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October 6, 2006

MEET THE METS BLOG

By MARK HALEHey,I'm guessing that most of you –- or hoping that most of you –- have seen the movie "The Breakfast Club." Regardless, the reason I'm mentioning it now...

TIMEOUT

By JAY GREENBERGAs long as Eric Mangini can explain a philosophy of going for touchdowns when third-quarter field goals following long and hard-earned drives can put his team ahead, I...

Training Camp, Day 4

By FRED KERBERThere might be some spots for Mile Ilic to play this season.But you don't want to 7-footer out there right away. He is learning, trying to work his...

Thomas torches Brown playbook

By MARC BERMANCHARLESTON – As it should come as no shock, Isiah Thomas said his new playbook for this season contains absolutely nothing from Larry Brown’s playbook of a year...

UPDATE: Dude, you make tires. Shut up!

After dealing with the initial shock of learning that there are to be no three-star Michelin restaurants in Their Town (like, totally unfair!), San Francisco wants to get even. A...

SITE INSPECTION: Clicks of the week

I spend a lot of time clicking a mouse (Ed: so that's what we're calling it these days). Just ask the guy who had to massage the gremlins out of...

HOTELS: What happened to Horst Schulze?

In 2005, former Ritz-Carlton honcho Horst Schulze, now in charge of the Atlanta-based West Paces Hotel Group, came to New York.As one does, Schulze was in New York to make...

IT'S A BARGAIN: Fly free to Montserrat (sort of)

You are in the Caribbean, the hotel is $107 a night, including taxes and fees. The price includes breakfast and airport transfers. What strange and awesome alternate reality is this,...

AD $$ ON DECK FOR FLOURISHING SNY, METS

Talk about good timing. In what amounts to rare cooperation between the gods governing both baseball and television, the Mets launched their television network, SportsNet New York, the same year...

PEQUOT CLEARED; HEDGE FUND, MACK WON'T BE CHARGED BY SEC

The SEC will not be bringing insider-trading charges against hedge fund titan Pequot Capital Management or Morgan Stanley boss John Mack. Mack - briefly an executive of the fund and...

ROUND ONE: $4.5B - STUY TOWN BIDS TEST HIGHS

Bidders making a run at the Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village apartment complex needed to cough up more than $4.5 billion to make it into the second round, The Post has...

NYMEX'S BIG SHOTS SLAMMED FOR GREED

The New York Mercantile Exchange's most cranky member is up in arms again over the amount of stock being set aside for the exchange's bigwigs in connection with its impending...

DEPT. STORES SALES RISE FROM THE DEAD

Once considered the dinosaurs of retailing, department stores are showing signs of life. When the nation's retailers reported September sales results yesterday, the department store group was among the best-performing...

FOLEY'S FOLLY FUELS POLITICAL TV AD FEUD

With the fallout over former Rep. Mark Foley's sex scandal opening up a new battle front between Democrats and Republicans, the early winners are local television stations reaping an advertising...

PUBLISHING FOES WILL MAKE NICE AT HEARST'S OPENING

PEACE will reign across the publishing world on Monday night when Hearst finally dedicates its new $500 million Norman Foster-designed glass tower on Eighth Avenue with a gala grand opening...

TECH'S TEFLON TWINS; DISPUTES DON'T DENT JOBS AND HURD DUO

As CEOs lose jobs now at an amazing pace of nearly six a day, a new species of Teflon chiefs is evolving with an immunity to ever-expanding boardroom bloodbaths. The...

EX-SAKS CEO JOINS NEW L&T OWNER

Christina Johnson, the ex-chief executive of Saks Fifth Avenue, is joining NRDC Equity Partners as a partner and managing director of retail and consumer investments. The addition of Johnson is...

OPEC DOESN'T FAZE DOW

Despite a new squeeze play by the world's oil cartel to jack up prices again, the move couldn't hold back the roaring blue chips of Wall Street from scoring their...

DISTURBED BURBS

LITTLE CHILDREN (three stars) It ain't "According to Jim."Running time: 132 minutes. Rated R (nudity, sex, profanity, violence). At the Lincoln Square and the Angelika. 'LITTLE Children" is a little...

