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Not there’s any pressure, but if Florida Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla fails to make the National League All-Star team, he’s going to hear it from his father, John.

“One of his dreams is to see me play in Yankee Stadium,” Dan says. “That’s where he always used to watch games as a kid. He’s been ragging me all year about trying to make this All-Star team.”

Uggla, who leads the majors with 23 homers, should have no problem fulfilling his father’s wishes. Phillies second baseman Chase Utley leads all NL vote-getters, but an investigation will be warranted if Uggla is not chosen as a reserve.

The only NL players who have a higher OPS than Uggla are Lance Berkman, Chipper Jones and Albert Pujols. Not bad, considering that Uggla was batting .188 on April 19, looking nothing at all like an All-Star.

“It was over on the 15th of April,” John says. “I thought, ‘There goes the Yankee Stadium trip.’ But he never says die. He’s been like that his whole career. Something clicks. He gets the competitive juices going. And he finds a way to get it done.”

John Uggla, 61, lives in Columbia, Tenn., but grew up in Schenectady, N.Y., 145 miles north of New York City. His grandfather, John Ryder, was a huge Yankees fan. From about 1952 to ‘58, when the Ugglas moved to Indiana, the family would take a three-hour-plus train ride to Grand Central Station, then hop on the No. 4 train to Yankee Stadium at least twice a year.

A half-century later, the memories remain indelible.

“When you’re 6-, 7-. 8-years old, you’re just in awe, as we all are of these guys,” John says. “Just sitting there — Mickey Mantle, Bill Skowron, Yogi Berra, Casey Stengel, Billy Martin . . . those are the guys you think about. I had a gazillion Mickey Mantle cards. That was the team.”

So, as Dan progressed from Columbia Central H.S. to the University of Memphis to the Arizona Diamondbacks as an 11th round draft pick — and then to the Marlins as a steal in the Rule 5 draft—John began to imagine him playing at Yankee Stadium.

John thought the moment would happen in 2006, Dan’s rookie season with the Marlins. But Dan suffered a right hamstring strain in Baltimore at the start of that trip and missed the entire series in New York. The Marlins have not returned to the Bronx since.

The All-Star Game, then, represents Dan’s last chance to play in “The House that Ruth Built” — unless, of course, the Marlins play the Yankees in the World Series, reprising their matchup from 2003.

“For him to play, to get on the field, play an inning at Yankee Stadium . . . I get all teared up thinking about it now,” John says.

“Even if he someday ends up with the Yankees, he’s not going to play in Yankee Stadium. He still has a shot at playing at Fenway. Of course he has played at Wrigley. But this is it. Either he makes it, or it’s never going to happen.”

Uggla, 28, currently ranks fourth among NL second basemen in the fan balloting, behind Utley, the Cubs’ Mark DeRosa and the Astros’ Kaz Matsui. DeRosa, though, is more of a super-utility player than a regular second baseman. Matsui, meanwhile, went on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday with a strained right hamstring.

Neither compares with Uggla, who is third in the NL with 24 doubles and on pace to hit 48 homers, a total that would break Davey Johnson’s record of 42 by a second baseman in 1973 (Johnson also had one home run as a pinch-hitter that season).

Uggla says the chances of the record falling are “pretty realistic” — for Utley, whose 22 homers also put him on pace to surpass Johnson.

“He’s a way more consistent hitter than I am,” Uggla says. “Chase when he gets on one of those runs, he can pop off five, six or seven in five days. He’s already halfway there. I’ll put my money on him.”

Uggla’s own chances?

“I don’t know,” he says. “I’m so damn streaky, who knows?”

For now, the All-Star Game is a more reasonable goal. Uggla’s family would fly in from all over the country. His parents are divorced and re-married. His brother, Mike, 31, lives in Chicago. His sister Jane, 24, lives in Benicia, Calif.

John Uggla, who worked 30 years as a technical instructor for General Electric and still teaches as a part-time contractor, keeps telling Dan, “Hang in there. Let’s go now. You’re on track. This is our chance, this is it.”

Not that there’s any pressure, Dan …

“It’s on the top of my mind,” John Uggla says. “If you didn’t grow up in that era, you may not understand.

“It would be the ultimate . . . the pinnacle.”

NEW YORK (AP) - Carlos Delgado and the New York Mets kept piling up hits, delaying their trip home for the second half of a rare two-stadium Subway Series doubleheader. They didn’t seem to mind spending a little extra time in the Bronx.

Delgado set a Mets record with nine RBIs and Luis Castillo scored a career-best five runs in a 15-6 rout over the New York Yankees on Friday.

“I got lucky,” Delgado said. “Every time I came up it seems like they had a lot of guys on base so I got some good pitches to hit and I was able to drive them.”

Delgado hit a two-run double off Edwar Ramirez in the fifth inning and his 12th career grand slam in the sixth, a drive against Ross Ohlendorf that landed in one of the last rows of bleachers in right-center. Delgado added a three-run homer in the eighth off LaTroy Hawkins, a drive into a corridor beyond the right-field wall.

