There's one member of the Mets that is up for the Hall of Fame today. The Mascot Hall of Fame, that is. The round-headed ball of a mascot is trailing by about 5,500 votes in the race for popularity on the Mascot Hall of Fame website. He trails The Coyote, the mascot of the San Antonio Spurs. The Post pulls out all the stops to make sure Mr. Met is the top vote getter.......

Mr. Met's hat may be cocked, but he's not cocky after being nominated for the online entity that is the Mascot Hall of Fame. Mets organization officials said the usually mute mascot remained speechless at the honor. Induction is not a sure thing. Other candidates, which will be voted for online, include the Coyote for the San Antonio Spurs, Hugo the Hornet for the New Orleans Hornets, the Oriole bird for the Baltimore Orioles,......

Nets 96, Cavaliers 85: "Kidd was obviously a monster." That's what Cavaliers Coach Mike Brown said about Jason Kidd, who had a triple-double to lead the Nets in a must-win game at home. The goods -- 23 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds -- helped the Nets stay alive in this series, which has one more game in the Meadowlands before going back to Cleveland. The media have been all too happy to declare series......

With the news that Roger Clemens is returning to the Yankees, reactions from the local media and Yankee fans are generally positive. Clemens made the announcement during the 7th inning of yesterday's 5-0 win over the Seattle Mariners. After the singing of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," Bob Sheppard directed the crowd to the owner's box for a special announcement. Only then did the public find out that Clemens would be returning to......

The Seattle Mariners are in town for a four-game stand against the hometeam Yankees, but Seattle's relief pitcher Julio Cesar Mateo may be asked to stick around or eventually be invited for a longer stay. Something transpired following the Mariners' win over the Yankees Friday night that resulted in Mateo's wife at St. Vincent's hospital, where she arrived bleeding and received stiches in her mouth.Police wanted Mateo to surrender himself to Manhattan's midtown north precinct......

In a sad turn for Dwight Gooden, the former pitcher for the Mets and Yankees, admitted in a Florida court yesterday to using cocaine. Gooden was on parole for a DUI incident last August and told his parole officer last week that he was using cocaine. After taking a drug test and testing positive, Gooden was arrested. It is expected that Gooden will face some prison time after his sentencing on April 5th. He faces......

With about two hours left before a contractual deadline, the Yankees and Hideki Matsui inked a four-year, $52 million deal for the outfielder to remain in pinstripes. The contract makes Matsui the highest played Japanese player in the Majors, with a yearly salary that is $2 million more than Ichiro Suzuki has with the Seattle Mariners. Arn Tellem, Matsui's agent, was pleased that a deal was reached and that 31 year-old Matsui "hopes to retire......

The Mets offense had a banner day yesterday. Mike Cameron hit two home runs and Eric Valent hit for the cycle in the 10-1 victory for the Mets (box score). With the victory, the Mets "earned" a split with the last place Montreal Expos. Valent, filling in for Cliff Floyd in left field, went 4-4 with an infield single in the 2nd, a double in the 3rd, a home run in the 5th, and......