DON'T DISCOUNT IT

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH (two and a half stars) Checks out.Running time: 103 minutes. Rated PG-13 (profanity, crude humor). At the Lincoln Square, the Empire, the First & 62nd, others....

GARDEN OF UNSPOKEN DELIGHTS

BLOOD TEA AND RED STRING (three stars)WHO needs computers? Certainly not L.A. artist Christiane Cegavske, who uses old-fashioned stop-animation in the wordless fairy tale "Blood Tea and Red String." Thirteen...

CHAIN OF FOOLS

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING (one and a half stars) Slaughterhouse jive.Running time: 84 minutes. Rated R (extreme graphic violence, profanity, sexuality. At the E-Walk, the Orpheum, the Kips...

LOOKING 'UP' YET AGAIN

49 UP (four stars) Life, straight up.Running time: 137 minutes. Not rated (adult situations). At the IFC Center, Sixth Avenue and Third Street. THE justly renowned documentaries in the "Up"...

RIGHT BAIT, BUT IT DOESN'T CATCH

KETTLE OF FISH (two stars) Flounders.Running time: 97 minutes. Rated R (sexuality). At the Empire, the 19th St. East, Loews Village, others. YOU gotta give credit to any first-time director...

EMBALMING FLUIDITY

A CHORUS LINE (two and a half stars)Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 W. 45th St.; (212) 230-6200. WHAT is "one singular sensation" the second time around? It certainly isn't singular. Back...

ROOTS MADE FOR WALKIN'

IT'S frustrating for a musician to feel like he's working in a vacuum. That's what happened to Paul Burch, a rootsy singer/songwriter who was raised in the rural areas outside...

CHORUS OF WORRY; SEASON'S MUSICALS LACK SIZZLE THAT SELLS

WHERE'S the hit? The fall theater season has kicked into high gear, but so far there isn't a single musical throwing off real sparks. Broadway isn't used to this: Every...

LAW & ORDER' TACKLES A MEL OF A CASE

MEL Gibson's drunken, anti-Semitic rant last summer doesn't hold a candle to the one Chevy Chase dishes out on an upcoming edition of "Law & Order." Then again, Mel wasn't...

NOT NECESSARILY THE 'NEWS' - KATIE-CAST 'TODAY SHOW IN DRAG'

SHE showed up the day after Labor Day in a white jacket and asked viewers to give her a signoff to call her own. Not exactly an auspicious beginning-but not...

STARR REPORT

Sunday 'Chris' miss The CW has flipped its Sunday and Monday lineups effective Oct. 9. That means "Everybody Hates Chris," "All of Us," "Girlfriends" and "The Game" move to Monday-...

FAITH-BASED SPACE - 'GALACTICA' PUTS POLITICS IN ORBIT

"Battlestar Galactica" Tonight at 9 on Sci Fi (three stars) SOME people gaze upon the stars at night and wonder about the possibilities of life - and interstellar conflict -...

MARY'S HOT PICK

BE-BOP tenor player Jimmy Heath, "the little man with a big band," is celebrating his 80th birthday with friends at the Blue Note as part of the downtown jazz club's...

PUNCH DRUNK LOVE - THE JOY OF WATCHING PARIS TAKE HER LUMPS

GIVEN that she has been made only more famous despite starring in a sex tape, getting arrested for DUI, publicly embroiling herself in the Brandon DavisLindsay Lohan "firecrotch!" controversy, allegedly...

FOLEY FIASCO PROBE A REAL PAGE TURNER

WASHINGTON - Officials announced yesterday that nearly 50 lawmakers and aides are being summoned to testify before a new panel investigating disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley's X-rated messages to teenage...

WIFE DIES IN FLAT-FIX TRAGEDY

A beloved sales lady at Saks Fifth Avenue in Midtown was killed when a car hit her as she helped her husband fix a flat on the Major Deegan Expressway,...

CARACAS HOSPS A DIRTY SHAME; '1800S' CARE & RATS IN THE E.R.

ARISTITIS Sosa, 16, lay for three days untreated in his hospital bed - his body drenched in sweat and wracked with fever from two bullets in his body. His family...

BOUNCER BEAST CAN'T PICK ATT'Y.

The ex-con bouncer accused of killing grad student Imette St. Guillen lost an appeal yesterday to be represented by a high-profile Brooklyn lawyer and author, Joyce David - whose book...

