Mets meeting with ex-Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long

The Mets are scheduled to meet with Kevin Long on Wednesday as the organization starts the formal interview process to fill its vacant hitting coach position, according to an industry source.

Long, who was fired this month by the Yankees, was first contacted by Mets general manager Sandy Alderson last week. The Mets also have expressed interest in Rangers hitting coach Dave Magadan, who has received permission to speak with other teams amid a managerial change in Texas.

A source recently indicated the Mets are working from a short list that contains no more than three-to-four names. Long appeals to the Mets partly because of his tight working relationship with Curtis Granderson from their days together with the Yankees.

The Mets' competition for Long has thinned in recent days, after the Red Sox hired Chili Davis and the Diamondbacks named Turner Ward their new hitting coach.

In 2014, the Mets dumped two hitting coaches. Dave Hudgens — who was hired last week as the Astros' new hitting coach — got fired by the Mets on May 26. His replacement, Lamar Johnson, was reassigned within the organization at the conclusion of the season.

Magadan, who played for the Mets, interviewed with the Yankees for their vacant hitting coach position, but was recently informed he is not a candidate for the job. Magadan's name has surfaced as a potential candidate for Oakland's vacancy.

Last month there was some thought Bobby Abreu might be a serious candidate for the Mets' job, but the retired outfielder has indicated he would prefer to pursue business opportunities in his native Venezuela. The Mets also have reservations about giving the job to somebody who lacks coaching experience.

Edgardo Alfonzo has told intermediaries he is interested in the job, but the former Mets infielder only began coaching this year, at Class-A Brooklyn.

It is unclear if Alfonzo might be considered for the Mets' vacant assistant hitting coach position.

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Duclair sits out yet again for Rangers

So we'll see about Saturday night when the Rangers face the Canadiens in Anthony Duclair's hometown of Montreal.

We'll see if the 19-year-old rookie gets back into the lineup after sitting out a pair as a healthy scratch in favor of Ryan Malone. We'll see if coach Alain Vigneault leads with his heart following Tuesday's 4-3 overtime victory in Newark, during which Malone took a damaging offensive zone penalty while getting just 6:14 of ice time.

"Obviously each player is different and each case you have in front of you is different," Vigneault said before the match. "In Anthony's case, if we send him back to juniors we can't bring him up. We don't have that leeway of sending him to Hartford and then after a couple of games bringing him back up.

"I do think in Anthony's case, because I've coached in junior before, coached in the American League and have been coaching in the NHL for a couple of years, I've got a pretty good grasp of our time frame with him," said Vigneault. "He's going to practice and we'll see [about] the next game."

The Rangers do not face either time- or contract-related pressure to make a decision regarding Duclair, whose entry level contract will not slide regardless of the number of games he plays in the NHL. No matter what, Duclair will have two years remaining on his deal after this season.
Still, he's not used to not playing. And not playing isn't likely to advance his career.

"I'm not the first young guy to come into the league and sit out a few games," said The Duke, who recorded three assists in the Rangers' first five games. "I am just going through the process of learning every day.

"It sucks that I have to go through it, but it's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm 19 years old, still a kid, playing against men. "Now that I'm out, I'm watching clips, working hard in practice and trying to get back in the lineup."

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Kevin Klein's game-winner as a trailer from the slot off a sweet feed from Chris Kreider at 2:42 of OT represented the first goal this season scored by a Rangers defenseman.

"Kreids did a great job cutting to the middle [from left wing] and taking two guys with him," Klein said. "I just tried to jump into the opening and he put it in my wheelhouse."

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Of the six power-play goals allowed by the Rangers (on 28 disadvantages), the Dom Moore-Carl Hagelin-led penalty-kill tandem has been on the ice for four, including two of three against the Devils. The newly created Lee Stempniak-Tanner Glass duo was on for one on Tuesday, while Hagelin and Derick Brassard were previously on for one against. … The Rangers took three offensive zone penalties, drawing Vigneault's postgame ire. The Rangers won 27-of-60 at the faceoff dots, with Moore going 7-4, Brassard 14-9, Chris Mueller 5-7 and Kevin Hayes 0-10. … The Blueshirts, 4-3, play two games in the next 10 days after opening with three in four days, five in eight and six games in the first 12 days of the season. That's a bit screwy.

