October 5, 2006

Kaspar sits

For the first time in his career, Darius Kasparaitis is a scratch from a season opener. I talked to him about it following the morning skate. Tom Renney called him,...

TRENDS: Now they are just mocking us

This just in:FOR COUPLES WHO PLAY TOGETHER, "DOUBLE-DATE AWAYS" ARE THE HOT NEW GETAWAYSWow. It's a mancation! It's a girl getaway! It's a couples weekend!That sound you hear: Our heads...

Training Camp, Day 3

By FRED KERBERMajor League Baseball scouts knew better than to waste everyone's time with Jason Kidd Kidd, a California basketball legend, also made an incredible rep for himself as a...

JUST BACK: San Francisco

If you haven't been lately, the Big Fog is better than ever. Here, some hotel and restaurant notes.RESTAURANTS3 memorable meals1) Canteen Dennis Leary's little upscale coffee shop inside the garish...

JOBS REPORT WILL SHOW WHICH WAY WIND IS BLOWING

NOW the game becomes: How far into record territory can the Dow travel, especially if it doesn't get additional help from other more important market indicators? As you probably already...

BOARD TURMOIL SHAKES XM

Satellite radio rivals XM and Sirius both posted solid gains in subscribers yesterday - but not enough to assure jittery investors that more stellar growth is on the way. XM...

BIOVAIL GETS MORE HEAT

Securities regulators in the U.S. and Canada appear to be ratcheting up the pressure on the founder of Biovail over details of his controversial offshore stock trading. Eugene Melnyk -...

THIS YEAR'S HOT TOYS COST A PRETTY PENNY

Toy makers are introducing more pricey playthings than ever before this holiday season, in an effort to jump-start sagging sales and shake off an industry image that has for years...

RALLY REVVING; NEWLY CONFIDENT MARKET CHARTS NEW WATERS

The mighty stock market comeback roared even higher yesterday to set more new records - rewarding investors who'd kept the faith with double-digit payoffs of up to 43 percent. Across...

GIMME SHELTER

BOBBY BUYS After a long search for an uptown home, Robert De Niro has finally shelled out some big dinero for a Central Park West place. The legendary actor and...

NEW YORKER FEST: WIT, LIT AND SPIT

THE New Yorker Festival offers an opportunity to sidle up to today's leading writers, editors and humorists - and see what they look like when they get spit on. The...

MEAN TO ME - WHY 'CSI' KEEPS PUTTING POOR MARG THRU HELL-GENBERGER

CATHERINE Willows - the sexpot scientist on "CSI" - has been drugged, nearly date-raped, hit by a car, watched helplessly as her daughter was kidnapped and cradled her father's dead...

CRASH REGISTERS - 'LOST' SPIES ON LIFE OF THE OTHERS

THE new season of "Lost" began last night with a crash. It's the crash fans of the show already know about - Oceanic flight 815 slamming into a weird and...

IMITATION OF 'IDOL'

LIZA, meet Liza, Liza and Liza. ABC is preparing to be overrun by Michael Jackson and Dolly Parton lookalikes, in a show that could feature the real stars making cameo...

STARR REPORT

Hall-of-a-start S howtime's "Dexter" (Michael C. Hall) showed some legs in its Sunday-night premiere, averaging 603,000 viewers. That beat the secondseason premiere of network stablemate "Weeds" (549,000 viewers), but fell...

DEARLY 'DEPARTED' - MOST ENTERTAINING BLOCKBUSTER OF THE YEAR

THE DEPARTED (three and a half stars) Double the fun. Running time: 151 minutes. Rated R (graphic violence, profanity, sex and drugs,). At the Empire, the Cinema 1, the Chelsea,...

'FLAGS' DRAPED IN OSCAR BUZZ - BUT EASTWOOD TALE MAY BECOME POLITICAL FLASHPOINT

THE Oscar race is picking up steam as screenings begin for Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers," which has been leading handicappers' lists for Best Picture for months, based on...

BROOKLYN PERV LURES LITTLE GIRL

A 7-year-old Brooklyn girl told cops last night she was attacked by a pervert who lured her into an alley near her Williamsburg home and sexually abused her, law-enforcement sources...

BIKER KILLED IN QUEENS CRASH

A car rammed a motorcycle in Queens yesterday, killing the biker and leaving his female passenger fighting for her life, authorities said. Francis Lang, 36, was riding with Colleen Howard,...

BULLYING PULPIT VS. DISSENT

THE street vendor scanned the bustling sidewalk and discreetly handed over President Hugo Chavez's "Hit List," telling The Post it was illegal to possess or sell the $15 CD-ROM. The...

HEVESI'S GOING IN REVERSE

ALBANY - State Comptroller Alan Hevesi's popularity dropped 8 percentage points following the disclosure that a state employee was chauffeuring the incumbent Democrat's wife on the state dime, a new...