“To have this type of game on this type of stage is very impressive,” Mets manager Jerry Manuel said.

Delgado’s nine RBIs were one better than Dave Kingman’s total for the Mets in an 11-0 victory at the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 4, 1976. Delgado’s 44th multihomer game gave him 444 home runs for his career, breaking a tie with Kingman for 34th on the major league career list.

Delgado, who turned 36 on Wednesday, entered with just 11 homers and 35 RBIs this season. He hit a drive off the bottom of the left-field foul pole in the second of the Mets’ two victories in the Bronx last month, but it was mistakenly ruled a foul ball by umpires.

There were no such problems with either of his drives Friday, and the Mets are hoping the big game was enough to get the aging slugger back on track.

“When he gets hot, he gets kind of stupid hot where he can put a team on his shoulders and carry them for a week or two at a time,” said David Wright, who tied a career high with four hits. “He’s got the ability to be one of the best run producers, RBI machines, in the league when he swings the bat the way he’s capable of.”

Carlos Beltran hit a two-run homer and scored four runs as the Mets completed their first three-game winning streak and series sweep at Yankee Stadium.

The Mets and Yankees were rained out May 16, leading to the two-borough commute in the last year of both ballparks. The Mets got ready at Shea Stadium and their bus got a police escort to the Bronx. Both teams got the same treatment for the trip back to Queens.

The Mets arrived back at home just over an hour before the night game, with most players still in their gray road uniforms and carrying equipment as they made their way to their clubhouse. The Yankees arrived a little later, dressed in street clothes.

“It’s wonderful for fans,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi, whose team got back to New York after midnight following a rainout at Pittsburgh. “Two games in one day, and one at each stadium, you know it’s very enjoyable for them.”

The Yankees placed Hideki Matsui on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Monday, after the loss and activated right-hander Sidney Ponson, who was scheduled to start the second game. Matsui has been bothered by a sore left knee.

The sellout crowd of 54,978 was split pretty evenly in the opener, with chants of “Let’s Go Mets!” followed by rounds of boos from Yankees fans. There was nothing but cheers when a security guard tackled a fan who ran on the field in the sixth.

Alex Rodriguez went 3-for-4 with a long home run for the Yankees, who swept the previous three doubleheaders between the two teams. Rodriguez’s 15th homer of the season landed in Monument Park in the sixth.

Derek Jeter led off the Yankees’ three-run third with his 400th double, extending his season-best hitting streak to 14 games. Dan Giese (1-3) allowed six runs and five hits in four-plus innings.

“Some days you throw it and it goes where you want,” Giese said. “Some days it goes over the plate.”

Manuel improved to 5-4 since he was promoted from bench coach to manager, replacing Willie Randolph, a former Yankees star.

Mike Pelfrey (5-6) struggled through five innings but managed to get the win. He gave up four runs and eight hits.

Notes

Andy Phillips joined the Mets before the game and flied out to right as a pinch hitter in the ninth. The Mets claimed the former Yankees infielder off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday. … Knicks first-round draft pick Danilo Gallinari is scheduled to throw out a ceremonial first pitch before Saturday’s game at Shea Stadium. … A squirrel ran through foul territory behind the plate and into the Mets dugout in the fifth inning, drawing some cheers from the fans sitting along the first-base line. … Mets 1B Fernando Tatis made two nice plays in the field - and two errors trying to throw to pitchers covering first.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Willie Randolph, fired as manager of the Mets in the early hours of the morning Tuesday, said he was “stunned” by the decision to let him go nearly three months into another disappointing season.

It was just 17 months ago that Randolph received a new multi-million dollar contract as a reward for invigorating the franchise and guiding the Mets to their first division title in 18 years, coming one win away from the World Series.

But he has since presided over one of the greatest collapses in baseball history, from which this year’s team has yet to recover.

“To the fans, I’m really sorry that I wasn’t able to fulfill what I really said I wanted to do here and get this team to a world championship,” Randolph said to reporters in the lobby of his hotel in Costa Mesa, Calif., where the team was staying during its series against the Los Angeles Angels. “That’s what I’ve been about. It’s just very difficult right now but I’m ready to move on.”

Randolph, the first African-American to manage a baseball team in New York, was replaced by the bench coach Jerry Manuel, who Randolph hired to serve as his first-base coach, but promoted him to bench coach before the 2006 season. Manuel, 54, managed the Chicago White Sox from 1998-2003, leading them to a 95-67 record in 2000, when he was selected as the manager of the year by The Associated Press.

The Mets also gutted their coaching staff, firing the pitching coach Rick Peterson and the first-base coach Tom Nieto, while promoting three coaches from the minor leagues.

Peterson told reporters Tuesday that he appreciated the opportunity the Mets’s owner, Fred Wilpon, and his son, Jeff, the team’s chief operating officer, gave him to come to New York five years ago. “I appreciated the opportunity and they welcomed me into their home, and homes go through renovations,” Peterson said. “I’m the hardwood floor that’s getting ripped off and they’re going to bring in the Tuscany tile.”