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Hondo plays an Ace

Big Game James and the Royals looked very small time in Game 1, which resulted in Hondo losing a second straight investment that inflated his deficit to 1,100 sadeckis.

Wednesday night: Mr. Aitch has done his handicapping detective work and decided on Ace Ventura for Game 2 — 10 units on Kansas City.

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Joe "CannonBalls" Biden, attending a Monday press conference about improving New York area airports, compared Andrew Cuomo to Abe Lincoln, telling the governor: "He's a lot like you, pal, he had vision." There's another similarity as well: Lincoln freed the slaves and Cuomo freed the members of his Moreland Commision on state corruption before they could find any state corruption … So why did Genoveva Nunez-Figueroa of Thousand Oaks, Calif., have to be rescued by firemen after becoming stuck in the chimney of a man's house? Apparently, she and the man had dated and she was upset about being dumped, so she threatened a break-in, to which he responded: Whatever, soot yourself.

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Pence becoming postseason Giant for San Francisco

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — He can never be a forever Giant like Willie Mays or Willie McCovey or Buster Posey.

Hunter Pence does not have the homegrown pedigree for that.

But like Paul O'Neill with the Yankees or Keith Hernandez with the Mets, Pence has turned into a beloved adopted son with a combination of fiery personality and stellar play. He is assuring he will hold a special place in Giants' history and San Francisco's hearts.

A very good player for the Astros and Phillies, Pence has elevated to something more with the Giants — a leader, a spokesman, a cornerstone of a champion, just as O'Neill and Hernandez became in New York. He is wild man and wise man. His eyes bulge, his words resonate and his body parts contort this way and that when he swings, runs or throws.

"Hunter brings more energy than anyone in the room everyday," Giants Game 2 starter Jake Peavy said.

If Posey and Madison Bumgarner are the Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend front men for these Giants, then Pence is their Keith Moon — a scene-stealing whirling dervish. Who are you? A hero of World Series Game 1.

Pence had entered the 110th World Series hitless in 11 at-bats against James Shields. "But that didn't matter to him," Peavy said. "He plays in the moment."

He thundered a two-run homer in the first and doubled and scored in the fourth, helping the Giants end the Royals' undefeated postseason while delivering an overwhelming opening statement: San Francisco 7, Royals 1.

At its most simplistic level Game 1 came down to Bumgarner pitching like an ace and Shields not counteracting that. But as bad as Shields was, he had a chance at a first-inning reprieve.

With first and second and one out, Pablo Sandoval doubled to right. Gregor Blanco scored easily. However, third-base coach Tim Flannery foolishly tried to score Posey from first and the Giants star catcher was easily thrown out. So there were two down and just a 1-0 lead. Had Shields been able to get Pence, the damage would have been limited, the Kauffman Stadium crowd would have been a factor.

But Pence crashed a 93 mph Shields fastball and quieted the park, launching a blast to right-center that made it 3-0. Pence's double would open the fourth, launch three Giants reaching consecutively and knock Shields out. By the time the inning was done, the Giants led 5-0 and — with Bumgarner going — that felt like a five-touchdown lead.

This was Pence's 32nd and arguably best playoff game (he also drew two walks). But his October fame was previously made with his mouth and inspiration. He came to the Giants on July 31, 2012, from the Phillies. But even in a short period, Pence had a force to his personality.

With the Giants trailing the Reds two-games-to-none in the best-of-five Division Series that year, Pence delivered a pregame speech in which he implored his teammates to play for one another to play another day. San Francisco rallied to win that series and win its second World Series in five years.

His role as iron-man sermonizer — Pence has the longest active games-played streak at 383 — was set. His manager, Bruce Bochy, called Pence "the lowest-maintenance player he has ever had." Peavy likened Pence's relentless passion and positivism to Peavy's one-time Red Sox teammate Dustin Pedroia.

"He is a huge part of what makes this San Francisco bunch go," Peavy said. "It is not the same team without him."

Excellence on the field, exhortation off it. The formula that transformed Pence into a giant in San Francisco.

