And in true baseball tradition his teammates recognized his effort with a cool baseball nickname.

“Blackjack”

On the board in the clubhouse the rotation for the weekend was posted with “Merry Mex” Ollie [Perez] going tonight, “El Pedro” [Martinez] tomorrow and then “Blackjack” Pelfrey.

The name actually came about when the Mets were in St. Louis and Pelfrey visited one of the local casinos. “I had a really good run one night,” said Pelfrey who mentioned that blackjack was his favorite game. His teammates picked up upon it and thus one of the better baseball nicknames was born.

Blackjack will try not to bust the Mets on Sunday Night Baseball before the break, as he tries for his eighth win on the year. He has a 3.93 ERA

***

Also on the board is the Mets rotation after the break. Johan Santana will open up the calendar second half on Thursday in Cincinnati, followed by John Maine and Perez.

***

Omar Minaya spoke to reporters today and he says the team hopes Angel Pagan will be ready to return right after the All-Star Break, while Orlando Hernandez is slotted to come back at the end of the month.

The general manager also said Trot Nixon is far off from coming back, while Moises Alou will probably have the surgery, ending his season and possibly his career.

It’s an important start for the Mets ace, because the team has failed to win in his last six starts went 0-4 with two no decisions. But he does have a 2.96 ERA for the year.

And it doesn’t get any easier with Jonathan Sanchez with his 8-4 record on the mound going for he Giants.

The lineup will be the same, except Ramon Castro will be behind the plate tonight.

As a side note, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, last night the first time in the 170 times the Mets and Yankees played at home on the same date, both New York teams threw shutouts.

More later….  

1) Church is DLed with Nick evans back up. Evans is here for tonight’s game.

2) It’s Jet night with six former Jets who played at Shea here tonight. The list: Greg Buttle, Emerson Boozer, Randy Beverly, John Schmitt, Marty Lyons and Wesley Walker.

3) A terrible call in the first with Fred Lewis running out of the baseline and the umpire calling him safe. Is it me or are there some really bad calls this year?

4) Beltran his a bomb and the Mets are up 3-0 in the second.

More later.

Have a safe one.

“For a manager, that’s what you hope for, a relaxing game,” said interim manager Jerry Manuel. “But no game is totally relaxing because you have to wait to the last out. For us to get those runs early in the manner on which we got them was very good.”

It was the type of game Manuel hoped for after he called an infield drill and stretching session at 4:00 p.m. and his hero was the guy he gave some rest yesterday, as David Wright hit two home runs to pretty much put the game away in the second.

This is what Manuel needs to get jump started. After playing down to the Mariners in the first two games of the series, the Mets proved there were the better team tonight from the opening pitch. John Maine pitched into the seventh with Wright and Jose Reyes jumpstarted the offense. If Manuel can bottle that formula, he would because it’s the best possible way for the Mets to pile up the wins.

With the type of starting staff on this team, there’s no reason for Manuel and pitching coach Dan Warthen to expect a cheap outing. Each of the starters can toss 110-120 pitches a game and when they are stretched out, the bullpen will get the rest it will need to stay fresh over the second half.

Then there’s the offense, which has been a sore spot over the last few days. With too many bench players starting and disappointments on the right side of the infield, the Mets need Wright, Reyes and Carlos Beltran to come through in the big spots. Those three have the ability to take over contests and keep the Mets on offense on track, while mending outfielders Ryan Church and Moises Alou work their way back into the lineup.

If Jerry Ball works, then the Mets will have a chance to win a weak division, where there are no clear cut leaders and no team seems ready to seize the opportunity before it.

Yet, it needs to continue and with the Yankees coming in this weekend, it just may. The baseball gods seem to have shined on the Mets with both Joba Chamberlain and Mike Mussina missing the series. The Mets will see Dan Giese and Sidney Ponson in the doubleheader on Friday and with the new Mike Pelfrey and Pedro Martinez on the mound for the Amazins’ it could be the beginning of a nice weekend.

With both the Cardinals and Phillies to follow, this is make or break time at Shea.