Peterson, saying he will “walk out in peace,” added: “hopefully, the Tuscany tile will do a lot better than the hardwood floor.”

Peterson will be replaced by Dan Warthen, the Class AAA New Orleans pitching coach, who worked in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization with Peterson in the 1980s. He said he considers Peterson and Randolph friends.

“I’ve been fired before and I’ve had somebody else take the same spot that I’ve been in,” Warthen said. “It’s tough. It’ll happen again somewhere down the line, guaranteed.”

As far as the Mets’ pitchers are concerned, Warthen said he knows Aaron Heilman and is familiar with Mike Pelfrey. “What can you do with Pedro and what can you do with Santana,” he asked rhetorically about veteran Pedro Martinez and ace Johan Santana.

“I’m probably going to work with Santana with his changeup tonight,” Warthen joked. “I’ll work with him before the game and let you know how he does afterwards.”

Ken Oberkfell, the New Orleans manager, and Luis Aguayo, the organization’s field coordinator, will also join the major league staff in roles to be determined.

General Manager Omar Minaya is to meet with the media at 2 p.m. Pacific time (5 p.m. Eastern) on Tuesday afternoon at Angel Stadium, and Manuel is scheduled to speak afterward.

The announcement was released to the media at 12:12 a.m. local time — 3:12 a.m. in New York — slightly less than two hours after the Mets defeated the Angels, 9-6. That victory, the Mets’ third in four games, improved their record to 34-35 but had no bearing on Minaya’s decision. The organization plotted the firing on Monday morning, and Minaya arrived here Monday night but did not attend the game.

As Randolph managed the game, answered postgame questions and drove back to the hotel separately from the team bus, Minaya waited. He fired Randolph, Nieto and Peterson when they returned.

Minaya had been Randolph’s strongest ally within the organization, but his patience, and that of the owners, had worn thin. They were tired of watching their team, loaded with All-Stars such as Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran, underachieve.

Randolph’s fate may have been sealed last October, when the Mets kept him dangling for 48 hours before taking the odd step of holding a press conference to announce that they were retaining him.

It was an awkward and uncomfortable tableau, Randolph standing beside Minaya, and it was duplicated on May 26, after Randolph met with the team’s owners for two and a half hours to explain and apologize for comments he made to The Record of Hackensack, N.J. suggesting that SportsNet New York had portrayed him differently on its television broadcasts because of his race.

The Mets won seven of their next 10 games, taking some of the pressure off him, but their maddening inconsistency revealed itself yet again in last weekend’s series in San Diego. The Mets were swept in four games, losing the first three by the same 2-1 score, and then lost two of three to Arizona at Shea Stadium.

On Friday, when speculation that Randolph’s job was in danger again began to intensify, Minaya refused to guarantee that Randolph would remain as manager, saying only that he had his support and the support of the team’s owners. By the end of the weekend, Minaya would not say that. During his three-minute interview with reporters after Sunday’s doubleheader, Minaya did not use the word “support” once and was more noncommittal about Randolph’s future and that of the coaching staff than he had been at any time.

By Danielle Sessa

June 23 (Bloomberg) — Omar Minaya is doing a “great job” of running the New York Mets, team owner Fred Wilpon said less than a week after approving the general manager’s decision to fire manager Willie Randolph.

Wilpon, in his first public comments since Randolph and two coaches were dismissed June 17, said he was satisfied with the switch to interim manager Jerry Manuel. The Mets are 3-2 under Manuel, a former American League Manager of the Year with the Chicago White Sox.

“I think Omar has done a great job,” Wilpon told reporters at a news conference announcing a Major League Baseball fundraising campaign for U.S. military veterans. “Anybody who makes decisions is not going to make all right decisions, but he’s made some great decisions.”

The Mets, whose $138 million payroll is the second-highest in baseball, are 37-37 and trail the first-place Philadelphia Phillies by 3 1/2 games in the National League East.

Wilpon said Minaya informed him of the decision to fire Randolph during the club’s doubleheader against the Texas Rangers on June 15. Minaya thought about the move overnight and confirmed the change with Wilpon on a conference call at 9 a.m. the following day.

Minaya then flew to California where the Mets were starting a series with the Los Angeles Angels. After the game he dismissed Randolph, pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto. The changes were announced at 3 a.m. New York time, leading to criticism from fans and the media for the club’s handling of the situation. Wilpon backed Minaya’s methods.

“He took a lot of time listening and thinking about it,” Wilpon said. “He wanted to respect Willie and that’s what he did.”

Welcome Back Veterans

Wilpon and Mets third baseman David Wright appeared at baseball’s New York headquarters to release details of Welcome Back Veterans, a charity that aims to provide jobs and counseling for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Players will wear caps with a stars-and-stripes themed logo during games over the July 4 holiday weekend and on Sept. 11.

Wilpon, who created the campaign, said the organization has secured almost 50,000 jobs, and plans to raise $100 million and offer free mental-health care to veterans and their families.