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Royals starter Ventura good to go for Game 2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Yordano Ventura will start Wednesday night's Game 2 of the World Series against the Giants at Kauffman Stadium having not pitched since being removed from Game 2 of the ALCS in Baltimore on Oct. 11 with shoulder soreness.

Royals manager Ned Yost didn't make much of the 23-year-old with a fastball that reaches the high 90s having to leave due to a problem in a very delicate area of a pitcher's body and Ventura wasn't going to be held out of any later ALCS game had the Royals not swept the Orioles.

Nor is Yost concerned baseball's biggest stage will be too much for the right-hander.

"He will be fine, he's ready,'' the manager said of Ventura, who will be pitching with the Royals in a 1-0 hole after Tuesday's 7-1 loss. "He is a special kid because as young as he is, his composure is off the charts and his competitiveness is off the charts. You combine all those things together and you've got a pretty special guy that's going to step on that mound.''
Jake Peavy will oppose Ventura and the Giants are leaning on the right-hander's knowledge of the Royals as much as his pitching ability.

"With his time in the American League, and he has seen the Royals a lot, so it's obvious that we have asked him a lot of questions and ways where he could help us on a how this club plays, the hitters and things like that,'' Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.

Obviously, Peavy would prefer to keep the Royals' speed off the bases but knows at some point he will have to control it.

"That's going to be such a huge part of this series,'' Peavy said. "They are 13 of 16 in the postseason. We're going to have to do all we can with varying our times, holding the ball. We've got numerous pickoff plays that we obviously reviewed coming into the series, making sure we have every option and all the ability to stop the running game.''

"For me, my big focus is always to make sure I treat it as the same game,'' Ventura said of pitching in his first World Series game. "Execute every pitch as I have throughout the season. Remain calm and treat it like any other game.

Ventura has adopted Pedro Martinez as a confidant.

"Pedro Martinez has always been that player for me from the Dominican that I learn from and grow from,'' said Ventura, a native of Samana, D.R. "I speak with him more or less every other day at this point and Pedro encourages me to be myself and treat every game just like I always have.''

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Bochy said he understands what the Royals taking a lead into the seventh inning means. He watched Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland dominate the Orioles in all four games of the ALCS.

"It's a great pen, great arms, great power arms,'' Bochy said. "You have your work cut out if you are going to try to do something off them. They certainly have a great corps of set-up guys and closer as good as anybody in baseball. I am sure they are going to play a big role. The bullpens are going to play a critical role in this series, ours and theirs.''

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Former Yankees infielder Jayson Nix was added to the Royals' World Series roster and Christian Colon was removed.

"The reason we did, because of the National League game, we're more apt to probably double-switch in some spots and quite frankly like Nix's defense a little bit better at third,'' Yost said of Games 3, 4 and 5 in San Francisco where the DH won't be in play. "They both play a solid short but we felt a little more comfortable with Nix at third. Christian's more of an offensive option and Nix is more of a defensive option. We decided to go with the defensive option.''

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Yost said he has no problem with two different styles of baseball being played in the World Series where the DH is in play for only four games.

"I think it's different but I kind of like it and I think it's fun to play two styles,'' Yost said. "You play our game [at Kauffman Stadium] and go to the National League and play that style which is pretty different. Our guys, when we play interleague series, the double-switch and pinch hitting for pitcher in the fifth inning, that stuff kind of throws them for a loop but they will be ready.''

Yost said he believes with the Royals' speed and versatile bench his club resembles a National League team.

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Yost announced Jeremy Guthrie will start Friday's Game 3 and Jason Vargas goes Saturday in Game 4. The Giants will go with Tim Hudson and Ryan Vogelsong.

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There have been nine different World Series winners during the last 13 years. The Red Sox (2004, 2007 and 2013), the Cardinals (2006, 2011) and Giants (2010, 2012) have won during that span.

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Biden screws up de Blasio’s Vision Zero plan

Joe Biden should get his Vision checked.

The gaffe-prone vice president reversed the words of Mayor de Blasio's signature "Vision Zero" traffic-safety plan, before catching the mistake and correcting himself during a press conference at Vaughn College in Queens on Monday about improving the region's airports.

