Maybe I watch too much "Survivor," but I’m ready to vote Aaron Sele off the island.
     I know it’s too early for anyone to be officially eliminated from this rotation race we’ve got going on, but with nine candidates vying for three spots on our staff, the 36-year-old has put himself at the end of the line with such a lousy start.
     Sele’s ERA for the spring is 11.25 after two poor outings. Not good.
     Is there time to rebound? Maybe.
     But with just three or four spring outings left, now he’d better pitch lights out the rest of the way.
     And I don’t think he capable of that.
     John Maine and Oliver Perez haven’t lost the advantage they came to camp with and Mike Pelfrey, Chan Ho Park and Alay Soler have put themselves in position to grab that final spot with good starts.
      Don’t forget Jorge Sosa, Jason Vargas and Philip Humber are still lurking. Each has out-performed Aaron as well.

     There wasn’t much this organization did right a few years back.
     During the late Steve Phillips/Jim Duquette days that is.
     But I think it’s time to say bringing longtime-Brave Tom Glavine into the fold after the 2002 season has paid dividends.
      No, it didn’t look that way in the beginning, but if you ask me, time has proven otherwise.
     He’s won 48 games in his four seasons in blue and orange.
     Posted impressive ERAs of 3.60, 3.54, and 3.82.
     Averaged 32.5 starts a year here.
     Saved our bacon with three big games in the playoffs.
     He’s the dean of a young pitching staff that desperately needs an anchor and, as the longest-tenured Met, is the leader of our clubhouse.
     Not bad for a guy who looked like he was shot a few years back.
     Glavine pitched another three scoreless innings against the Astros yesterday. Two weeks into camp his changeup looks ready to go. (And don’t fret it when he gets shelled this month. He always throws one spring training stinker.)
     At 41, he’s bound to slow down eventually and we need him to be an ace more than ever. Still, I have no doubt he’ll respond.
     And at $10M he’s a relative bargain.

• Willie Randolph says first base prospect Mike Carp (5 RBI yesterday) reminds him of Nick Johnson.
• Chan Ho Park is expected to make his Grapefruit League debut today against the Red Sox.
• Carlos Delgado has a stiff neck.

     Spring training is about trying new things, right?
     You’ve got Mike Pelfrey working on a slider. David Wright trying his hand at the No. 2 hole. Usually overweight Alay Soler eating a salad.
     All new experiences. Figured I’d get into the act as well.
     So I used yesterday’s game to try out the picture-in-picture package I just had the cable company install in my television.
     SpongeBob for Kathryn and the Mets (albeit, much, much smaller)  for me.
     This is gonna take some getting used to.
     OK… enough about the sacrifices of fatherhood. On to yesterday’s game!
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He turned heads
     Oliver Perez. A nice rebound from last week. He gave up a run in 3 IP with 3 Ks. Know what I liked best? No walks. In fact, when you look at his two playoff starts and his two outings this spring, it seems pitching coach Rick Peterson has somehow cut down on his wildness — long Oliver’s Achilles heel.
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Turned stomachs
     Not much to report here. Wouldn’t mind seeing Moises Alou and Shawn Green start getting on base — both are hitless this spring — but ideally, you don’t want your team to peak until the final week or so of camp, so we’ve got plenty of time.
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Quote of the day
     "That was pretty amazing… I think we all talk about his offense, but I think he is going to win a Gold Glove this year. " — Willie Randolph on Jose Reyes in today’s Daily News. The shortstop made a diving play in the fourth inning.
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Mets in ’07!

     All in all, not a bad couple of days.
     While I was on a weekend jaunt to New Jersey, it seems the Mets got a few really good vibes out of their starting rotation.
     First off, Pedro got the OK to start throwing, which he’s expected to do today. He’s still eyeing a July comeback, but the fact that his rehab is coming along so well is a great sign. The thought of Petey returning at full strength to contribute in August and September isn’t a pipe dream anymore. And if that happens, you can forget that tomfoolery about our rotation being too thin.
     Next, rookie-turned-October-hero John Maine continues to build on his solid 2006 season. The kid’s been working with Tom Glavine to improve a changeup to keep hitters off balance and make that sneaky fastball of his even harder to zero in on. Anyone here starting to see this kid with frond-end potential? I read a scout last week who thought he could be better than Mike Pelfrey and Philip Humber.
     And speaking of The Giant Pelfrey, his scoreless outing Saturday was encouraging. Hitters were pounding his sinking fastball and slider into the ground. That was rookie sensation Justin Verlander’s recipe for success in Detroit last season. Maybe Mike can use it and do some cooking of his own with it in Shea this year.
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Mets in the news

• David Wright says he’ll change positions to accommodate A-Rod if he came to the Mets after the season. Uh… thanks but no thanks, David.
• Philip Humber got roughed up in his spring debut.
• Newsday’s Shaun Powell says the Mets are one of the five best run teams in baseball. I dunno about you, but I never get tired of reading stories like this.

