This is the nicest day of spring, a blazing sun today, but the heat could really be on the Mets.

Got out of the Mets clubhouse a little while ago and Johan Santana says he is going to be even more cautious with his tender left elbow, which is the right thing to do.

From the sound of it, though, you might want to scratch Santana from Opening Day.

Oliver Perez come on down.

This is not Santana’s first rodeo so when I asked him if starting opening day is a priority for him this is the telling answer he gave.

“I’m not going to rush anything,” he said. “I have 162 games. With what we want to accomplish, we have 162 games. We’ve got to go one game at a time and everything starts April 6. Whether it’s going to be me or somebody else, that’s tough to say right now. Right now, on paper, I’m supposed to be the one, but we have to wait five more weeks to know that.”

He said there were times with Minnesota he had to be pushed back and miss starts in spring training, but he was always ready by Opening Day.

When someone asked if he was concerned, he said, “I’m fine, it’s just that on the last day when I took my bullpen, I felt some tightness, that’s something that’s not normal for me so I just want to make sure it is fine. That’s what I’m doing.”

The pain is in the back of the elbow. “They told me it was my triceps tendon or something,” he said. “I always go through a lot of tightness in my whole body; it was just that day I felt like ‘Wow.’ ”

Right now it’s Met fans that should be tight.