Palm Beach Post – The Marlins decided to hand out vuvuzelas at last night’s game. The result was panned by critics and players as the worst giveaway idea ever.

NY Daily News – Wally Backman, Cory Vaughn and the Brooklyn Cyclones are 2-0.

NY Post – Jerry Manuel has thrown John Maine under the bus. Again. Classy.

Amazin’ Avenue – Sam Page on Omar Minaya, former Expos, John Maine and Jerry Manuel making roster decisions. The best Mets-related post you’ll read all day.

ESPN New York – Mark Simon says Johan Santana isn’t putting hitters away with two strikes.

Bronx Brass Tacks -Yankee blogger Ryan Tandy lectures Mets fans on the art of winning, the danger of Jose Reyes waking sleeping giants, and an instance of giraffe-speak.

Brooklyn Met Fan – BMF says yesterday’s loss was acceptable.

Long Live Shea Stadium – A scouting report on today’s Yankees’ starter, C.C. Sabathia.

TODAY’S GAME

The Mets (39-29) will play the Yankees (42-26) in the rubber game of the subway series this afternoon. Johan Santana (5-3, 3.13) will face C.C. Sabathia (7-3, 4.00). First pitch at 1:05pm.

Discuss…

BONUS VIDEO: This is from last night’s Marlins-Rays game. Listen to those vuvuzelas… UGH.

New York Times – Tyler Kepner thinks the Mets are starting to resemble the 2005 Yankees.

Wall Street Journal – R.M. Schneiderman has the info on tonight’s OTHER subway series – the Brooklyn Cyclones visit the Staten Island Yankees to kick off the NY-Penn League season.

Wall Street Journal – Kevin Clark reports on Cyclones manager Wally Backman and his long road back to affiliated baseball.

OnTheBlack – Kerel Cooper breaks out the graphs to show how David Wright has cut down on his strikeouts. I imagine Kerel is a whiz when it comes to PowerPoint presentations. Take that as a request, Kerel.

MetsBlog – Matt Cerrone answers the question, “What is an extended spring training game?”

LoHud – Chad Jennings has the pitching matchups for the Mets-Yankees series:

Tonight
RHP Javier Vazquez (6-5, 5.43)
vs.
LHP Hisanori Takahashi (5-2, 3.48)
7:05 p.m., MY9

Saturday
RHP Phil Hughes (9-1, 3.11)
vs.
RHP Mike Pelfrey (9-1, 2.39)
1:05 p.m., YES Network

Sunday
LHP CC Sabathia (7-3, 4.00)
vs.
LHP Johan Santana (5-3, 3.13)
1:05 p.m., YES Network and TBS

TONIGHT’S GAME

The Mets (38-28) take on the Yankees (41-25) tonight at the house that public funds built. Hisanori Takahashi (5-2, 3.48) will be opposed by Javier Vazquez (6-5, 5.43).

Discuss…

New York Times – David Waldstein has a GREAT story about Chris Carter’s legally blind grandfather who just saw Carter play at Progressive Field. This is an early frontrunner for tomorrow’s Feel Good Friday link.

ESPN New York – Adam Rubin reports that Jason Bay is not in the starting lineup tonight.

MetsBlog – Jason Bay wanted to play tonight, but according to the new rule, you don’t play the day after almost sustaining a serious injury.

The Jewish Week – A strange story here… The Mets are being sued by Kosher Sports, for allegedly barring the concession company from selling its food at Mets games on Friday night and Saturday. The Mets claim the lawsuit is without merit.

ESPN – Buster Olney has a rundown on the pitchers that the Mets may trade for. My money is on Jake Westbrook or Kevin Millwood.

SNY – Michael Salfino says the Mets have a hole at second base, but he doesn’t think Akinori Iwamura is the answer.

BrooklynMetFan – BMF says Angel Pagan is the Mets’ MVP so far this season. Hard to argue with that…

TONIGHT’S GAME

Tonight, the Mets (37-28) go for the sweep against the Cleveland Indians (25-39). R.A. Dickey (4-0, 2.78) will bare his knuckles against possible future Mets hurler Jake Westbrook (4-3, 4.62).

Here is the starting lineup for tonight’s game vs. the Cleveland Indians, courtesy of the Mets PR Dept.:

Reyes SS
Pagan CF
Wright 3B
Davis 1B
Francoeur RF
Carter DH
Blanco C
J. Feliciano LF
Tejada 2B
Dickey RHP

Bay rests his charley horse, Jesus Feliciano gets a start, Frenchy moves up in the lineup, and the Animal provides him protection. Let’s hope R.A. Dickey’s knuckler keeps dancing.

Post your comments, links, pictures below …

Links on the way… Stay tuned.

Long Live Shea Stadium – LLSS has a scouting report on Indians’ starter Mitch Talbot.

Mets Kool Aid – Did you realize the Mets have won 9 out of 10 games since they 86’d Gary Matthews Jr. and Oliver Perez? I didn’t… (Get it? 86’d? Whatever…)

Newark Star-Ledger – Andy McCullough reports that Jerry Manuel would like to see Ike Davis bunting on occasion against the shift.