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    Did you hear our old GM Steve Phillips — now an ESPN analyst — picked the Mets to finish third in the NL East this year?
     You remember Steve, right?
     He gutted our farm system for two seasons of prosperity in the late 90s, and was, therefore, the main culprit for the debacle that was 2002-2004.
     Seems like "Steve the Analyst" doesn’t think too highly of the young arms in our rotation.
     Take that with a grain of salt, gang.
     Steve never really had an eye for evaluating unproven talent.
     Consider how he shipped Jason Isringhausen to Oakland for Billy Taylor at the trade deadline in 1999. Taylor stunk and was left off the post-season roster while Izzy went on to forge a solid career as a closer. (Steve got fired and landed in a TV studio, while Met fans had to suffer through six years of Armando Benitez and Braden Looper. How fair is that?)
     Or consider the time he traded infielder Melvin Mora to Baltimore for half-season stop-gap shortstop Mike Bordick. Mora still ranks as one of the games fiercest third basemen and Bordick moved on after a few months.
     Or how about the Jason Bay trade in 2002, where Steve shipped a future all-star to San Diego for journeyman reliever Steve Reed? Today Bay is one of the best pure hitters in the game. Reed threw 26 innings here and moved on.
     Need I go on?
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Mets in the news

• Tom Glavine was in mid-season form yesterday.
• Anderson Hernandez had a nice game at the plate.
• Lastings Milledge’s X-rays on his hand came back negative.

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     I’ll be taking Kathryn to visit her grandfather in New Jersey this weekend, so I’ll be back on Sunday. Take care, everybody! Here’s hoping Pelfrey and Maine look sharp this weekend…
     TGIF and Mets in ’07!

     So Oliver Perez threw a few innings of batting practice to a Tigers lineup that included just two regulars.
      Don’t worry. It really isn’t that important.
     Yes, Ollie was pretty rusty in his first start of the spring, working primarily on his off-speed stuff and looking pretty flat in the process. Yes, he gave up four runs and 5 hits in two innings. And yes, he even hit a photographer with a wild warm-up pitch.
     But he does have some collateral stored from those playoff starts, so for him, early spring can be spent finding a rhythm.
     Give him a few weeks.
     As for our lineup — which featured several regulars — they didn’t do much against Detroit’s B-level pitching. Bench players Julio Franco and David Newhan drove in two runs apiece.
     Not a particularly sharp afternoon, but all that counts is nobody got hurt.
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He turned heads
     Alay Soler. Last season’s hefty rookie clearly slimmed down this winter. He looked good with two scoreless innings.
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He turned stomachs
     Moises Alou. And it has nothing to do with his at bats. Dude… we definitely don’t want to see you sliding into the wall trying to cut off an extra base hit in your first Grapefruit League inning!
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Quote
     "He could be better than Pelfrey and Humber. He’s got that live fastball, and his changeup has come a long way. He’s coming fast." — An unnamed Met official on pitcher John Maine, in the Daily News today.
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Whoops
     Am I the only one that thought the short, fat guy doing running drills wearing a Reyes jersey was part of a prank? Turns out it was Jose A. Reyes, a catcher in camp as a non-roster invitee.
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Mets in the news

• Billy Wagner unveiled his new pitch yesterday.
• Outfielder Ben Johnson showed his hustle with a head-up play on the basepaths.
• El Duque threw a 40-pitch bullpen session.

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Mets in ’07!

     Ambiorix Burgos and Joe Smith — two little known relievers vying for a spot in our stacked bullpen — have created an early buzz this spring.
     Burgos, 22, who was acquired from KC for Brian Bannister in Omar’s annual winter heist, has been drawing "oohs" with his 100 mph fastball. His splitter may be coming around as well.
     Just ask Shawn Green… Burgos sat him down in three pitches during Monday’s intrasquad game.
     And the sidearming Smith, meanwhile, sparked some "aaahs" in yesterday’s intrasquad game with a perfect inning, including a nasty three-pitch whiff of Lastings Milledge. Smith was drafted last summer and worked his way up to Double-A.
     Guillermo Mota is suspended for 50 games and Duaner Sanchez is still rehabbing his shoulder, so the door may be open for one of these kids to break camp with the team.
     Keep an eye on them.

     Anybody up for a little Darwinism?
     The Amazin’ Arms Race kicks into high gear today, as nine hopefuls for our final three starting rotation spots begin facing live competition.
     Here’s the first go-around:

Today
     It’s Mets vs. Mets in an intrasquad game. Ambiorix Burgos, Pedro Feliciano, Jorge Sosa, Joe Smith and Jason Vargas will toe the rubber. Feel comfortable to drop a couple of bucks on the Mets in this one.
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Tomorrow
     An intrasquad rematch. John Maine, Philip Humber, Scott Schoeneweis and Kevin Mulvey are expected to pitch this time.
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Wednesday
     Oliver Perez kicks-off the exhibition season against the Tigers. Alay Soler, Billy Wagner, Aaron Heilman, Jon Adkins and Smith will follow.
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Thursday
     Tom Glavine, Sosa, Feliciano, Burgos and Steve Schmoll will go in an early showdown against the Cardinals.
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Friday
     Chan Ho Park, Aaron Sele and Schoeneweis will pitch in another game against the Redbirds.
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Saturday
     Finally, Mike Pelfrey — who got some love today for improving his changeup and slider — gets his turn on the mound.
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Mets in ‘07!