MET NOTES
BOSTON – Catcher Paul Lo Duca returned to the Met lineup last night after missing the previous game and a half with a left hand bruise.
Willie Randolph said before the first pitch that he wanted to have Lo Duca hit and catch some balls and then evaluate him. But Lo Duca said he was fine.
As for Duaner Sanchez, who missed the last two games with a pinched nerve in his neck, Randolph said he believed the reliever would be available.
“He said he felt pretty good today,” the manager said.
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Cliff Floyd, a former Red Sox slugger who played his first rehabilitation game on Monday as a DH in the Gulf Coast League, was slated to play defense last night in another game in the GCL.
The game, though, didn’t get played due to rain. Floyd is still on the disabled list with a sprained left ankle.
The Mets showed interest in Tampa Bay’s Mark Hendrickson, a former NBA player who spent time with the Nets, before the starting pitcher was dealt to the Dodgers yesterday.
But while Hendrickson is no longer an option, the Mets continue to have interest in Devil Rays second baseman Julio Lugo.
Coincidentally, former Met starter Jae Seo was one of the players moved to the Devil Rays in the deal. Seo had been part of offseason trade discussions with Tampa Bay for reliever Danys Baez – who was eventually dealt to L.A. – and also part of a larger trade discussion for Lugo.
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Pedro Martinezwas sentinmental and emotional yesterday when the topic of being a teammate of David Wright and Jose Reyes came up at his press conference:
“I told you, I can’t be any luckier. And those are two special players that we have. That’s a rare breed of player. And believe me, I’ve seen a lot of players, but so young, so impressive, you’re not going to see that many.
“You have to wait for the next Vladimir Guerrero, Andruw Jones or somebody like that to impress you at such a young age. And those two guys seem to be pretty much the same.” Chris Woodward, whose 30th birthday was yesterday, started at second base last night against rookie lefthander Jon Lester. And Julio Franco was the designated hitter for the third time in four games.
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Reyes called leading the All-Star voting at shortstop “exciting” yesterday. The two-time NL Player of the Week also took a 13-game hitting streak into last night’s game … Billy Wagner revealed yesterday that the first game he ever watched in person was at Fenway in 1992, a Red Sox-Brewers game.
– Additional reporting by Joel Sherman mark.hale@nypost.com

