game 1, as Philadelphia did on Wednesday night. The team that started that trend? The underdog Florida Marlins, who sharing many of the same characteristics of Utley and his current Phillie teammates, fought their way to a 4-2 victory over the heavily favored Yankees, in 2003.

If you’re a Met fan, you have to.

And, Angel fans on the west coast?

If you’re wondering who in New York might support your team in its quest to accomplish the unexpected in the Bronx this weekend (winning a Game 6 as well as a Game 7 against C.C. Sabathia), look toward the suffering fans of New York’s other team, which just completed its worst season in six years, finishing 23 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies. Yes, the defending world champion Phillies, otherwise known as one of the reasons Met fans are on your side for at least one more game in this year’s American League Championship Series.

Met fans have reason to search for something to cling to this October after enduring one of the most brutal years in their team’s 48-year history. It was a season of ineptitude and bad luck, of off-the-field issues and poorly handled public relations.

The Mets had a relentless string of injuries to seemingly every other player they put on the field this year (including freak ones, like second baseman Luis Castillo injuring himself walking down the dugout steps during a game). They lost games in which Castillo dropped a routine pop-up, turning the final out of a win into an excruciatingly embarrassing loss, and in which the right fielder they traded out of New York (Ryan Church) failed to step on third base, costing the Mets a possible winning run in Los Angeles. There was the firing of their former Vice President of Player Development, Tony Bernazard, who reportedly challenged players of the Mets’ minor league affiliate in Binghamton to a fight, while shirtless, in the locker room. And, there were the stammering, incoherent, bumbling press conferences of the man who is supposed to represent the face of the Mets’ franchise, general manager, Omar Minaya.

To top it all off, the Met faithful are just one more New York Yankees’ win from ending their nightmare of a 2009 baseball season with a World Series matchup between their two most hated rivals: the Phillies and the Yankees.

It’s easy to realize Met fans’ natural loathing for the Phillies once Philadelphia replaced Atlanta as the Mets’ latest nemesis in the NL East division. Ever since the Mets were one big hit away from the World Series, losing in Game 7 of the 2006 National League Championship Series to the St. Louis Cardinals, the Phillies have been everything the Mets have not.

Philadelphia has been clutch, largely homegrown, and hugely successful, while the Mets have been chokers, failing with imports via ill-advised trades and misguided free agency moves. The sentiment among most Met fans is that the success which the Phillies have been enjoying over the past three seasons could have, and perhaps should have, been that of the Mets. And, perhaps they’re right.

The Mets had the biggest collapse in Major League Baseball history in 2007, finishing 5-12 while the Phillies went 13-4 to overcome the Mets’ once-thought insurmountable 7-game lead with just 17 regular season games left that year. The following season, the Mets were again passed by the Phillies, having blown a 3½-game September lead, while stumbling to the finish line with a 7-10 mark, setting the record for the biggest consecutive September collapses in major league history. After a pair of successive seasons like that, 2009, with the rash of injuries, a myriad of fundamental mistakes, and a leadership circus, seeing the Phillies back in the World Series, defending last year’s championship, is too much to take for Met fans.

Likewise, the disdain for the Yankees among Met fans is equally understood. With only two championships in their team’s history, and none since 1986, the mere thought of the Yankees’ comparative success often makes Met fans cringe.

Already hearing frequent Yankee fans’ boasting of their team’s 26 world titles (including a run of four in five years in the late 1990’s and 2000), seeing the Mets’ cross-town rivals back in another World Series this year might be cause enough for Met fans to skip viewing this year’s Fall Classic altogether.

As one caller on New York’s Mega sports radio station, WFAN, a self-described diehard Met fan put it this Thursday afternoon, “I’d root for Al Qaida before I root for the Yankees.”

Yes, when it comes to baseball in New York, the emotions run that deep, especially when a New York baseball fan’s biggest rivals are involved.

A Met fan’s second favorite team is usually whoever is playing the Phillies or the Yankees. So then, what does a Met fan do if those two teams play each other in Major League Baseball’s biggest series?

Alas, Met fans, there may yet be hope for you this October.

Remember 2004? Of course you do. You know, the moments that if they were pitched to Hollywood in a script, would have been denied for not being plausible enough? The Boston Red Sox, down three games to none after a blowout 19-8 home loss to the Yankees in Game 3, go on to win four straight games, with Curt Schilling and his iconic, bloodied red sock in Game 6?

Well, tell me you weren’t thinking the same type of thing is possible this year after the Angels’ comeback tonight in Game 5 of this year’s ALCS.

Should the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim not pull off such a series comeback (and they don’t deserve to with a ridiculous name like that), the conundrum of Met fans is that there would be no October bandwagon to hop aboard next week. Nope, no darling Cinderella team to knock out the hated Phillies or the despised Yankees. No wild-card Florida Marlins to stun the Yankees in six games as they did in 2003, after the Mets finished just 66-95. And, no scrappy, overachieving Tampa Bay Rays to root for to beat the Phillies, as Met fans did during last year’s World Series.

