Today is May 8, 2007.

The Mets officially became known as the Mets on May 8, 1961.

Players who made their Met debut on May 8, include Cliff Cook (1962), Mike Phillips (1975), Chico Walker (1992), Cory Lidle (1997) and Alex Escobar (2001).

John Maine made his debut in general on May 8, 1981. I celebrated by watching Fernando Valenzuela edge Mike Scott 1-0.

I'm 0-2 at Shea on May 8. Twelve years after Fernandomania washed over me in Flushing, I saw the Mets record their very first loss versus the Marlins, 4-2, on May 8, 1993.

I'm 1-0 in other ballparks on May 8, having seen the Mets best the Diamondbacks in Arizona, 4-2, on May 8, 1999.

The last time the Mets won on May 8 was, in fact, May 8, 1999.

The Mets are 16-21 overall on May 8 despite winning every day on this date between 1962 and 1966, including a doubleheader split in '66. Since that start, the Mets are 11-20 on May 8.

The Mets played one other doubleheader on May 8, losing two at Candlestick Park on May 8, 1977, the second game of which they were losing 10-0 in the seventh when it was called for rain. The Mets filed a protest regarding the decision to stop playing or play at all; I vaguely recall they had the protest upheld but it still wound up a 10-0 loss.

I received my first replica Mets batting helmet on May 8, 1971.

Jon Matlack should have been wearing protective headgear on May 8, 1973. He was struck by a line drive off the bat of the Braves' Marty Perez and sustained a hairline fracture.

The New York Mets were joined by a second reigning champion in New York when the Knicks won their first world title on May 8, 1970.

The only Mets who have homered on May 8 in this century are Mike Cameron (2005), Desi Relaford (2001) and Edgardo Alfonzo (2001).

The Mets traded Jay Hook for Roy McMillan on May 8, 1964, twenty years before releasing Dick Tidrow on May 8, 1984.

There has been no Mets game on May 8 ten different times.

But there is one tonight, May 8, 2007. So I would kindly ask my co-blogger, born on May 8, 1969, to see if he can get us a birthday gift that we can all enjoy after the clock strikes midnight.

(Fancy way of saying Happy Birthday Jace...now go see if you can do something about this absurd May 8 drought.)