LETHAL HOME SWINDLER SOBS HER WAY TO JAIL

The "sweetheart swindler," whose plot to force an elderly man to sell his home left him pummeled to death in a park, was a weeping wreck yesterday as she was...

SHERIFF MIKE HAILS 109 IN MAYOR POSSE

BOSTON - More than 100 mayors have joined Mayor Bloomberg's crusade against illegal guns, and they're getting organized with a new Web site and strategy meetings. Bloomberg, who was in...

CRASH KILLS B'KLYN MAN

A Brooklyn man was crushed to death yesterday when an SUV swung around a parked school bus and slammed into the livery cab he was taking to work. The 6:20...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

BROOKLYN *** A Florida man was arrested after police caught him having sex in Prospect Park, authorities said yesterday. Derrick Smith, 42, of Jacksonville, was engaged in a sex act...

9/11 $HRINE WILL TAKE TIME: NEW BOSS BLOOMY

It could take "a few years" for the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation to raise the additional $170 million needed to get the sacred project completed, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday...

JEANINE NIBBLES INTO ANDY'S ENORMOUS LEAD

ALBANY - Despite revelations that she's under federal investigation, Jeanine Pirro slightly closed a still large gap by 4 percentage points against Democratic attorney general opponent Andrew Cuomo, a new...

CITY STAFF PROTESTS SCANNERS

More than 300 city staffers have signed a petition demanding that the agency for which they work remove high-tech palm scanners that log them in and out, officials said yesterday....

VOTERS ARE GOP'D OFF: POLL

WASHINGTON - Congressional Republicans reeling from disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley's unfolding cybersex scandal will next month face an outraged electorate that believes GOP chiefs protected Foley for years, a...

SUSPECT BLOWS AS KIN TAKE STAND

A murder defendant, enraged after members of his own family took the stand against him, erupted in fury twice yesterday, throwing a Brooklyn courtroom into chaos. Terrance Boyd, 26, had...

PERV RAP FOR L.I. TEACHER

A special education teacher on Long Island was arrested yesterday after more than 100 child pornography photos were found on his computer, authorities said. Jeffrey Berke, of the Lawrence Middle...

A PERFECT STORM; FOLEY AFFAIR DOOMS GOP

THIS column is directed entirely to the sleazy, skuzzy, unprincipled and entirely Machiavellian Democratic political operative who helped design the careful plan resulting in the fingerprint-free leak of Mark Foley...

HASTERT: DEMS DOING ME DIRTY

WASHINGTON - Embattled House Speaker Dennis Hastert is blaming Democratic dirty tricks for the widening Mark Foley scandal. Hastert, who has been accused of knowing about Foley's salacious e-mails since...

CANARY COP IS CAGED; BUT GETS OFF EASY

A Brooklyn judge yesterday blasted a rogue cop who admitted to shaking down drug dealers as "having no respect for the law" - then sentenced him to less than the...

KIDS GO TO 'MEDIC' SCHOOL

City teenagers can now become emergency medical technicians while they go to high school under a program being offered at a Brooklyn school. About 100 teens are in the first...

PUMP-$LUMP JOY; GAS PAINS EASE BY BUCK A GALLON AFTER PAINFULLY PRICEY SUMMER DRIVING SEASON

Gas prices have plummeted nearly a dollar a gallon in the metropolitan area thanks to the cost of a barrel of oil dropping from nearly $80 in July to less...

OWENS 'PLAY' BOOK; T.O. TOME FOR KIDS

Dallas Cowboy wide receiver Terrell Owens, who's widely perceived as an arrogant, egotistical "me-first" kind of guy, has written a children's book. About sharing. In a case of "Do as...

'MADAM' STAYS IN BIG HOUSE

Wives of corporate bigwigs everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief - accused mansion-wrecking madam Andreia Schwartz is staying in jail for the immediate future. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael...

FOLEY FIASCO 'PAGE' TURNER; PANEL EXPECTED TO CALL 50 POLS

WASHINGTON - Officials announced yesterday that nearly 50 lawmakers and aides are being summoned to testify before a new panel investigating disgraced Rep. Mark Foley's X-rated messages to teenaged Capitol...