Tell me honestly that when the Yankees wiped out a 4-0 Angels’ lead with a 6-run seventh inning after Angels’ starter John Lackey, who had been cruising along for six innings, you didn’t say, “Damn Yankees! They did it again! NOW, who do I root for, or should I just skip the Phillies-Yankees World Series and hope that Omar somehow figures it all out in the offseason?”

And then, when the Angels stormed right back with three in the bottom of the seventh, to win 7-6, and send the series back to the Bronx, weren’t you thinking about 2004 all over again? And, were you justifying it by thinking, “Well, sure, the Yankees have followed up the majors’ best home record of 57-24 this year with a perfect 4-0 at the new Yankee Stadium, but so what?! The Red Sox were down 3-0 in 2004 and THEY did it! This is only 3-1! Let’s go Angels!”

You know, you thought it, Met fans. I know I did, as I’m one of you.

So, Met fans, do you believe?

Do you believe in Angels?

If you want to stomach watching this year’s World Series, you should.

After the Angels took a 3-2 lead in the top of the 11th inning on a Chone Figgins flair RBI single to left field off Yankees’ reliever Alfredo Aceves, the Yankees were saved by Alex Rodriguez’s clutch opposite field home run home run which barely cleared the right field wall and tied the game, 3-3, in the bottom of the 11th. Rodriguez’s blast came on an 0-2 mistake fastball from Angels’ reliever Brian Fuentes, who would have been a lot wiser to make Rodriguez chase a pitch or two with the favorable count and light-hitting, little-used Freddy Guzman on deck.

A-Rod’s homer eventually led to Izturis’ game-deciding error in the bottom of the 13th inning. With one out and runners at first and second, Izturiz, ranging to his left, made a nice backhand stop in the hole between first and second, robbing Melky Cabrera of what likely would have been a game-winning single. The smart play for Izturis would have been to get the sure out at first base and let Angels’ reliever Ervin Santana go after Yankees’ catcher Jorge Posada with runners at second and third and two outs.

Izturis however, made a poor decision, trying to start a double play that the Angels would have had little chance of turning. He threw the ball wildly toward second base, past shortstop Angels’ shortstop Erick Aybar, into short left field, allowing Yankees’ pinch hitter Jerry Hairston, Jr. to score the game-winning run from second base on the Angels’ second error on cold rainy night at Yankee Stadium, the fifth error of game combined for both teams, during an otherwise classic of a postseason game.

“I was a little aggressive there,” Izturis said. “I’m not scared to be aggressive. Unfortunately, it cost us the game.”

As, a result, the Yankees head to Anaheim up two games to none instead of being in a 1-1 battle, and all is okay with Yankee fans and with their current perception of A-Rod.

However, in the “What-Have-You-Done-For-Me-Lately” city of New York, and in the “Only-A-World-Championship-Is-Acceptable” world in which the Yankees live, had the Angels evened the series early Sunday morning, A-Rod might have been vilified for yet another playoff failure after flying out to center field with the bases loaded, to end the bottom of the 12th inning.

Failing in the 12th inning despite saving the game in the 11th would give most teams and players a pass.

But, fair or not, that’s not usually the case in New York. Not with the Yankees, and especially, not with the controversial A-Rod, and his past playoff failures, off-the-field issues, and admitted steroid abuse.

This year, A-Rod to this point, has certainly changed his reputation of a great regular season player who fails in the playoffs in New York. He’s hit in all five Yankee playoff games in 2009, with a .368 batting average, a .409 on-base percentage, and an .842 slugging percentage, while smacking three home runs and driving in eight runs.

And, he’s proven to his detractors that he can indeed be clutch in October. Against Minnesota, A-Rod tied Game 2 of the American League Division Series, 1-1, with a two-out single in the 6th inning before hitting a huge game-tying two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth, allowing the Yankees to win that pivotal game, 4-3, on a Mark Texeira walk-off home run in the 11th.

Perhaps, the difference in postseason production this year in comparison with past seasons is due to a changed mental approach, and not succumbing to the pressures of producing in a city like New York and for a storied franchise like the Yankees. “This whole year I’m playing with no expectations,” Rodriguez said after that Game 2 win.

In Game 3 of the same series, A-Rod’s home run in the 7th inning drew the Yankees even, 1-1, before they went on to a 4-1 victory and a three-game sweep of the Twins.

But, this is New York, this is the Yankees, and this is A-Rod.

And thus, a whole different measuring stick is used to evaluate postseason success.

The memories of New York sports fans in general, are short, especially when it comes to the Yankees. And, even more so when it comes to A-Rod because of the factors mentioned above, as well the insane money that A-Rod commands — all of which causes many Yankee fans to often demand the impossible from A-Rod.

There’s no doubt that this has already been a vastly different postseason for A-Rod in New York than in past years. But, you have to wonder, even with his 2009 success through the 11th inning on Sunday morning, if Izturis makes a different decision in the 13th, and the game ends later with an Angels’ win, are Yankee fans pointing to that 12th inning, and again questioning A-Rod’s ability to come through when it matters most?