NEW SILVER BULLET HITS WEST SIDE

State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver - who single-handedly crushed Mayor Bloomberg's dream of building a football stadium - yesterday accused City Hall of again taking its focus off lower Manhattan...

ANNA'S WEIRD WETTING DAY; ALL SMILES AFTER SON'S DEATH

Eighteen days after her son's death - with his body still on ice in the morgue - Anna Nicole Smith hardly seems the grieving mother as she luxuriates in warm,...

'STUPID-CUPID' TEACHER CREATES HOOKUP FROM HELL

A Brooklyn middle-school teacher who played Cupid with her students tried to rekindle a puppy-love crush between a boy and girl whose brother the youth had shot, city investigators charged...

PIRRO STEERED D.A. CONTRACT TO KERIK; SHE 'WORKED FOR FAVORS' AS AIDE FRETTED OVER ETHICS

ALBANY - While she was Westchester district attorney, Jeanine Pirro steered a no-bid contract to Bernard Kerik and Rudy Giuliani's security firm, rebuffing protests about the arrangement, The Post has...

CITY BOOSTS QNS. HOSPS

Bucking a trend to downsize, the Bloomberg administration has proposed increasing the number of public-hospital beds in Queens. A plan submitted to the state Health Department would partially offset the...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

BROOKLYN *** Cops are asking the public's help in finding this woman (above) who was last seen at her home on Clarendon road in East Flatbush on September 28. Nancy...

PALESTINE COLLAPSE; PM TO AX GOV'T AS CIVIL WAR LOOMS VS. HAMAS

JERUSALEM - Efforts to unify Palestinians - and avoid a civil war - in a new government have collapsed, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday. Abbas said he will dissolve...

THE REAL WINNER OF A MIKE '08 BID

Bloomberg: Looking to be kingmaker in '08, not king? 'HOW likely is it a 5-foot-7 Jew-from-New-York billionaire who's divorced and running as an independent to become president of the United...

8 HELD IN 895G HOUSING SCAM

Eight Bronx residents were arrested yesterday for lying about their income in order to get government housing subsidies, investigators said. So far this year, the city's Department of Investigation has...

COWARDLY KILLER; FIEND COULDN'T BEAR TO LOOK AT TEACHER BEFORE UNLEASHING SCHOOL RAMPAGE

He wouldn't look her in the eye. That's when Amish teacher Emma Mae Zook, 20, first realized something was terribly wrong as Charles Carl Roberts strode into the one-room schoolhouse...

IT'S TWO MUCH; MET FANSALSO HEADTO BRONX

Brett Parker turned a nifty double play yesterday - cheering the Mets to victory at Shea Stadium before heading up to The Bronx for the Yankee nightcap. Only in New...

SCHOOL THIEF A TRUANT; SICKY SKIPS COURT

A Nassau County judge issued an arrest warrant for a disgraced Long Island school official yesterday after the embezzler checked into a hospital on the eve of his scheduled sentencing....

BREAST-FEED MA CAN SUE TIFFANY

A New Jersey mother who says she was ordered not to give her infant daughter breakfast at Tiffany's - by breast-feeding her - has gotten the go-ahead to sue the...

FARE DEAL ON SMART CARDS

Paying for the subway with a smart card will be a no-brainer next week - Citibank is offering free rides to all customers who have the cards or keychain attachments....

9/11 KIN RIP MIKE OVER MEM POST

Just hours before Mayor Bloomberg is expected to be officially named chairman of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, a group of Sept. 11 families today will protest his appointment...

TEACHER HIT WITH SEX RAPS

A 50-year-old Brooklyn middle school math teacher was arrested yesterday on sex charges for raping a 14-year-old girl he was tutoring in the apartment he shared with his wife and...

WOMAN FIGHTS OFF RIVERDALE RAPIST; YOM KIPPUR ATTACK IN PARK

A 46-year-old woman bravely fought off a pervert who tried to rape her in a popular park in Riverdale, one of the city's most upscale neighborhoods, police said yesterday. The...

L.I. HOUSE BLAZE 'SET'

Nassau County police say they found evidence the Long Island house fire that killed a 44-year-old father of three Tuesday was deliberately set. The body of David Bhola, part owner...

JUDGE BANS UNIFORMS AT COPS-SLAY TRIAL

The Staten Island man accused of murdering two detectives won't have to face a sea of blue when his trial begins next month. Brooklyn federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled yesterday...

SEX ED WAS REAL: LAWSUIT

A sex-ed teacher at a Bronx high school was giving private lessons to a teacher's aide on school property, a sensational lawsuit charges. The unidentified sex-ed teacher "was practicing what...

