According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this is only the second time in franchise history that this has happened to the Mets, the last time from July 23-25, 1995 when they were in Colorado, Chicago, and St. Louis.

To keep an eye on my entire photo album from Tradition Field, including hi-res versions of the pictures in this post, click here.

Putz told reporters he will intends to be back by Friday, in time to pitch against Team Italy at Tradition Field.

…it looked to me like putz only threw one or two splitters, tops…

John Maine told reporters that his is still a bit rusty with his mechanics, as he continues to recover from minor off-season shoulder surgery.

Maine said he only threw one curve ball, a new pitch he has been working on with Dan Warthen this spring.

…maine did, however, strike out Luis Castillo to lead off the game on three good-looking fastballs… he also struck out Carlos Beltran looking…

The pitchers in the bullpen asked the maintenance crew if it will be possible to paint the yellow Nathan’s sign in left field to be black, as it is within view of whomever is warming up the next pitcher.

The head of the player’s union, Don Fehr, is here at camp talking to reporters outside of the conference room.

Tatis was scratched from yesterday’s intra-squad game due to a sore right hand, and he is not in either lineup today.

…there is also some buzz around camp that Freddy Garcia is not 100 percent, and Livan Hernandez may not be ready either, and with Tim Redding being a week or so behind, i’m thinking Jon Niese is in an interesting position right now… garcia is scheduled to pitch in today’s intra-squad game, so all eyes will likely be on him this afternoon…

For more on Tatis’s hand, as well as Ryan Church’s I LOVE NY t-shirt, and a bit more on Jerry Manuel, read David Lennon’s blog for Newsday.

…by the way, as lennon points out, WFAN’s Mike Francesa will be broadcasting from St. Lucie later this week, and i hope church confronts him while wearing the shirt…

Speaking of beat writers, Adam Rubin of the Daily News will be doing a live, online chat from Tradition Field today at 3 pm.

Rubin writes, “As usual, you can stop in a half-hour early to start submitting your questions.”

The last photo is a close-up of Johan Santana gripping his circle change, which he was showing to Gabe, the host of SNY’s Kid’s Clubhouse.

To keep an eye on my entire photo album from Tradition Field, including hi-res versions of the pictures in this post, click here.

The last image is of Manuel flipping the ball to himself and hitting grounders to Luis Castillo and Marlon Anderson.

To keep an eye on my entire photo album from Tradition Field, including hi-res versions of the pictures in this post, click here.

I told him that, if I ever get to throw out a first pitch before a game, I plan to do the never-effective, fake-to-third, look-to-first pick-off move before actually make the throw, which he looked like he thought would be dorky.  He’s right.  But, I’m would do it anyway.

Later, I met Brian Schneider, and did an interview with him that will be up tomorrow morning.  He also did a quick lesson with me about what he’s thinking in certain situations during the game, and all the little things that go in to just one moment, during one out, which was pretty interesting to hear.  I did a similar interview with Ryan Church.  Like the one with Maine, the Church and Schneider instructional-interviews will be up in March, when we have time to edit them properly.

Additionally, I watched a lot of Luis Castillo today.  He looks good.  He looks serious.  But, it’s too early to tell just how good he will be – if he will be good at all.  Like Jerry Manuel said today, ‘it’s just practice,’ and, honestly, he has looked rather sloppy on defense.  But, again, ‘it’s practice,’ and that cuts both ways.  The fact is, he looks to be in better shape, he’s hustling hard, he has a definitive spring in his step, and he is certainly the focus of the coaching staff and his teammates, who are pushing him hard.

Actually, that is the the biggest difference between this camp and last year’s.  It’s nothing against Willie Randolph, but his camp was far more quiet and professional, which, while it worked fine for the Yankees in the 90s, it just never felt right for this team.

Manuel’s camp actually reminds me a lot of a younger, high-school like camp, with lots of rooting for one another, lots of clapping, lots of team-oriented drills and talk and motivation and constant chatter from coaches and teammates.

For me, as a fan, who wants desperately for this team to win, this is all exciting and it probably warps my reality of what is really happening – because, when I hear Razor Shines talking about Championships, rings, etc., I get pumped up.  The good news is that the players seem to be responding too, because that’s what is most important.

However, when he started throw it caused soreness in his shoulder, forcing him to shut down his throwing program and he only recently started long-tossing again.

Jerry Manuel told reporters that Redding had originally been the runner for the team’s fifth starter, but this brings everyone else back into the race.

However, Redding told reporters he would like to pitch from a mound within a week, meaning he will only be a week or so behind schedule.

…honestly, i had been thinking all along that the fifth starter spot was Freddy Garcia’s to lose, with redding being destine for long relief when camp breaks… at this point, i’m taking a wait-and-see approach with redding, who, though he wants to be ready, and get back quickly, you just never know how it will play out until he gets out there…

Meanwhile, John Maine threw off a mound to batters today, after which he told reporters he feels good – as did J.J. Putz.

Manuel also said he feels comfortable with Carlos Beltran, David Wright, Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado, who he believes all will have good years.

He also said he would bet on Daniel Murphy’s success, and he is confident in Luis Castillo, who he says has rebounded nicely, adding that Ryan Church has the possibility of a breakout year as well – the key, of course, is that every one remains healthy.

He did note, regarding Castillo, that this is ‘just practice,’ of course, while doing his impersonation of the classic Alan Iverson quote.

Lastly, he says Putz is totally buying in to being the set-up man for Francisco Rodriguez, adding, “For a guy who has closed and has had tremendous success, to come over and buy into it, its huge.  He’s been a good teammate.  The players seem to like him.  He gets a long with everyone.  It’s huge for us going forward.”

Too perfect.

I asked Evans about the flat-screen TVs, the hitting drills, how th veterans are responding to it, and his thoughts on his first ever major-league camp.

On my walk back from the dugout, I noticed Carlos Delgado staying late, after most players have left, taking extra batting practice in the batting cages, with Howard Johnson watching on.

He was working on hitting to the opposite field, which seems to be the big directive from Jerry Manuel, to all his players, this spring.