One of the big stories coming out of Port St. Lucie this year is the battle among a slew of pitchers to become the Mets’ new eighth-inning guy in the presumed absence of the injured Kelvim Escobar, who everyone thought would be the Mets’ eighth-inning guy.

I missed something here, something big. I missed when it became common, accepted fact that all teams need a dedicated “eighth-inning guy” to only pitch the eighth inning. Did someone make some decree? Was I blissfully burying my head in the sand?

I know about the closer. I know all teams, for some reason, need one guy who pitches the ninth inning when his team is leading by three or fewer runs, and that he should not be used in the eighth inning, and never, ever when the game is tied or his team is losing. That makes sense; every team needs someone to accumulate as many saves as possible, or something.

But only in the last couple of years have I learned of this other necessary component of good bullpens: the bridge. The Mets have been searching in vain for the bridge since Duaner Sanchez searched in vain for Dominican food that fateful night in 2006. Aaron Heilman was not the bridge. Roberto Hernandez was not the bridge. J.J. Putz was not the bridge.

Look: I recognize that pitchers — like anyone — prefer to know what job they’ll be asked to perform when they show up at work. And far be it for me, with my spreadsheets and calculators, to point to the days not too long ago when late-inning relievers would regularly throw upwards of 90 innings a season. Game’s changed now.

But it strikes me, as it has for a while now, that there’s got to be a better way. If I were managing a ballclub, I’d want my best reliever in the game in the highest-leverage situation. If that happened to come in the sixth inning, after the starting pitcher grew tired and walked a couple of guys in a tie game, would I be smart to bring in one of the worst pitchers on my staff because I’m reserving a better one for the eighth inning, when he’ll come in with no one on base?

Anyhow, putting that rant aside, as long Jenrry Mejia’s excluded from the big-league bullpen come Opening Day, the Mets will have taken a better approach to building a relief corps this year then they did last year, the offseason of Omar’s much lauded two closers.

Certainly there will be uncertainty. Ryota Igarashi has yet to pitch in real games stateside. Kiko Calero gets hurt a lot. Bobby Parnell is still pretty young, and walks a lot of guys. Who knows when Escobar will be ready? What’s up with Clint Everts, and Hisanori Takahashi and Fernando Nieve, assuming they don’t land in the rotation?

But in collecting a slew of relatively low-risk, high-upside guys — many of whom have potential for a lot of strikeouts, to boot — the Mets will likely be able to find a good mix of effective relievers.

And it’s not as simple as saying, “oh, throw enough [expletive] against the wall, some of it’s bound to stick.” They tried that in 2008, recall, and nothing stuck. It’s a matter of finding the right [expletive], and — and maybe this is blind, Mets-fan optimism — I think it’s a much stickier brand this year.

That’s gross, and I apologize. The point is, no matter how much speculation you read about how and where Pitcher X fits into the Mets’ crowded bullpen, know that the team is better off because of that crowd.

Some guys will crack the Opening Day roster, some won’t. I’ll probably obsess over it like I do ever year, but it won’t matter, since the front office will inevitably tinker until it settles on the right mix. What actually matters is that, if just a couple of the big-upside arms stay healthy and pitch to their potential, the Mets should have a better bullpen than they’ve had in several years.

And this, without having acquired two closers.

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.

Same deal as yesterday, except only one of the two games the Mets played. Specifically, the one I watched:

The Mets lost this one to the Marlins in the 10th inning, 3-2. It was heartbreaking, but mostly for Keith Hernandez, who pretty obviously wanted to get out of there and was hoping they’d just call it a tie after nine.

Ralph Kiner was in the SNY booth, and Ralph Kiner is awesome. He told Keith Hernandez, “time stops with you,” which made me hope Ralph knows something about Keith that I don’t yet. Perhaps Keith Hernandez has the power to control time, like Zack Morris or something.

Marlins’ reclamation project Hayden Penn has some crazy facial hair. It’s like a modified Colonel Sanders, only blonde — not white. Just calling it a mustache and soul patch wouldn’t be doing it justice; the mustache is real thick, almost hanging down over his lips in the Nietzche fashion.

On the Mets side of things, Jenrry Mejia was clearly the most impressive part. See below for more details, and keep in mind that all this means very little.

Jon Niese was pretty damn decent, too. He did allow three hits and two walks, but none of the hits were terribly well-struck, and he struck out five batters in his 2 2/3 innings. He threw his cutter a ton, which was cool, and still has all that movement on his curveball.

SNY had a gun going today, so we got some early returns on Ryota Igarashi’s fastball. He was sitting in the low 90s and pitched pretty well, except for an near-inexplicable home run to Emilio Bonifacio — Bone Face, to some — who only has one home run in 722 Major League plate appearances. Luckily, this one doesn’t count for anything.

Mike Hessman is huge. He looks like he can smash a ball. I really have to get to Buffalo this season to see him in a lineup with fellow Quad-A masher Val Pascucci. Also, why isn’t Pascucci in the big camp?

Kai Gronauer, a German dude who I thought was only in camp because teams need lots of catchers in camp, played DH today. And he got a hit. Bully for you, Kai Gronauer. Or as they say in German, herzlichen glückwunsch.

I don’t actually speak German. I just looked that up. Come tell me I’m wrong now, Internet.

Wilmer Flores had a hit, a single up the middle. So that’s cool.

Bobby Parnell gave up the decisive blast in the top of the 10th, a two-run opposite-field homer to Marlins’ prospect Michael Stanton. Stanton has a buttload of power, and also two names. I’m not entirely clear on the mechanics of this, but his baseball-reference page calls him “Giancarlo Cruz-Michael Stanton.”

If I had to pick between those names, I’d go with Giancarlo Cruz, mostly because I once attended a game that Mike Stanton the lefty reliever lost without even throwing a pitch. Serious. I was in Milwaukee, and Stanton was making his Nationals debut, I believe. He came in to a tie game with a runner on third in the bottom of the ninth. He promptly balked, forcing in the winning run. Only time I’ve ever seen that happen.

Anyway, it seems as though the Mets’ book on this Michael Stanton involved not throwing him any fastballs over the plate. Pedro Feliciano made it work for him, striking him out on three straight changeups in the dirt.

Parnell hung a breaking pitch over the middle and Stanton made him pay, jacking a line drive the opposite way and putting the Marlins ahead for good.

Luckily, it doesn’t matter even a little bit.

So I’ve written a whole bunch about how I don’t think Jenrry Mejia should be in the Major League bullpen this year without having ever really seen the guy pitch.

Now that’s changed, and whoa, nelly.

Mejia just finished off 2 1/3 perfect innings in a meaningless game against the Marlins. He struck out four batters and yielded two grounders to short and a lazy fly ball to left.

By my count, Mejia threw 19 fastballs, topping out at 96 miles per hour on SNY’s gun. Most of them sat around 94 or 95, and I don’t think any were slower than 93. Of the 19 heaters, 17 were strikes — either swinging or called.

He threw two of what I think were changeups in the high 80s. One was a called strike, the other missed the inside corner.

He also threw four curveballs. They appeared to move a lot, but a couple of them missed pretty wildly. Three of them were balls, one was a called strike.

This is a tiny sample of course, and Mejia was hardly facing the Marlins’ Opening Day lineup, but, well, damn. I still obviously don’t think he should be anywhere near the Major League roster anytime soon, but when you see a 20-year-old rely mostly on one pitch to completely beguile big-league (or close to big-league) hitters, you can start to understand what all the fuss is about.

Fire up the hype machine.