Gl@v!ne gone. Mota gone. Now the generally unlistenable Tom McCarthy has packed up his microphone for Philadelphia, where, if his slowness on the draw remains true to form, the Phillies will be clinching the 2007 N.L. East any minute now.

These are marvelous consolation prizes, I tell you what.

I wasn't a fan of McCarthy's. Nothing personal, I just didn't think much of his play-by-play abilities, didn't find him a compelling storyteller and he left me cold as a radio companion. Other than that, he was swell.

Some fans don't worry about the broadcasters. I do. Decades of Murph and two golden seasons of Gary and Howie raised my standards sky high. I want the Mets to think carefully before they hand the keys to the kingdom to Eddie Coleman (familar but plodding) or any ol' interloper. If they can figure out a way to have Gary do radio during the intervals when Keith and Ron are speaking on SNY, that would be ideal. If they can have Howie call pitches and then take listener calls in between, that would be OK, too. Neither is probably an option. I don't have a candidate in mind, just be careful. There is nothing more intrinsic to the enjoyment of the long season than the radio. The radio has not worked properly since the end of 2005. Mets, make it work again.

For a sterling example of when it worked flawlessly, do yourself a favor and turn your dial to Loge 13, which will lead you to another page of unmatched delights.

And for those of you who like to sneak an earbud in while at Shea, here is when you can look forward to going for the last 81 times of your life. I like the confidence the Mets display by referring to September 28 as the "final regular season game" at their current home, as if they know something we don't about October 2008. Then again, I just saw an ad on mets.com informing me I can "download select games from the Mets 2007 Postseason" directly to my PC for a mere $1.99, so I don't know if I'd take everything they tell me on their site at face value.