213 Miles From Shea – A look at some decent recent late-round draft picks.

MetsBlog – Matt Cerrone reports that Arizona may be shopping Kelly Johnson. Interesting news, but Akinori Iwamura will come at a much cheaper price.

Tonight’s Game

Tonight, the Mets (36-28)are taking on the Indians (25-38) in Cleveland. Ohio native Jon Niese (3-2, 3.61) gets the ball for the Mets and he will be faced by Cleveland’s Mitch Talbot (7-4, 3.59).

Links are on the way… Links are here!

Cleveland Plain Dealer – Paul Hoynes has the lowdown on Johan Santana’s dominance of Jhonny Peralta and Travis Hafner.

MetsToday – Joe Janish has an in-depth preview of the upcoming currently underway series in Cleveland.

FanHouse – The Wilpons are apparently discussing the possibility of bringing the New York Islanders to play in a yet-to-be-built arena next to Citi Field.

MLB Trade Rumors – The Mets have officially released Gary Matthews Jr.

The Daily Stache – Video of Wally Backman’s epic ejection continues to make its way around the internet.

The Daily Stache – Frank Gray thinks Chicago might be close to trading away some veterans.

TONIGHT’S GAME

The Mets (35-28) take on the Cleveland Indians (25-37) in Cleveland. Johan Santana (4-3, 2.96) gets the ball for the Mets and will be taking on Justin Masterson (2-5, 4.74).

And for all these things and so much more, feel free to…

Discuss…

MetsToday – Matt Himelfarb takes a look at the Savannah Sand Gnats pitching staff.

OnTheBlack – Kerel Cooper recaps the Mets’ offense performance during the Baltimore series.

The Daily Stache – So now Roy Oswalt wants to maybe kinda sorta be a Met? Maybe…

And here is an interview of Jesus Feliciano, conducted by SNY’s Ted Berg:

TOMORROW NIGHT’S GAME

Tomorrow night, the Mets (35-28) take on the Cleveland Indians (25-37) in Cleveland. Johan Santana (4-3, 2.96) gets the ball for the Mets and will be taking on Justin Masterson (2-5, 4.74).

And for all these things and so much more, feel free to…

Discuss…

NESN – Apparently,  only 11% of Connecticut residents identify themselves as Mets fans. No surprise there, really. But still kinda interesting, to me at least.

MetsBlog – Matt Cerrone has details on Carlos Beltran’s progress in Florida.

Queens Courier – More details on Darryl Strawberry’s new restaurant.

MetsToday – If you missed it, read about the Mets honoring a cancer survivor and learn how you can get involved.

DeadSpin – If you haven’t seen the Wally Backman Ejection Video, you might want to take a look – but be warned, there is alot of foul language. (NSFW)

TONIGHT’S GAME

Tonight, the Mets (32-28) take on the Orioles (17-43) in Baltimore. R.A. Dickey (3-0, 3.20) gets the ball for the Mets. He will be opposed by Jeremy Guthrie (3-6, 3.71).

Feel free to discuss any of this in the comments section.

The Mets (31-27) take on the Padres(34-24) in a day/night doubleheader at Citi Field. Game 1 will pit Johan Santana (4-2, 2.76) against Matt Latos (5-4, 3.26). First pitch at 1:10pm.

The Mets’ lineup for Game 1:

1. Jose Reyes
2. Angel Pagan
3. Jason Bay
4. Ike Davis
5. David Wright
6. Jeff Francoeur
7. Alex Cora
8. Henry Blanco
9. Johan Santana

Game 2 will see Jon Niese (2-2, 4.28) take on Jon Garland (6-3, 2.68), first pitch is scheduled for 7:10pm.

And here are the afternoon’s Mets links:

MetsToday – In case you missed it, Joe Janish has done some analysis on Mets first-round pick Matt Harvey. Check it out.

MetsToday – Matt Himelfarb takes a look at Mets minor league catcher – and German export – Kai Gronauer.

Planet Hardball – I had the opportunity to interview Andy Fleischacker a few months back… Andy is the head coach of Germany’s Soligen Alligators… The Alligators were Kai Gronauer’s team in Germany.

Baltimore Sun – The Orioles are looking for a new manager and they seem to have the Mets on their mind. Among the candidates to replace interim skipper Juan Samuel are Bobby Valentine, Bob Melvin, Davey Johnson and Clint Hurdle.

SNY – Michael Salfino gives the Mets high marks for minimizing their risk by drafting college players.

NBC – Josh Alper says the Mets have been successful this year because of talent. It sounds like Alper is giving credit to Omar Minaya, but he also heaps praise on Jerry Manuel for his calm demeanor.  I guess there is plenty of credit to go around when you are sitting in third place.

Queens Courier – Joe Pascullo is excited about the Mets again.

And here is video of Kai Gronauer getting his number retired (I think) in Germany: