But Redding is a realist and knows returning to this club after his one year, $2.25 million contract expires after this season is suspect at best, so the next six or so starts are a tryout, not just for the Mets, but the rest of baseball as well.

“I don’t want to say this season is cashed in, but a lot of guys will get an opportunity to see if they get brought back,” said Redding who is now 1-6 with a 6.10 ERA on the season. “I would love to be back where I can play with the team that’s 100 percent healthy for all 162.

“But that remains to be seen and if these next six weeks are an audition so be it. I am just going out there trying to do what I did tonight and however long it lasts.”

The great performance tonight doesn’t exonerate Redding for his poor pitching up to this point. In fact, other than Bernie Madoff, no one has stolen more money this season than this tomato can.

For most of the year, he has been a batting practice pitcher, putting the ball down the middle of the plate and then turning his head as it screamed out of Citi Field. He pitched flat, with no sign of improving until the Mets moved in to the bullpen after his 5-run, 2.1 inning performance against Pittsburgh back on July 2nd.

But the ‘pen did something to the 31 year-old. Instead of continuing on down the road to oblivion, Redding improved because of he was able to get ready to pitch a lot quicker.

“Sometimes as a starter you try to be too fine too early,” he said. “What the bullpen allowed me to do is get ready quickly and not worry about it. Sometimes I gave up runs where I pitched well and there were times I gave up runs when the ball was right down the middle on a tee.

“But I found out I have four pitches to throw and I have all four. The situation I was in was for one inning and now that I am back as a starter wherever I might be, I have the confidence that I can throw four pitches as a starter.”

It remains to be seen if this fringe pitcher is in the Mets plans for next year. In fact, the Redding decision is down on the list. After all, they have to make a decision on the general manager, manager, catcher, first baseman, setup man and even Gary Sheffield before the Mets figure out what to do about their barely hanging on fifth starter, who was a Fernando Nieve injury reprieve away from being released.

Yet, for one night, Redding pitched up to his contract and if he can do it over his next six or so starts, he may figure his way back in the Mets plans.

If not, maybe another team will take him.

And Redding, being a smart man, know this.

This week, 30 Major League baseball teams will be finalizing their rosters for opening day.  Many of these teams will add to their roster the surprise 25th man; the man none of us ever heard of six weeks ago.  Maybe the man is coming off an incredible six weeks of spring training that can’t be ignored.  Or maybe the man chose the right time to be there when somebody else tweaked an oblique or pulled a hamstring.   This week, men like that will experience the greatest day of their lives.

This is the time of year to be positive.  The weather is turning.  Baseball season is about to begin.  Fans can hold their heads up on opening day knowing, at least before the first pitch, their team is in a tie for first place.  (You hear that Pittsburgh & Kansas City?)  In a way, this is the most wonderful time of the year because of that thing we call hope.

For those 25th guys who will be getting their first MLB call ups, they will never forget this time of year.  Nor will they forget this time in their lives.  “Chad” or “BJ” or “Dustin” or “Jose, you’re coming with us” are words these guys will never forget.  They’ll never forget adding their cars to the list of vehicles to be sent up north.  They’ll never forget walking through that locker room of veterans and All Stars and idols, knowing they’ll be teammates for real, not just in the fantasy world of spring training.  They’ll never forget that phone call to Vancouver or Little Falls or El Tigre, telling their families that they made it, they actually made it.  Their families will never forget it too.

Some of you may not understand.  How can this be as wonderful as the exchanging of vows or the entry into the world of a new child?  Are we really taking into perspective where baseball falls?  Is this really the “greatest day” but really not?  You know, Jimmy, it’s great but it’s great in terms of occupation and career aspirations.  That’s what you mean, right?

No.  I’m saying for these guys, this greatest day they are about to experience will truly be the greatest day of their lives for the rest of their lives.  Imagine being 25 years old.  For the last 19 years, all you’ve done is eat, sleep and think about baseball.  It’s not just a passion.  It’s an obsession.  (Don’t just think U.S. either.  Keep in mind the baseball-crazy nations like the Dominican and Venezuela and Japan.)  All you ever wanted was to make it to the Majors.  All your family ever wanted for you was to make it.  And for 19 years you’ve struggled and sweat and starved and now you’ve made it.  You’ve accomplished your dream.  That’s been your sole life-goal, to make it in the Major Leagues.  Even harder is the fact that there are limited openings each year.  It’s not just a goal.  It’s been an insane gamble.  Anybody can get married.  Anyone can have a kid.  Not every young man can make a living playing baseball.

