Suggesting that “the best portrait of the 2006 Mets can be gleaned from an unwieldy spreadsheet assembled last week by Sandra van Meek, a member of the team™s communications department.”, the New Yorker’s Ben McGrath shifts through the personality profiles. (link courtesy David Gooblar, who writes “I, for one, would love to try Steve Trachsel’s pecan-crusted pork chops. Unless he wants to play scrabble after dinner.”)

The average Met is just as likely to read Maxim as the Bible, but, to be honest, reading isn™t his strength; his main hobbies are basketball and fishing. Under œWould like to meet, four Mets name the Pope; one lists Rachel McAdams. Generally speaking, today™s Met seems a little less wild than his predecessors of the late eighties, favoring Chicago, for instance, over Miami by a small margin. He is concerned about young people, whether in this country or internationally, and he does his part to eradicate cancer. His favorite actress, depending on the day, is Sandra Bullock, Angelina Jolie, or Reese Witherspoon.


(McAdams — beaten out by the Pope, but give her time)

Some of the lesser-known pitchers are deserving of special mention. Heath Bell, a young reliever, has a hamster named Blossom and a cousin, Drake Bell, who is a TV star (on Nickelodeon), and for quick cash in high school he baked and sold gingerbread houses. Yusaku Iriki, a thirty-three-year-old making his American début this spring, did not start playing baseball until he turned fifteen. (His favorite sport is kickboxing, and he is partial to Bob Marley.) Duaner Sanchez plays the trumpet.

Here are your highbrows: Steve Trachsel (above, Scrabble, Wine Spectator, œpecan-crusted pork chops) and Aaron Heilman (Trivial Pursuit, Scientific American, philosophy, Discovery Channel). Here™s your lowbrow: Xavier Nady (bowling, Las Vegas, œDumb and Dumber).

Victor Diaz had a solo HR off Jon Rauch and Lasting Miledge was 1 for 2 with runs scored in the Mets’ 8-5 win over Washington earlier today. Kaz Matsui, still being called the front runner for NY’s 2nd base job, was 0 for 3 and is now hitting .184 for the spring.

Former Met Dickey Gonzales has fanned 3 in 3 innings of work for Puerto Rico tonight, a Bernie Williams solo HR off Cuba’s Ormari Romero tying things up at 1-1.