The ball that had flown off Josh Willingham’s bat and nestled in Cliff Floyd’s glove, the game ball from the Mets’ NL East-clinching win, is going to find its way to his Florida home. In a year in which he suffered injury and illness and family tragedy, it’ll be a tiny, five-ounce memento of the good in a tough year.

And Floyd can’t wait to give it away to the team.

“I’m gonna put it in a case: Unless we win the World Series. Then I’ll have to give it up. But that’s the only way somebody’s going to get it,” said Floyd, who already has a spot picked out on his desk in his newly constructed house in Plantation. He’s hoping it won’t stay for that long.

“I’m going to get Willingham to sign it, and [Billy Wagner] and [Paul Lo Duca] and put it in my case,” he said.

“I’m having my new house built and I’ll have it on my desk. I’ll have it right there chilling, a nice little memory. But my mom already told me I have to give it up [if the Mets win]. I might tell them they’ve got to give me a new contract if they want it back.” The 33-year-old free-agent-to-be was joking, saying – if healthy – he wants to play next year, but that he’d never hold the Mets up as Doug Mientkiewicz did Boston. For now, the ball will serve as a good memory in what’s been at times a tough year both on and off the field.

Separate DL stints for both ankle and Achilles injuries held him to 311 at-bats. In spring training, he underwent tests for a possible kidney disorder, and last month he lost 21-year-old sister Shanta to cancer.

“I thought about it for a while; but I’ve got good people surrounding me,” Floyd said. “What I’ve been through has made me better as a person. Given the opportunity from the man upstairs, I’m just going to go out and play. I’m still able to do this physically, regardless of what’s going on with my ankle.” He made the easy play Tuesday, catching Willingham’s fly ball, holding it aloft and bounding up and down like a pogo stick.

“A few of my coaches suggested taking him out for defense. I said no; he should be on the field. He should enjoy it. He should b a part of it,” Willie Randolph said of Floyd, who was hitting just .241 with 11 homers and 42 RBI.

“Honestly, I didn’t think it was possible for while,” Floyd said. “When I came back from the rehab I just wasn’t feeling right. There was nothing I could do in the training room to get on the field. Then I said I’m going to suck it up and play. I just believed. I’m gonna ride it out; if it holds out until theWorld Series I’m happy.”