They’re not even my baseball team. It’s always been known that I root for the other New York team known as the Yankees, who this time weren’t good enough to make October. They just never got untracked and by the time they played their best ball, it was way too late to help the cause.

Sure. It’s nice that they’re still playing hard since they closed Yankee Stadium having taken nine of 10 after last night’s 19-8 drubbing of the archrival Red Sox in Fenway helped insure Tampa Bay’s first ever AL East Division Title. How cool is that? I sure hope the Rays do well in their first ever postseason as Joe Maddon’s gritty ballclub deserves all the kudos they get! More than you can say for Joe Girardi’s first season as Yankee skipper and his rocky relationship with the press which he caused by purposely lying about some of his players’ health status.

While the circus will be officially letting out of the Bronx Zoo Monday after a great 13-year ride, that other New York team is driving their fans nuts wondering if they’ll somehow make the playoffs or if it will be another September to forget. The last three days still can’t be explained unless you’re a Met fan.

I’ve never really cared one way or another since I was a little kid rooting for the 1986 Amazin’ Mets take this city on a wild ride nobody will ever forget. If you were around, you know where you were the day Bill Buckner let Mookie Wilson’s little trickler as legendary announcer Vince Scully called it get through his legs into right field allowing a disbelieving Ray Knight to score the winning run in one of the greatest two out rallies in World Series history. I can still see the WS MVP’s hands on his helmet. It’s just one of those defining moments which stands out along with all the unbelievable two strike two out base hits Davey Johnson’s destined ballclub strung together to shock the Red Sox and NBC.

Twenty two years later, here is another resilient exciting gritty bunch facing possible elimination from postseason contention today with their bread and butter ace Johan Santana taking the ball on three days rest against a Marlins team who openly has stated they want to end their season just like last year. The question is will the heavy rain forecast for today’s game at Shea delay making baseball’s most schizo fanbase wait even longer?

In such a topsy turvy roller coaster ride of emotions since the personable Jerry Manuel took over for Willie Randolph in June, why not? What’s another 24 hours for these Met fans who are living and dying with every pitch? The dying of course should be underlined considering the kind of stinging losses their team has inflicted making something which seemed so promising a week prior look so dire because now the Mets need help from Lou Piniella’s Cubs, who are getting ready for October resting guys in Milwaukee this weekend.

Not only must Santana deliver another big performance on short rest for just the second time in his career but his team will be curiously watching the scoreboard hoping for Cubbies to cross home plate against Ben Sheets, who’s taking the ball despite questions about his arm in hopes of getting the Brewers to their first serious baseball in 26 years.

The Mets need a win and a Brewer loss to at least have destiny in their own hands for Sunday’s final scheduled regular season games. Somehow, they want to come out with two wins and hope Milwaukee splits so there’s at least a one-game playoff to be played in Queens due to New York winning the coin flip.

Cause at the moment, the NL East looks lost as the Phillies have played tremendous down the stretch winning 11 of 14 thanks in large part to NL MVP candidate Ryan Howard, who slugged a three-run homer and had an RBI double knocking in half in their 8-4 win over the majors worst team the Nationals. The same one which took the first two drawing a split of four against those Mets last week when things looked much more hopeful. Then, the division was realistic. Now, they’re two behind with two to play and the Phillies’ Magic No. is down to one. So, one win or a Met defeat will seal a second consecutive NL East to Charlie Manuel’s bunch.

How did the Amazin’s get into this pickle? Well, losing two to Washington and two of three to the hated Braves in Atlanta wasn’t exactly the recipe. It still pales in comparison to what’s taken place this week. Even if you were the most optimistic Met fan, you didn’t want to see the Cubs at Shea for four because that’s how good they really are. Piniella sat out star players in every game and still came away with a split.

Santana of course won his game tossing a career high 125 pitches in eight frames fanning 10 Tuesday to even up the series. Everyone knows what happened the next night where this team suffered their most excruciating loss of the year blowing so many golden opportunities to win the game in one of those final at bats. If only David Wright didn’t chase ball four with bright eyed rookie Daniel Murphy 90 feet away with nobody out. If only the bad Oliver Perez didn’t show up spoiling Carlos Delgado’s grand slam for what should’ve been a win. If. A word which might be repeated often by a frustrated fanbase dying to see their team come through erasing last year’s bitter memories.

Such a defeat had fans exasperated fearing the worst even leaving NY SportsDay colleague Joe McDonald to declare the Met season finished.

But with this team, you knew better. Under Manuel, despite not having any pen to speak of with no Billy Wagner, this team has always responded well to adversity. They showed plenty of heart Thursday never giving up coming back from three down against the Cubs with the kinda improbable two out eighth inning rally which made even this guy think maybe they’re destined for special things. How could one not when Carlos Beltran beat out an infield hit and then Ryan Church followed with another hit to keep it going?

Then, it was little used reserve second baseman Ramon Martinez who is of no relation to Pedro’s older brother and former Dodger delivering the big hit getting his desperate team a run closer. By now as I was driving home from a meaningless Lightning-Rangers exhibition game, I knew third string catcher Robinson Cancel would somehow come through because if Martinez, who entered with one hit the entire year could get a hit, so too would another journeyman delivering a tying single but not without dramatics. Church was a dead duck but even without sliding, he somehow eluded the tag touching home plate to miraculously tie the game 6-6.

Howie Rose’s excitement on WFAN was at a decibel level. You could feel the little kid in him coming out. Why not? This Met team has been fun to watch even for opposing fans. In the ninth, it didn’t matter that Murphy missed a sign bunting foul for strike three with Jose Reyes on first. The lightning rod of the Met offense swiped second a batter later and would come around to score three batters later when Carlos Beltran walked off after Piniella intentionally walked Delgado putting two runners on. It didn’t matter if Wright again came up small striking out because Beltran was the hero allowing his team to celebrate along with the 20,000 loyal fans who remained despite lots of wind swept rain.

There were the Mets saving their season because the Brewers a few minutes later responded with Ryan Braun’s first career grand slam in the 10th sweeping the Pirates to keep pace. You had to feel good though because they were still tied for the wild card and only a game behind the Phils, who dropped two of three to Atlanta.

Then came last night where the Marlins immediately scored a pair of runs off Mike Pelfrey beating him for the fourth time this season by a count of 6-1. The troubling aspect was it looked too easy despite all the runners the Mets left on base the first few innings against rookie Chris Volstad. They just couldn’t muster up enough energy to carry the momentum from such a magical come from behind win.

Why not? Because this is who these Mets are this season. The weirdest team in baseball. Where one day they look like a serious contender who just won’t die. And then the next, they invent tough ways to lose or lay a proverbial egg like last night putting their season on the brink with the Brewers winning a fifth straight 5-1 over the Cubs and the Phils taking care of business.

So, do they have another miracle in them? It’s not entirely up to them but you can bet they’ll try their best to take Met fans home.

Hopefully not for good.