So when the Atlanta Braves scored eight runs in the second inning Wednesday evening, all off Mets starter Bobby Parnell, Mets fans had to look forward to memories of that championship team of 40 years ago. This Mets team is not that team of 1969. They, more and more are reliving memories of those 1962 Mets that could do nothing right.

Luis Castillo has had a positive season at the plate. Since July 1, The Mets second baseman has led the National League in on base percentage ,but he opened the door for the Braves in that second inning by failing to cover second base that would have got the Mets out of the inning. That paved the way for the Braves to continue their onslaught, a 15-2 rout.

Five more runs would score after Castillo failed to cover second on a two-out grounder to Anderson Hernandez off the bat of Garett Anderson with runners at the corners. “When Garret Anderson hit the ball Anderson kind of thought Luis would be covering,” was the explanation from Mets manager Jerry Manuel.

But it was more than the Castillo blunder and big inning for Atlanta that caused most of the 38,602 fans at Citi Field to leave the ballpark after the sixth inning. Manuel would manage the game as if it was a spring training contest. He would constantly make changes to the lineup, switched Castillo and Anderson from second to short two different times before Castillo was lifted for good in the fourth inning.

By that time the Mets were on their way to losing their 64^th game of the season, and now for sure are playing the role of spoilers against division opponents Atlanta, Florida and Philadelphia. “Luis has been playing extremely well and I wanted to give him a little break,” explained Manuel about his decision to lift him early.

Parnell, making his third Major League start would allow nine runs and nine hits in three innings. And it all went downhill for him after Castillo failed to cover second. “My game plan is to make them hit the ball,” said Parnell. He added, “Ground balls got through.”

Former Met Ryan Church reached base three times, the Braves hit three home runs including two long balls that landed on the bridge out in right field at Citi Field. The 15 runs allowed tied a season high which was also done on June 14^th against the Yankees.

Atlanta had a season high 18 hits and their highest scoring game of the season.

So perhaps Manuel, with all the changes from the fourth inning on, was starting to see what could be done for next season. “It gives us an opportunity to see guys get at bats,” he said.  “See if they can get some enthusiasm and energy in those situations,” said Manuel.

But energy and enthusiasm, at least on this night left the ballpark in that second inning moments after Castillo failed to cover second base. The only bright spot was for the Braves who managed to score the eight runs after giving up eight in an inning the night before as they kept pace with Colorado in the NL wild card standings.

“They got to communicate before the play,” commented Manuel about the Castillo-Anderson play.  Interesting to see what Manuel does in the rubber game of the three-game series Thursday evening with his infielders.  Johan Santana (13-8) gets the start for New York against (5-9) Kenshin Kawakami of the Braves.

e-mail Rich Mancuso:  Ring786@aol.com

After last night’s improbable 9-8 Yankee win, the Bombers swear Mystic and Aura made their way up from Scores, but the Mets seem a little more subdued after Luis Castillo dropped the final out, allowing the tying and winning runs score.

“We aren’t going to ostracize Luis,” Manuel said. “We’ll support him. I still believe it’s early enough where we can overcome this , but it’ll be a tremendous test for us.”

Perhaps, but this much is for certain, Castillo will be never forgiven for this by the Flushing faithful, he is now goes into the failed Met category reserved for Bobby Bonilla, Mel Rojas, and Aaron Heilman and now should expect the type of treatment that goes with that moniker.

Even the Mets knew that when the clubhouse opened to the press. You could hear a pin drop as the players showered with only the goat of the game sitting silently hunched over by his locker.

To his credit, Castillo took all the blame (hard to pass it on to someone else) and said, “I fell bad… “It’s a routine fly ball. I grabbed at it and . . I tried.”

No one is criticizing Castillo’s effort this season, after all he came into camp in shape and has hit .277 with 14 RBI, but it’s not going to be enough to win back the fans. The second baseman needs to do more and frankly, he may not have it in him.

It’s not Castillo’s fault that he is a glorified singles hitter, but one that hits below .300 isn’t worth having on the team. If he was someone who hits .330 and walks a lot that different. But not .277 at $6 million a season and certainly not for two and a half more seasons.

No, the Mets need an upgrade at second base. Although a golden one was out there with Orlando Hudson just waiting to be scooped up this past offseason. But the Mets passed figuring Castillo could have a rebound.

Now this.

If any other Met dropped that ball, he would probably be forgiven, but not Castillo, who is becomes Citi Field’s first official pariah. It’s now up to Omar Minaya to fix the mess he made. He must figure out how to move Castillo before the deadline, even if it means taking a bad contract back.

Jose Reyes will come back and that means Alex Cora could just slide over to second, and the Mets can sign Hudson this offseason, as he is on one-year deal with the Dodgers.

But the other option – keeping Castillo – now seems to be in the category of unthinkable. This error will now loom over this club all year. Sure the Mets say they support him, but do you really think anyone wants him out there when the game is on the line?

We saw that last night when Castillo took himself out of Stengel’s old discussion on who can really play this game.