COLIN LINNEWEBER

• I thank you for taking the time to give me some of your time. I hope I entertain.

• The New York Mets acquired two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana this week from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for four coveted minor league prospects. The deal was finalized Friday night when Santana, 28, and the Mets agreed to a record-setting contract extension worth $137.5 million over six-years. Santana, who is 93-44 with a 3.22 ERA in eight major league seasons, is the most pivotal acquisition the Metropolitans have made since they landed first baseman Keith Hernandez in 1983.

The acquisition of Santana adds a legitimate frontline starter to an already productive and balanced rotation and it makes the Mets prohibitive favorites to capture their first National League pennant since 2000. The Mets, whose late-September collapse in 2007 rivaled the hideous demise of the Giuliani campaign this past week, will always be the red-headed step-children from Gotham. But, because of this instrumental free agent parlay, they will likely be the Big Apple’s best squad on the diamond throughout the 2008 season.

As a massive Yankees aficionado, I hope I am wrong. But, unfortunately, I don’t think I will be. The Mets are the safest bet since Takeru Kobayashi nestled his lips around a frank.

• When the congressional hearings on Capitol Hill in Washington are completed, the Clemens’ and Pettitte’s will get along like the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s.

• Former WWE superstar Brock Lesnar, 30, folded like one of Jeff Van Gundy’s cheap suits Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas when he submitted to past UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir (11-3), 28, 90-seconds into the opening bell. Although Lesnar lasted as long as a fifteen-year-old virgin, he exhibited glimmers of potential that indicate that he could develop into a force in the octagon for years to come.

“You win some and lose some,” said Lesnar. “I’d like to win them all, but you can’t.”

It’s safe to presume that “The Next Big Thing” will win a lot more than he loses throughout his foray into the world of mixed martial arts.

• The Los Angeles Lakers (29-16) acquired 7-footer Pau Gasol, 27, Friday from the Memphis Grizzlies (13-34) for center Kwame Brown, rookie Javaris Crittenton, two first-round draft picks and the rights to Fredo Corleone (Gasol’s younger brother, Marc, 23, a 2007 second-round pick). Gasol, a creepy-looking man who looks like he could sing for the Goo Goo Dolls, is an extreme talent who may help lead the “Hollywood Fakers” to their first finals appearance since 2003. In essence, the eighties have revisited us. The Lakers will rendezvous with the Boston Celtics (36-8) come June.

• As always, thanks for reading my material. Without your readership, I’d have no reason to write.

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