Biden was mentioning a $130 million federal grant to projects such as the proposed Moynihan train station in Manhattan when he veered off to praise "the mayor's zero vision, uh, Vision Zero plan to limit traffic accidents."

Biden has a reputation for putting his foot in his mouth.

During a visit to Philadelphia in February, he compared La Guardia Airport to airfields in Third World countries.

"If I blindfolded you and took you to La Guardia Airport in New York, you must think, 'I must be in some Third World country.' I'm not joking," he said back then.

On Monday, Biden quipped in Queens that his next landing at the airport was fretful.

"After I made that comment, about three weeks later, Air Force Two was landing at La Guardia and so my pilots all said, 'Oh, Lord, here we go. Do we need to put any Marines on board?' " Biden recalled.

Gov. Cuomo, who joined Biden at the event, couldn't resist returning to Biden's comment, asking audience members in his Power Point presentation to identify who uttered the La Guardia quip from a list that included Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Jay Leno and Donald Trump.

"The answer is D, none of the above," said Cuomo, adding that the culprit was Biden. "And he was right," Cuomo said.

During the event, Cuomo unveiled a plan to redesign both La Guardia and Kennedy airports, with new restaurants and shops in the terminals, more hotels, and access via high-speed ferries and improved rail service.

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Cops hunt bank robbers who attempt break-ins by drilling walls, roofs

A gang of sophisticated robbers has become a new Hole-in-the-Wall Gang — using a combination of power tools and brute force to bore their way into banks across the city without getting caught, sources told The Post on Monday.

The persistent, but not terribly successful, crew has drilled through walls and roofs to breach at least six banks since November 2012. But they made it inside a vault only once, the sources said.

They have also stayed a step ahead of the cops, disabling security systems in some cases and fleeing before police arrived when they did trigger alarms.

"They are very sophisticated. They disabled the surveillance system and the alarms," a law-enforcement source said. "[Investigators] think they know who [the crooks] are. They come into New York and do a job and then leave."

The most recent attempted heist came at a Chase branch at 601 Eighth Ave. on Oct. 12 — when they cut a hole through the sheet-rock of an adjacent business that's under construction.

After disabling the bank's alarm system and surveillance camera, they got to work trying to bust open an ATM vault door.

That triggered an alarm, which scared the thieves away before they could make off with any money, a source said.

They left behind multiple power tools, hand tools and a ski mask. But the mystery behind how they got as far as they did is heightened by the fact that no one is seen on camera leaving the back door of the bank that night.

Their one successful heist came in December 2013, when they tunneled through the wall of a Santander Bank at 75-15 31st Ave. in Queens from an adjacent catering hall.

They managed to cut into the vault from the second floor of the bank, but it's unclear how much they were able to grab before running off.

A black-clad man lurking inside the vault was caught on camera, according to police.

The group is also suspected of targeting a TD branch in Brooklyn on Nov. 21, 2012, by boring through a ceiling.

They then hit a another TD bank in Manhattan in February 2013 by breaking through the wall of an adjacent building.

In that heist, the robbers damaged water pipes and flooded part of the building. Authorities later found a drywall handsaw on the floor.

Their next burglary came at another Brooklyn TD bank in May 2013. In that capper, the robbers got in by using their power tools to carve a hole in the wall of the building — and were caught on video on top of a vault.

They also allegedly struck at a CitiBank at Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn in November 2013.

They got money in none of those four jobs.

"Why keep doing it if you're unsuccessful?" a source said of the burglars. "The only explanation I have is that they must believe it will be a huge payday if they do succeed."

Additional reporting by Danika Fears

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Daily Blotter

The Bronx

Police have made an arrest in the stabbing death of a man in Fordham.

Andrew Roman, 19, allegedly stabbed Angel Mejias, 26, in the chest and stomach around midnight Saturday in the lobby of a building on Mapes Avenue near East 179th Street, cops said.

Mejias was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Roman and Mejias were dating a pair of sisters and had an ongoing feud, law- enforcement sources said.

Roman, whose arrest was announced Monday, has been charged with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.

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Manhattan

Police arrested a would-be rapist caught on video making his escape down a tree outside the victim's Stuyvesant Town building, officials said.