If a little girl plays wedding with her friends and dreams of her wedding day, can’t a little boy dream of the same?  Only it’s not a wedding day, it’s opening day.  The white dress has been replaced by the home whites.  The cathedral is called Jacobs Field or Dodger Stadium or PNC Park.  The visitors still come to see you, only they’re paying.  You don’t have to buy them food or issue them invitations or worry about their lodging.  They can worry about that themselves.  There’s still music.  There’s a groom’s & bride’s side, only there are dugouts for home and away.  There isn’t just one man presiding over the affair, there are five of them, also dressed in dark clothing for the occasion.  There are photographers.  There’s video recording the event.  This is the dream of millions of little boys.  See how understandable it is?

The most wonderful time of the year is upon us.  For 30 men in baseball, they will never forget what is about to happen to them.  Pretend you’re one of them for a moment and allow yourself to smile.  There’s nothing wrong with a dream come true.  It happens every year.  And that, my friends, is why baseball is the greatest sport on the planet.

Jimmy Scott is probably the greatest pitcher you’ve never heard of.  Visit Jimmy Scott’s High & Tight to read more from Jimmy.  You’ll also hear a new interview every Monday morning with former MLB players, agents, wives and others; giving new outlooks on this great game we call Baseball.  Go there now to hear Jimmy’s latest interviews with Nelson & Alisa Figueroa, Craig Swan and Fred Claire.  You can follow Jimmy on Twitter or Facebook.

Running his first Spring Training, the Mets manager gets a chance to put his mark on the club as he put the team through  various drills and stresses the Manuel brand of baseball.

“I think when you acquire guys that you felt that you were lacking, an area that you were lacking in, and then you acquire an excess in that area, you’ve got to feel pretty good,” Manuel said to reporters in Port St. Lucie as the Mets opened camp. “Not necessarily a stamp of any type, just making sure that your team understands the fundamentals, leaves healthy and know how to play the game. And if you have good players, you should have some success.”

Manuel will be doing some things different from his predecessor Willie Randolph. Seeing a lack of fundamentals, the manager will stress those aspects to his club during the next six weeks.  He will also experiment, saying he will put much maligned second baseman Luis Castillo in the leadoff position, while using Jose Reyes in different parts of the order.

“Spring training you have some freedom to look at things differently,” he said. “And you have to try to do everything you can to try and exercise that time frame where you can look at things differently and say, he might look good there, and see what it might look like without it costing you, why certain things are being done.”

Mainly though, Manuel wants to communicate more with his players, be it the stars like Reyes, David Wright, or Carlos Delgado, all the way down the last reserve on the roster.

“There’s going to be a lot of conversations,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of conversations on those different things. Once the games start, there will be a lot of applause and celebrations for the little things that are done in the course that didn’t manifest itself statistically. There will be a big emphasis on those things, a huge emphasis.

“And also, for me, I will have to find some way to reward that versus rewarding a guy going 2 for 4, or he’s hot, but maybe he didn’t the things that I thought were necessary for us to win the game and a guy went 0 for 4 and did those things, well, I might play the guy who went 0 for 4 because he did the things that I thought were conducive to winning versus a guy who everybody said, he’s hitting .500. These types of things. It’s kind of a ticklish situation, but I think it’s a necessity for what needs to be done for this particular group.”

Manuel is trying to prevent the 2009 Mets suffering the same fate as the Met teams of the last two seasons. He knows it’s a 162 game season and the Mets need to strive through that. If this club is to return to the playoffs, then he says the emphasis needs to be on winning, rather than individual stats. So if that means Reyes hits third with Castillo leading off, then so be it.

“I think that message is so critical, especially for teams in New York,” Manuel said. “They care about the game and the W and the Ls versus how you do or how many you hit or how many you strike out. I think if I can get that point across, or if my staff can get that point across, then I would feel very good and very confident with the talent going into a full season.”