FREEDOM FOR '68 SLAY COP; 'HAPPY HOOKER' FIEND

A Manhattan judge has ordered the state parole board to free a notorious dirty cop who murdered a pimp and a prostitute and shook down the "Happy Hooker" because the...

RUDY RUNS FROM PIRRO-$$ QUERIES; IN WAKE OF FIRM'S 'STEERED' CONTRACT

Jeanine Pirro lost Giuliani's support for a fund-raising event, and now faces questions about why she steered A & P business toward the security firm of Giuliani and Bernard Kerik....

COURT LETS POT KID OUT OF THE JOINT

A state appeals court has taken a stand against reefer madness - throwing out a 12-month sentence for a 13-year-old kid who was busted for smoking pot. The teen was...

'WISE' ASSES IN $1M FRAUD; BOYS-CLUB SHOCKERS

Managers of the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club looted the charity and used $1.2 million in taxpayer money for luxury cars, home renovations and start-up cash for lefty radio...

'ROCKY' ROAD GAL GETS NEW BREAK

Rockefeller drug-law reform crusader Elaine Bartlett - pardoned by Gov. Pataki in 2000 only to be rearrested last year and charged with hiding her murdering, drug-dealing husband from cops -...

NERVOUS-WRECK TRAFFIC ZONES; LIVING ON BUSY STREET MAKES YOU GROUCHY

Traffic may be bad for your social life, according to a study released yesterday. New Yorkers who live on blocks with heavy traffic are less friendly toward their neighbors and...

MA-BASH TRANNY SENT TO PRISON

Trust-fund transsexual Diane Wells, convicted in April of breaking her 84-year-old mother's arm in a battle over a multimillion-dollar estate, was sentenced in Manhattan yesterday to 60 days in prison....

COPS' BANK TRAP

A note-passing bandit who robbed nine banks in Midtown and the Upper East Side was nabbed yesterday by cops staking out No. 10, sources said. All the banks he'd robbed...

TEARS, PRAYERS & FORGIVENESS AS AMISH BURY 4 GIRLS SLAIN IN SCHOOL HORROR

GEORGETOWN, Pa. - Scores of horse-drawn buggies clip-clopped through this heartbroken town yesterday as four of the young Amish girls gunned down by a crazed man were laid to rest....

SHOOT ME FIRST - BRAVE AMISH GIRL'S PLEA - SIBS' BRAVE PLEA: SHOOT US, NOT THEM

GEORGETOWN, Pa. - Staring down the barrel of Charles Carl ROberts' gun, 13-year-old Marian Fisher and her 11-year-old sister, Barbie, bravely pleaded with the madman to shoot them and spare...

FOLEY FIASCO PROBE A REAL PAGE TURNER; PANEL IS EXPECTED TO SUMMON 50 POLS

WASHINGTON - Officials announced yesterday that nearly 50 lawmakers and aides are being summoned to testify before a new panel investigating disgraced Rep. Mark Foley's X-rated messages to teenaged Capitol...

NEW BREAK FOR ROCKY DRUG GAL

Rockefeller drug-law reform crusader Elaine Bartlett - pardoned by Gov. Pataki in 2000 only to be rearrested last year and charged with hiding her murdering, drug-dealing husband from cops -...

CITY CHASTISED ON SPECIAL ED

All 33 city school districts fail to meet the needs of its special-ed students - and more than two-thirds of the districts need immediate intervention, state education officials said yesterday....

SNIPER 'TOYED' WITH COPS

The man accused of going on a deadly shooting spree in Queens this summer taunted cops from his hospital bed shortly after his arrest, saying, "What's that, a Smith &...

'SHOOT US, NOT THEM,' BRAVE GIRLS PLEADED IN BID TO SAVE SCHOOLMATES

GEORGETOWN, Pa. - Staring down the barrel of Charles Carl Roberts' gun, 13-year-old Marian Fisher and her 11-year-old sister, Barbie, bravely pleaded with the madman to shoot them and spare...

BX. DOC NABBED IN $5M RX SCAM

A Bronx doctor and pharmacist were busted along with a group of gangbangers yesterday in a $5 million Medicaid scam, law-enforcement sources said. Dr. Deepak Sachdev, 50, who works at...

B'KLYN PERV SUSPECT GRILLED

Police last night were questioning a suspect in the sex attack on a 7-year-old Brooklyn girl in an alley near her Williamsburg home. The Hasidic girl was walking with a...

