QUIZ: The fool who does these quiz questions (me) messed up last week by excluding Mark Grace among the current first basemen who have reached 2,000 hits. Thanks to all the polite people who wrote, e-mailed or phoned and believe my first name is moron. Here’s hoping this one is right: Name the three active pitchers with at least 140 career losses (answer below).

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Over the next 17 days and three weekends, the Mets face what could be their last obstacle to a playoff spot. They have four games against San Francisco, beginning tonight, three next weekend in Los Angeles and three the following weekend at Shea vs. Arizona. If the Mets keep their wild-card advantage intact through that period, they receive a great ally going into the final month – the schedule.

Not only do the Mets have a soft September, but their potential threats to the wild card – the NL West triumvirate of San Francisco, Arizona or Los Angeles – have a slew a games against each other. It doesn’t take a mathematical genius to recognize that there will be a loser in each of those games, making the possibility of a division champ and a wild-card team coming out of the West more unlikely.

“That is probably a good perception,” Arizona manager Buck Showalter said.

Following their games against the three top NL West clubs, the Mets will have 32 games left, including 13 vs. the Astros, Phillies and Brewers, the three worst NL teams. Another six are against the Expos, who have the NL’s fifth-worst record and from all signs have quit on this season.

Arizona has the most fearsome September schedule. Twenty-six of its final 30 games are against teams over .500. The Diamondbacks have six games against Atlanta and six against Los Angeles. Of their final dozen games, eight are against the Giants, including a five-game set at Pac Bell Park that includes a double-header on Sept. 23. They lost their final offday to a make-up game Sept. 25. They play 18 games in 17 days without an off day to close the season.

The Giants have a soft early September, but their final 14 games are against Cincinnati, Arizona and Los Angeles. Nine of the Dodgers’ final 19 games are against Arizona and San Francisco, but they must show sometime soon that they are not a dog team and will be in the race then.

Without another September swoon, this is all advantage Mets.

“I haven’t even looked at [the schedule],” Mets GM Steve Phillips said. “We better keep worrying about ourselves.”

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Two scouts who have seen a lot of Melvin Mora offered distinctly different takes on the player traded from the Mets to the Orioles as part of the Mike Bordick package. Scout 1 said, “He is a fine utility guy, but the more you play him at shortstop, the more his holes are going to show you why he is only a utility guy.” But Scout 2 had a much different take.

“I love the trade for the Mets because they are a now team and Mike Bordick is a now player. But I think a team that could live through Mora’s growing pains for about a year would have a real effective shortstop. He just has to play there more. I thought near the end with the Mets he was looking more comfortable and playing better.”

In his first 13 games with Baltimore, Mora was hitting .423 with three errors.

Wanting a veteran catcher for a young team and having lost first choice Terry Steinbach to a hamstring injury, the U.S. Olympic Committee is strongly considering Scott Servais for the Sydney Games. The team will be announced in 12 days.

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Between now and the end of the season, the Yanks would like to address contracts for potential free agents Jeff Nelson, Paul O’Neill, Roger Clemens and Denny Neagle. Clemens has had an understanding for an agreement since he was obtained in February 1999. But a person familiar with the talks said that rather than the regularly reported-upon two years at about $30 million, the actual deal will probably be for three years to give Clemens a stronger chance to win 300 games as a Yankee and with deferred money be worth closer to $11-$12 million annually.

Neagle’s contract will be for four years at around $36 million. The Yanks feel with Clemens, Neagle, Andy Pettitte and Orlando Hernandez all under control through at least 2003 they will maintain a strong rotation. Their offseason decision will be whether to go for an established starter for the fifth slot such as Pedro Astacio, re-sign David Cone or Dwight Gooden at a steeply discounted price or go with a youngster such as Randy Keisler or Adrian Hernandez, who would have been a bullpen consideration this September until he tore cartilage in his knee recently. He probably won’t pitch again this year. …

It’s 10 p.m., and I don’t know how many men it takes to screw in a lightbulb, but it is taking a hell of a lot more than I ever imagined to replace Shane Spencer. We are at David Justice, Glenallen Hill, Felix Jose, Ryan Thompson, Luis Polonia and Jose Canseco … and counting.

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QUIZ ANSWER: Roger Clemens, Chuck Finley and Mike Morgan.