Juan Scott, 26, who lives in the East Village, was charged with attempted rape after cops received an anonymous tip naming him as the creep seen shimmying down a tree after trying to rape a 20-year-old woman in an elevator at about 4 a.m. last Friday, police said.

Cops released the footage Friday and Scott was identified and charged by Monday morning.

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Police are looking for a 95-year-old man who went missing from his Upper East Side apartment last week.

Robert Porter was last seen leaving his building on East 90th Street near York Avenue at about 2:30 p.m. Oct. 14, cops said.

He was on his way to a doctor's appointment at Mount Sinai Hospital, but never made it, sources said.

Porter is a psychiatrist who has never gone missing before and who is in good mental and physical health, according to family friends.

He is about as 5-foot-5 and 130 pounds.

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A vicious attack on a young woman during a robbery in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, was caught on a disturbing surveillance video, and cops are asking for the public's help in finding her three attackers.

The 21-year-old victim was walking on Franklin Avenue near Prospect Place just after 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 2 when the first thug tackled her and slammed her into a brick wall and then to the ground.

The two other savages piled onto the woman, who bravely tried to fight off the men. They as they continued punching her in the face, the horrifying footage shows broke her nose and caused cuts all over her face before running off with her phone and handbag, police said. She was taken to Methodist hospitalized in stable condition.

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Queens

A spray-bottle-wielding straphanger attacked a fellow subway rider in Jamaica after bumping into the victim's wife on the platform, police said.

The suspect was on the J-train platform at Jamaica Center at Parsons and Archer avenues at about 10:20 a.m. Sept. 14 when he bumped into a woman from behind, cops said.

The woman and the suspect began arguing until the 23-year-old husband intervened, police said.

The attacker punched the victim, pulled out a blue aerosol bottle and sprayed the husband in the face, causing his eyes to burn, cops said.

The attacker fled on a southbound J train and the victim was treated at Jamaica Hospital for pain from the unknown substance, authorities said.

The suspect is believed to be in his 30s with long, black hair, a mustache and large-framed sunglasses.

He was last seen wearing a plain button-down shirt over a red T-shirt, with a blue-jean jacket and tattered blue jeans.

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De Blasio rips McFarlan for invoking wife Chirlane McCray

Mayor de Blasio is willing to give Rachel Noerdlinger and her cop-hating boyfriend a pass on just about any offense — but not for invoking the name of Hizzoner's wife to try to get out of paying parking tickets.

"He shouldn't have done that," de Blasio said Monday, when pressed by reporters for comment on Hassaun McFarlane's antcis before a parking-violations judge.

Rachel Noedrlinger and her boyfriend Hassaun McFarlanPhoto: Facebook

Records show that McFarlane — who also goes by the name McFarlan — told the judge that cops singled him out for parking summonses because he's black and "I drive a nice car."

McFarlane, who has been dating Noerdlinger (right), also dropped her name and the mayor's wife's name at separate hearings. "She's the chief of staff for the First Lady, Chirlane McCray, so I'm basically the driver," he said of his girlfriend on July 9, according to audio recordings of the hearings obtained by The Post.

The judge wasn't impressed and instructed McFarlane to pay up.

The $420 traffic tickets are the least of McFarlane's offenses.

His rap sheet includes a homicide, drug- trafficking and attempting to run a cop off the road in Edgewater, NJ, last year.

De Blasio ducked two questions about McFarlane during a press conference in Queens, saying, "He's not a public servant, I really have nothing to say about him, and I think I've spoken sufficiently on this topic."

After a third, he said, "He's on his own time and he shouldn't have done that. That's all I'm gonna say about it."

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La Guardia ranks tenth on a list of the world’s worst airports

La Guardia has landed on a list of the world's worst airports.

The airfield was ranked the planet's tenth most inferior by the travel Web site "Sleeping in Airports," and was North America's only airport to take home such a dishonor.

"This worn-out airport repeatedly makes it to the top of least favorite North American airports because of its security lines, drab decor, poor restaurant selection, lackluster cleanliness, counter-intuitive layout and notoriously unhelpful staff," according to the site.

Earlier this year, Vice President Joe Biden

called it a "third world" airport.

A rep for La Guardia could not be immediately reached for comment.

Islamabad International Airport in Pakistan was named the world's worst.

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