CLASSROOM EXTRA - NEW YORK'S CARIBBEAN SON

That face on the $10 bill is full of history. Founding Father Alexander Hamilton might have been born 1,300 miles away on the Caribbean island of Nevis, but he would...

TEEN CHARGED WITH $1M LOVE SCAM

A petite bottle-blonde befriended lonely elderly men and conned them out of more than $1 million, authorities charged yesterday. Natasha Marks, 19, was held on $500,000 bail in Queens Supreme...

FUGITIVE KILLER GUILTY IN QNS. SLAY

Docs pin 'hops' on rabbits A man who escaped prosecution for years by moving to Ohio and adopting a new identity was convicted in Queens Supreme Court yesterday for an...

SCHOOLS FLUNK AT SPECIAL ED

Every school district in the city fails to meet the needs of its special-education students, with more than two-thirds of them requiring immediate intervention, state education officials said yesterday. In...

WIFE KILLED HELPING HUBBY FIX FLAT

A beloved sales lady at Saks Fifth Avenue in Midtown was crushed to death in a car accident as she helped her husband fix a flat tire on the Major...

HOOKY ROOKIES - SCHOOLKIDS CLEAR OUT FOR YANKEE DAY ACTION

A sudden epidemic of Yankee fever held the city in its grip yesterday, infecting thousands of children and adults who skipped school and work to take their medicine at the...

CHARITY FAKED KID VACCINATIONS, TOO

The Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club wasn't only ripping off the city - it was also forging health reports to prove that kids in its nursery school were getting...

SHOOT ME FIRST - BRAVE AMISH GIRL'S PLEA

GEORGETOWN, Pa. - As she stared down the barrel of madman Charles Carl Roberts' gun, 13-year-old Marian Fisher and her 11-yearold sister, Barbie, bravely pleaded with him to shoot them...

WILLIE PLEASED WITH PEN PALS

Maybe the Mets should just let their bullpen handle Game 3. The team's relief corps has supplied as many answers as the rotation has question marks. The combination of Pedro...

COULD BE NO MORE FOR NOMAR

The image was a microcosm of both Nomar Garciaparra's injury-riddled career and the Dodgers' offensively-challenged struggles against the Mets in this NLDS. Legging out an infield hit in the fourth...

TRACHSEL SET FOR GAME 3

MET NOTES Willie Randolph made it official after last night's 4-1 victory over the Dodgers. Steve Trachsel will pitch Game 3 tomorrow. Meanwhile, there appear to be potentially two candidates...

COMIN' UP SMALL IS BIG

WE ALL like home runs, the towering tape measure blasts like the one the Mets' Carlos Delgado launched over the center field wall in Game 1 of the NLDS against...

CHAVEZ CASHES IN CHANCE

For two innings last night, the Mets struggled to get anything started against Dodgers starter Hong-Chih Kuo. Then an unlikely sparkplug ignited them in the third. Endy Chavez, the journeyman...

FLICKS OF THE WEEK

Wait 'Till Next Year: The Saga of Chicago Cubs (2006) This doc dissects the tormented past of the Cubs and the loyalty of their fans despite all the team's troubles....

POSTSEASON PLAY, PRESEASON FORM

THERE'S something about MLB's postseason that turns ordinary stupid into the extraordinarily stupid. Wednesday, from the moment the Twins' Torii Hunter misplayed Mark Kotsay's single into a tie-breaking, two-run, inside-the-parker,...

GIANTS GET TIRED OF FOLLOW THE LEADER

GIANT NOTES The Giants hope to experience something new and exciting this Sunday: Recall what's it like to go out in front for more than a brief moment. In three...

LAVAR SHOWS THICK SKIN; GIANTS LB WON'T FIRE BACK AT FORMER TEAM

Only LaVar Arrington knows what will be swirling around his head and pounding through his heart Sunday when he lines up for the first time against his former team, the...

CANO NOT WORRIED ABOUT COLD SWING

There was probably no one hotter than Robinson Cano from the time he came off the disabled list on Aug. 8 through the end of the season. But since the...

WRIGHT HANDED BALL FOR GAME 4

When Yankees pitching coach Ron Guidry was asked about his Game 4 starter yesterday morning, he answered, "I haven't gotten that far yet." The Yankees made a decision after nine...

