NEW YORK -- In Willie Randolph's exhibition game lab, David Wright often batted second, even on days when Paul Lo Duca played. Wright was bound to bat second at some point this season, and when Randolph afforded Lo Duca his normal, day-game-after-a-night game off on Saturday when the Mets played the Braves, Wright was in the second spot. Moises Alou batted fifth, as he often did in Spring Training.

No big thing, Wright said, noting that the pitcher still is 60 feet, six inches from the plate and three strikes still are required for an out.

And Randolph had his reasons, none of which included Wright's uncharacteristically low rate of run production thus far.

"With our [personnel], what's not to like about any of our lineups?" the manager said. "The whole spring long we got a little taste of it. I liked how it looked. Being able to give guys days off every once in a while ... someone's got to hit [second].

"Alou's swinging the bat real well, and it's nice to get him a little closer to the action with a lefty [Braves starter Chuck James] going today."

And Randolph explained using catcher Ramon Castro: "Ramon's swinging the bat nicely, and we're going to do that with Paulie anyway. I think [Lo Duca's bruised finger] is fine. He played [Friday] night, no problem today."

"Bark at the park:" John Maine used that phrase to describe the Mets promotion on Saturday. The club called it Dog Day at Shea. Whatever, the dogs prompted some dog questions of the Mets players, including this one:

"If the Mets, this 25-player team, were a dog, what species would it be?" It's something akin to Barbara Walters' question of President Jimmy Carter -- "If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?"

The Mets responses were these:

Maine: "A bulldog, because we're so handsome."

Tom Glavine: "Wouldn't we have to be a mutt?"

Castro: "A pit bull. We're a tough team."

Shawn Green: "A golden retriever. Some big, loving, family dog."

Julio Franco: "We're smart, aggressive and fearsome. We're a Rottweiler."

Lo Duca: "We'd have to be a Doberman. Fierce and tough, but we look good doing it."

And Aaron Heilman (after careful thought): "A Shar Pei ... that dog with the wrinkled face, because people think we're old."

Mets bashers: When Chipper Jones hit his home run against Mike Pelfrey on Friday night, he tied Barry Bonds for the most home runs hit against the Mets by an active player with 37. He and Bonds are well behind the all-time leader Willie Stargell, who hit 60, including one in the Polo Grounds and the first home run ever at Shea Stadium.

This date in Mets history -- April 22: Sherman "Roadblock" Jones was merely a detour on this day in 1962. The Mets reliever surrendered a triple to Bill Mazeroski in the eighth inning that produced the decisive run in the Mets' 4-3 loss to the Pirates at Forbes Field. The loss was the ninth for the winless expansion team. ... The Mets scored a run on a walk, an error and an infield single -- they had only three other baserunners -- and lost, 2-1, to the Dodgers and Sandy Koufax in Los Angeles on April 22, 1965. ... Five years later at Shea, another 2-1 game ended in the Mets' favor. Tom Seaver struck out the final 10 Padres and finished with 19 strikeouts, then the equal of the National League record established seven months earlier by Steve Carlton. Seaver allowed two hits, a single by Dave Campbell, better known for his ESPN work, and a home run in the second inning by feared slugger Al Ferrara, who struck out twice that day and 15 times in 28 career at-bats against Seaver.

On this date in 1979, rookie Jesse Orosco gained the first of his 87 career victories when the Mets beat the Philles and Steve Carlton, 4-2, at the Vet. Orosco's final victory came 24 years later, when he pitched for the Twins, the club that signed him in 1978. ... On this date in 1996, Paul Wilson, the first player selected in the 1994 First-Year Player Draft, gained his first big-league victory, beating the Reds at Shea. He pitched eight innings in the 5-1 victory and won four more games in his time with the Mets. ... David Cone took the loss, his last decision in the big leagues, in the Mets' 6-2 loss to the Astros at Shea. He pitched once more, May 28.

Coming up: The Mets' Tom Glavine and the Braves' John Smoltz reprise their best-buddies confrontation of two weeks ago in a 1:10 p.m. game on Sunday.