TiVo delayed because I was at the gym, refining my chiseled physique:

It will be hilarious if, after the Mets’ much-ballyhooed and ultimately unsuccessful pursuit of Bengie Molina and concurrent stockpiling of lesser catchers this offseason, Omir Santos can find a way to harness good timing and great fortune to sneak his way onto the Major League roster to open the 2010 season.

When people like me point to metrics like batting average in balls in play, or a player’s history to argue that he has gotten lucky in a game or a month or a season, the suggestion assumes that the player’s luck will balance out, that he will endure similar stretches of misfortune or at the very least normal amounts of luck soon, and will not continue being inordinately blessed.

We almost never consider the possibility that Omir Santos might just be the luckiest man in the universe.

If Santos’ well-struck sinking liner in the second inning today was hit three feet to the right, it might have been swallowed up by Nationals third baseman Alberto Gonzalez and turned into a rally-killing double play, all but wasting a bases-loaded opportunity for the Mets.

Instead, it scooted down the foul line and connected with a wheel on the bottom of the wall in foul territory along the third-base line. It bounced into a tiny gap between the wall and the ground but — and this is important — pretty clearly did not get lodged there.

Regardless, Nats left fielder Willy Taveras determined the hit should be a ground-rule double, but could not appropriately raise both his arms to signify that opinion, probably because when Willy Taveras sees a baseball, his instincts tell him to swing at it, no matter what the situation.

No umpire ruled the ball dead, so Santos — and all three men in front of him — just kept running as Taveras leisurely found the ball and returned it to the infield. By the time it got there, Santos had scored on an inside-the-park grand slam, something that hasn’t happened in an actual Major League game since 1999.

That was pretty much the highlight of the Mets’ 6-5 win over Washington. Oliver Perez walked the first batter he faced, then threw mostly strikes. Sadly, he was punished for it, allowing seven hits and five runs over three innings, but the good news is none of them actually count. And Ollie was hitting the low 90s on SNY’s gun, a good sign so early in the Spring considering the way he struggled to hit even those speeds before he was shut down last season.

Hisanori Takahashi flummoxed the crap out of the Nationals’ hitters, striking out six and allowing one hit and no walks over three innings, earning the win. Takahashi had good movement on his breaking stuff but doesn’t throw particularly hard — he topped out in the high 80s — and I couldn’t tell if the Nats were struggling with his pitch selection and control or being thrown by the little hesitation-delay Takahashi does in the middle of his delivery.

Pat Misch threw an effective three innings in a very Pat Mischy (Pat Mischious?) fashion. Ike Davis smacked a double but got caught off third base when he bluffed like he was going to tag up and go home on a fly to left. It’s funny; Davis — for all the talk of his polish — seems like he’s bidding for the “hitting savant” stigma that Daniel Murphy is working to shed, at least based on his play in all these meaningless games.

I don’t read too much into Davis’ run of errors at first or the baserunning blunder, naturally. I just find it entertaining that Murphy might now get the reputation as the better fundamentals guy.