METS HOT OUT OF THE BOX

PUERTO Rican boxer Miguel Cotto was at the Tavern on the Green Wednesday holding a lunchtime press conference to announce his December bout with Carlos Quintana. The two unbeaten fighters...

CLAWING BACK ; SCRAPPY TIGERS SHOW THEY BELONG

The Tigers came storming down the tunnel that leads from Yankee Stadium to the visitors' clubhouse whooping and hollering as if they had just knocked the Yankees out of the...

CHAD'S ARMED & READY; JETS QB MOTIVATED BY PHOTO OF INJURY

Whenever Chad Pennington sits at the office desk in his Long Island home, the Jets quarterback is reminded of the absolute nadir of his NFL playing career. The reminder is...

BREAKTHROUGH DEBUTS ; PLAYOFF NEWBIES GET IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME

The second inning that Guillermo Mota pitched made him the exception. Mota came on for the Mets on Wednesday in the sixth inning of Game 1's 6-5 win against the...

WINNING EARNED DOUBLE-A MANAGER THE BOOT

YANKEE NOTES The Yankees' Double-A Trenton manager, Bill Masse, says he has been fired for a reason that doesn't exist. Minor league head Mark Newman told Masse on Tuesday that...

GRUNWALD HIRING CHANGE FOR ISIAH

A LOT was said and written about Isiah Thomas' generally well received recruitment of Glen Grunwald to help run the Knicks' front office so El Presidente can fixate on working...

'STRANGE' AFTERNOON FRUSTRATES MUSSINA

Wednesday night, Mike Mussina made like Sam Champion. He certainly didn't pitch like a champion yesterday afternoon. Mussina said he turned into an amateur weatherman and helped postpone Game 2...

LOOKING FOR OLD ROGERS

The Yankees hope they see the Kenny Rogers of old tonight. They hope they get the guy who blew up in the 1996 postseason like the special effects in a...

WAITING FOR A-ROD

OPPORTUNITY knocked, louder even than Alex Rodriguez gets knocked. With the bases loaded and two outs in the first inning of yesterday's 4-3 loss to the Tigers in Game 2...

CHAVEZ GETS NOD; GREEN TAKES SEAT

MET NOTES Endy Chavez started last night, but Shawn Green was the benched outfielder. Chavez was in right field last night for his first career playoff start, while Cliff Floyd...

DEVILS NAME ELIAS CAPTAIN

RALEIGH, N.C. - The Devils pick up tonight right where they were eliminated last May, this time with Patrik Elias named their seventh captain. Elias was appointed their first post-lockout...

COMIN' UP LITTLE WHEN IT COUNTS

Grady Little on the griddle, being questioned about his questionable bullpen decisions? It's a scene New York fans know quite well, first gifting the Yankees a trip to the 2003...

GRAND OPENING; RANGERS SHOW SIGNS OF SPECIAL SEASON

Rangers 5Capitals 2 It was another opening. It was another show. It was a 60-minute slice of the steak and the sizzle the Rangers can bring with them to the...

GLAVINE'S GEM PUTS METS UP 2 ; AMAZIN'S HEAD TO L.A. WITH COMFY LEAD

GAME 2Mets 4Dodgers 1 The past really couldn't be fixed now. Tom Glavine was aware that was impossible. In Glavine's previous playoff start as a Brave four years ago, he...

YET ANOTHER CHANCE FOR JOHNSON TO EARN 'STRIPES

WE KNOW now that Randy Johnson is never going to be the pitcher the Yankees thought they were obtaining, an April-through-October dominator. That is fine now. They don't need that...

BOSS CALLS OUT ALEX

Alex Rodriguez's lack of success has once again drawn the ire of The Boss. After Rodriguez suffered through a hapless 0-for-4 afternoon in the Yankees' 4-3 loss to the Tigers...

ALL EYES ON RANDY IN MOTOWN

GAME 2 TIGERS 4 YANKEES 3 On the way out of last season's failure, Randy Johnson promised Joe Torre he would be different this year. The Yankees have their fingers...

TOM STELLAR IN OCTOBER RETURN

BILLY WAGNER could sense this would be a little different commute right away, from the moment his car-pool partner, Tom Glavine, slammed the door on the passenger side. All across...

