The Post’s Steve Serby chatted with the Mets’ righty reliever who starred in 2006 before suffering a right-shoulder separation in a taxi crash, then missed the entire 2007 season when he broke a bone in that shoulder during spring training.

Q: If you were a fan, would you pay to watch Duaner Sanchez pitch?

A: Yeah! Why not? It’s gonna be fun, because you’re gonna watch somebody competitive on the mound, and you’re gonna feel like you’re in the game; I bring so much adrenaline when I pitch.

Q: Describe your temperament on the mound.

A: It’s a whole different story. In the street, you can find me and I will be really nice to you. But when I’m pitching … that’s my job.

Q: Are you mean?

A: Yes, I am.

Q: Your late-night taxi accident in Miami (July, 2006) where you separated your right shoulder and required two operations … are you afraid of cabs now?

A: I was (afraid) before the accident; now I’m worse.

Q: You won’t get in a cab?

A: No chance.

Q: How scary was it?

A: It happened so quickly that it was bang bang in one minute.

Q: Are you lucky to be alive?

A: Oh, yeah, because it was real bad.

Q: How badly damaged was the taxi?

A: The whole left side was literally gone.

Q: What was the scariest part?

A: Getting out of the taxicab and just looking at my shoulder. I can see my bone just sticking up a little bit.

Q: Willie Randolph asked you to leave camp last spring because you were late for rehab.

A: If you don’t learn from your mistakes you’re never gonna be successful.

Q: He was pretty angry.

A: I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to do. He had all the right to do what he did.

Q: You missed all of 2007 – what was it like for you watching The Collapse?

A: It was hard because I can’t do nothing about it. It was painful just to see everything going on.

Q: How much fun was it for you when you were so dominant in 2006?

A: That was unbelievable. When you have a streak like that, you don’t think about it.

Q: Was it like being in a zone?

A: Yes.

Q: Describe that feeling.

A: When you’re in a zone, everything goes your way. Even if you get in trouble, you still get out of it. I don’t remember going two games in a row when I didn’t have a double play.

Q: David Wright says you bring a swagger to the bullpen.

A: I’m confident about what I do. Other people get the wrong idea … it’s not my fault. That’s just me. People who don’t know me think I’m cocky.

Q: Why do you think they think that?

A: I don’t know … probably the way I walk, the way I pitch.

Q: You’ll pump your fist … you like to show emotion.

A: That’s me.

Q: As the bridge to Billy Wagner, many view you as the savior of the bullpen.

A: I’m just another pitcher in the bullpen doing the best he can do. I don’t want to say I’m the key. I just want to be healthy.

Q: Favorite meal?

A: (Chuckles) Before, rice and beans. Now, salad with grilled chicken.

Q: That’s all you eat?

A: Yup.

Q: What’s your weight?

A: 202-205.

Q: What was your heaviest point last year?

A: 230.

Q: When you came over here, was it easy for you to learn English?

A: Not really.

Q: When you started out in Montana, you didn’t know English?

A: In the beginning, I’d just start pointing at the numbers when I went to McDonald’s.

Q: You’d go out to eat with your American minor-league teammates?

A: They ordered food, and when they came and asked me, I just said, “Same thing.” If I didn’t like it, I had to eat it.

Q: What didn’t you like?

A: Fried chicken with gravy.

Q: No mangu (smashed plaintains) in Montana?

A: No chance (chuckles).

Q: Worst minor-league bus ride?

A: From Montana to Canada. We left at 11 at night and we got there at 9 in the morning.

Q: Three dinner guests?

A: Two ugly guys and Halle Berry (chuckles).

Q: Favorite childhood memory?

A: Just playing ball in the street barefoot.

Q: Why barefoot?

A: ‘Cause we didn’t have any shoes.

Q: Were there other things you wanted that you couldn’t have?

A: One time it was a bicycle … didn’t get it. A lot of times it was baseball shoes … didn’t get it.

Q: But you were a happy kid anyway?

A: Oh, yeah. We just made our baseball with the socks – put newspaper inside socks and wrap ’em up and stitch it.

Q: What about the bat?

A: We’d take a little stick and put the whole big plastic bottle of Coke under the little stick and we’d tape ’em up. That was the bat.

Q: Describe your hometown (Cotui, Dominican Republic).

A: Everybody knows everybody, a lot of friendly people … you can walk in the street any time you want, it doesn’t matter; nothing’s gonna happen to you.

Q: Favorite New York City things?

A: Shop … just walk around, see all the big buildings … I like museums.

Q: Boyhood idol?

A: I always wanted to be like Pedro (Martinez). Now I’m pitching with him. It’s kinda crazy, though I always liked how Kirby Puckett played.

Q: You met Pedro when you were a 17-year-old with the Diamondbacks?

A: It was unbelievable. That was like probably the end of the world for me.

Q: Did he give you any advice?

A: I asked him how he holds the ball for the curveball and changeup … basically how he can handle pitching in a stadium where 50,000 people are screaming. How you can block that out? He told me, “You just gotta learn how to do it when you’re moving up.”

Q: Superstition?

A: I pull my shirt (under the jersey) backwards all the time.

Q: Favorite movie?

A: “Scarface.”

Q: Favorite actor?

A: Al Pacino.

Q: Favorite actress?

A: Salma Hayek.

Q: Favorite entertainer?

A: Cedric the Entertainer.

Q: Favorite NYC Dominican restaurant?

A: La Casa Del Mofongo (Washington Heights).

Q: What did you think of Carlos Beltran saying the Mets were The Team to Beat?

A: I don’t get into that … if he said it, it’s totally fine with me.