“It’s going to be a good stretch for us,” Manuel said. “It’s always somewhat dangerous when you come off an emotional series like the one against the cross-town rivals. And then you are chasing Philadelphia. We have to get up emotionally and stay that way for two weeks. Especially playing these teams, it’s going to be important for us.”

Maybe just as important as an 8-2 laugher against the worst team in baseball.

And most certainly, he did not deserve to be fired under the pale moonlight.

At 3:13 a.m., the word came to the inbox on the computer: Randolph, Rick Peterson and Tom Nieto are out and Jerry Manuel, Dan Warthen, Ken Oberkfell and Luis Aguayo are in.

No one is arguing with the decision and many of the Met followers felt this should have been done a few weeks ago. But to do it when New York was asleep was just disgraceful.

And even though the timing was wrong, the decision was the right one. No matter how anyone feels about Randolph the manager, Randolph the person was getting roasted every time his team lost a few games.

Maybe that’s why it didn’t matter what the team did in Anaheim last night, even though it had a 9-6 win over the Angels. It didn’t matter that the players ran hard and actually looked like they cared. And it didn’t matter that Randolph’s departure was announced during the wee hours in New York.

It was time to end any distractions and allow the players, front office, fans, and new coaching staff to move on and possibly salvage the season.

With the way the National League is construed right now, the Mets are still in the race. A hot stretch by the club will vault them back into the Wild Card race and possibly challenge the Phillies for the division. It would never have been accomplished with Randolph still at the helm, simply because any faltering would bring “Willie Watch” back into the forefront.

So now Manuel takes over. A capable baseball man, who led the White Sox to the playoffs in 2000, it’s the 54 year-old’s job to right this ship, while hoping his work will be good enough to take the interim tag off his title at the end of the season. It won’t be easy, but he has to relate to the players by showing a more personal side, which the stoic Randolph had trouble doing.

Oh, he will have help with Warthen, Oberkfell and Aguayo taking over for the departed Peterson and Nieto. And it could work. Back in 1999, Bobby Valentine lost his key lieutenants in June, lighting a fire under the club, all the way to Game 7 of the NLCS. And who could forget the job Buddy Harrelson did when he replaced Davey Johnson.

Maybe Manuel can relate to Carlos Beltran or keep Moises Alou on the field. Maybe Warthen can fix the bullpen and manage it so the relievers’ arms are not falling off in June. Maybe Oberkfell can help find Carlos Delgado’s swing. It can happen.

Yet, too many times it fails and maybe the 2008 Mets are not as good as the so called experts – including this space – believed and the beginning of the season. Too many miles on players, whose baseball cards were in their primes five years ago and not enough youthful enthusiasm running in the clubhouse.

So now everyone who wanted Randolph to go got their way and there are no more excuses. The spotlight falls upon general manager Omar Minaya, because if the Mets fail, it will be his skin in the line of fire.

And if Minaya goes, he deserves the same fate as Randolph – twisting in the wind under the pale moonlight.

Before the game, the media spoke with Tom Renney, who seemed very loose as his team looks to take control of this series by going up 3-0.

Jaromir Jagr came in and showed the press his Stanley Cup Ring, which he tells us is the “2008 ring.”

The Blueshirts will tote the same lineup out there, why change?

As for the Devils, they will desperately try to get back in this series which could be over by Wednesday if the Blueshirts keep winning.

Philly won today with Marty Biron coming through with a shutout, so it’s a brand new series with the Flyers taking home ice.

Oh and the Mets lost 9-7, but we won’t go there.

More later….

Tonight we get the Devils in New Jersey, which should be a blood war if the first five minutes is anything. Sean Avery is already out with a five for fighting and the hits are coming.

But the Rangers are 5-0 this year against the Devils and need this game if they hope to win the division or the East.

More later as it comes in….

Some things about the game, Carlos Beltran is back on his first day, Carlos Delgado is back and Johan Santana is pitching.

It will be interesting to see how they perform.

I will have more later when I get to talk to the players.

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