AND JUSTICE FOR PAUL - FORMER DODGERS COMBINE TO MAKE AMAZIN' 'PLAY'

THERE was a wonderful bit of progressive redemption that may have been camouflaged by the crazy nature of the play that will, for now, be referred to around Shea Stadium's...

AMAZIN'S HEAD TO L.A. WITH COMFY LEAD

GAME 2 METS 4 DODGERS 1 Cliff Floyd said he figured that Tom Glavine had been getting caught up with how his recent playoff outings had gone. "He wanted to...

GRADY'S SQUAD SIMPLY SCUFFLING

The Dodgers have been clutch this year, leading the NL in batting and hitting with runners in scoring position. The top of their order has set the table, been the...

PAVING THE WAY - DREADFUL DODGERS EASY PREY FOR AMAZIN'S

THIS series is over. The Dodgers are dead. Nomar is hurt. Grady Little's team can't hit or run the bases, which is one of the most vital but overlooked aspects...

LUGO'S IN N.Y. STATE OF MIND

Dodgers infielder Julio Lugo grew up in Brooklyn rooting for the Mets. Last night, he started Game 2 of the NLDS trying to beat them. Next year, he may well...

DELIVERY WRIGHT ON TIME

The talk of the playoffs began in April. When it finally arrived Wednesday afternoon, David Wright experienced everything he had heard about for six months. "It was exciting," Wright said....

AMAZIN'S NEED ON TIME FLOYD'S POWER TO DITCH DODGERS

THE opportunity is there. The Mets can feel it. They are focused on the task at hand. That was clear listening to Cliff Floyd last night before Game 2 of...

PEREZ MAY BE NEW MR. OCTOBER

When the Mets made the deal at the deadline with Pittsburgh, Oliver Perez was viewed as a throw-in- a guy with potential who might be able to contribute a spot...

BETTOR'S GUIDE: WEEK 5 - SAFE WITH 'SKINS

THERE was some snickering about new offensive coordinator Al Saunders' phonebook-thick playbook during the Redskins' 0-4 preseason and 0-2 start. Nobody's singing that tune anymore, however, after the 'Skins put...

NET ROOKIE NOT SUCH A BAD SHOT

Somewhere along the way - maybe by shooting 18 percent on 3s as a UConn freshman - Marcus Williams got a rep as a shaky shooter. The Nets, thankfully, say...

DARIUS A NO-GO - DEFENSEMAN MISSES OPENER FOR RANGERS

For the first time in his 14-year NHL career, Darius Kasparaitis was scratched from a season-opener. And while the defenseman was clearly not pleased with Tom Renney's decision to keep...

KNICKS' MR. DO-IT-ALL

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Jared Jeffries has a lot on his shoulders. The utility role player might be asked to play all five positions, including center, create peace in the fractured...

'HOME' LAND SECURITY - GIANTS OUT TO DEFEND SWAMP VERSUS 'SKINS

This Sunday is less about the rivalry and more about holding serve in the division. Sunday at the Meadowlands, the Giants, coming off a bye week, need to beat the...

A DIAMONDBACK IN THE ROUGH - SNAKES' BYRNES A TV HIT

The Diamondbacks' Eric Byrnes came across like a future TV star in his guest appearances on ESPN's Baseball Tonight this week. Now the Phillies' Jimmy Rollins steps into the TV...

5 QUESTIONS FOR PETER GAMMONS

This week, NYP TV Sports' Andrew Marchand spoke with ESPN's Peter Gammons. On Sunday, Gammons, 61, returned to ESPN full-time just three months after nearly dying from a brain aneurysm....

MARCHAND'S MEMO OF THE WEEK

To: MLB Viewers From: Andrew Marchand Re: Chris Berman CC: ESPN Execs Dear Viewers: There was only one way to remove Chris Berman from MLB playoff playbyplay - take the...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Lawrence Roach of Seminole, Fla., doesn't think he should have to pay his ex-wife alimony - because she underwent sex-change surgery and is now living as a man. "It's humiliating...

Why we're fans

By MIKE VACCAROSo I get a phone call from a Mets fan friend on Wednesday morning."Hey," he says. "You think we can take a game off the Dodgers in this...