ROBBIE REDUX

Bob Klapisch updated the piece he wrote on Robbie Alomar for the Bergan Record last week for espn today. It is essentially the same article, but worth looking at if you missed it the first time round. Alomar predicts, "I'm going to have a great year," and I tend to agree with him.

"I've done a lot of thinking, and I know I'm ready for New York now," Alomar said the other day. "I know what to expect now with the fans, the media, just New York in general. I'm not just going to have a good year, I'm ready to have a great year."

For this to happen, Alomar makes only one on-field request of new manager Art Howe. He wants to bat in the same spot in the batting order every day -- a complete break with former manager Bobby Valentine's philosophy that a fluid lineup produces better offensive results.

Alomar wouldn't mind batting second ahead of, say, Cliff Floyd, but it remains to be seen who GM Steve Phillips will find to play third base. Alomar was mildly critical of the Mets' decision to let Edgardo Alfonzo leave as a free agent, and says, "whoever we get to play third has to be able to hit in the middle of the lineup. We need another right-handed bat."

Alomar is the first to admit he was practically invisible as a right-handed hitter last summer, batting just .204 with only nine extra-base hits in 162 at-bats. Much of the problem, he admits, was self-induced, or as he put it, "putting too much pressure on myself.

"I know what I'm capable of and I tried to do more than that," he said. "I was never able to totally relax."

His anxiety contributed to an overall sense of unease in the Met clubhouse, one the club is finally addressing. Not only did the Mets sign stand-up professionals like Tom Glavine and Mike Stanton this winter, but they traded Rey Ordonez to the Devil Rays -- his fate sealed when the shortstop called Mets fans "stupid" at the end of the 2002 season.

Silly me. I thought the root of Alomar's problems was the fact he, not Mike Piazza, was the gay Met. Just a horseshit hunch, but if the shoe fits...