On the Mets beat

Willie Randolph is hardly a clone of Joe Torre in terms of personality – Torre is much more talkative – but he shares one thing in common with the Yankees' manager, for whom he coached under from 1996-2004. They both have little use for interleague play.

Randolph was peppered with pre-game questions Thursday about the upcoming stretch in which the Mets play nine interleague games in AL ballparks against the best of the AL East – three at Toronto, three at Boston and three at Yankee Stadium.

"Sometimes you draw the short straw with the schedule. It's not totally fair, but you have to live with it," Randolph said. "That's one of the reasons why I don't like interleague play."

This blogger doesn't like it either, primarily because the Yanks and Mets play six times which spoils the novelty of a possible World Series showdown. Three Subway Series games a year at alternating sites would be enough, and still make an October meeting something special. But the commissioner hasn't asked for my input.

At least the Mets get to sample the best the AL East has to offer and give us a chance to compare them to the division and the league most experts say is superior. Maybe there's even a World Series preview in there somewhere.