PRESCRIPTION PAINS; CITY COUNCIL UNCAPS SHOCKINGLY WILD PRICE SWINGS AMONG LOCAL PHARMACIES

Prescription-drug prices vary wildly from pharmacy to pharmacy in the Big Apple - sometimes by as much as 700 percent for the same medication, a new report from the City...

XMAS EVE KILLER JAILED

The sister of a man fatally stabbed outside a Queens theater on Christmas Eve called the killer a "terrorist lurking in the dark" moments before a judge sentenced him yesterday...

REPUBLICAN BIG GIVES SPEAKER A 'WHIPPING'

WASHINGTON - Another top Republican questioned House Speaker Dennis Hastert's handling of inappropriate e-mails that Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) sent to a 16-year-old congressional page - as Hastert tried to...

CLUB GAL POPS PARIS IN THE PUSS; LOVE RIVALS CALL IN COPS AFTER CATFIGHT

Paris Hilton - who has a history of stealing men from other women - finally got some payback early yesterday when Miss USA 1995 Shanna Moakler punched her in the...

MAN IS 'HARVARD' CLUBBED; SUES TONY INSTITUTION OVER BRUTAL '04 BEATING

Maybe they thought he was a Yalie. A man says he was beaten up by a bunch of drunks at the pish-posh Harvard Club. In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme...

JUDGE WHISPERS OF GOD & REHAB TO SUSPECT

A Brooklyn judge stepped off the bench yesterday to speak with a homeless alcoholic defendant about God and the importance of undergoing rehab. The highly unusual action by Brooklyn Supreme...

ACTRESS SLAY NO 'ACCIDENT'; KILLER'S PAL SAYS HE MEANT TO SHOOT HER

She heard the fateful words fly from actress Nicole duFresne's mouth across a Lower East Side sidewalk: "You've got what you wanted. What are you going to do now, shoot...

CASE SANIT EERIE; 2ND MURDER EYED

His eight-months-pregnant ex-girlfriend suffered a watery end, say Manhattan prosecutors, her body found shot in the head and floating in the Hudson River last spring. But as murder suspect and...

GOP AIDE: I TOLD ON FOLEY IN '04; NEW PERV HEAT ON 'DO-NOTHING' HASTERT

WASHINGTON - A top former aide to disgraced Congressman Mark Foley revealed yesterday he informed senior House leaders of his boss' creepy interest in teenage pages more than three years...

ASTOR'S KIN SEEK A TRUCE

Brooke Astor's warring son and grandson are discussing a settlement to avoid a scandalous trial over allegations the socialite has been forced to live in squalor, The Post has learned....

IT'S TWO MUCH; MET FANS ALSO HEAD TO BRONX

Brett Parker nearly turned a nifty double play yesterday - cheering the Mets to victory at Shea Stadium before heading up to The Bronx for the Yankee nightcap, which was...

CLUB GAL POPS PARIS IN THE PUSS; LOVE RIVALS CALL IN COPS AFTER H'WOOD CATFIGHT

Paris Hilton, who has a history of stealing men from other women, finally got some payback early yesterday when Miss USA 1995 Shanna Moakler punched her in the face. Hilton...

BASE-BRAWL GAME IN B'KLYN

A baseball game in a Brooklyn park turned into a drunken brawl yesterday - with a final score of six injured and two arrested. The players, all adults, were drinking...

MINIVAN KILLS B'KLYN OLD-TIMER

An affable Brooklyn old-timer was killed yesterday when a minivan lurched onto the sidewalk and struck him. Alvaro "Al" Fernandez, 73, was sitting outside a Boerum Hill deli when an...

CLASSROOM EXTRA - GEORGIA - THE PEACH STATE

Georgia - The Peach State On Jan. 2, 1788, Georgia became the fourth state to ratify the Constitution. THE Spanish were the first Europeans to discover the area that would...

PARIS FAT-SION SHOW

Talk about a weighty argument. Fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier made his feelings known about efforts afoot in Europe to limit waif-like women on the runway - by sending a...

GOP AIDE: I TOLD ON FOLEY IN '04 - NEW PERV HEAT ON 'DO-NOTHING' HASTERT

WASHINGTON - A top former aide to disgraced Congressman Mark Foley revealed yesterday he informed senior House leaders of his boss' creepy interest in teenage pages more than three years...

CITY SEEKS MORE QNS. HOSP BEDS

Bucking a trend to downsize, the Bloomberg administration has proposed increasing the number of public hospital beds in Queens. A plan submitted to the state Health Department would partially offset...

RANGERS, JAGR OPEN TO HIGH EXPECTATIONS

He will likely be introduced to tonight's crowd at the Garden as, "Captain Jaromir Jagr." This might be enough to make Washington GM George McPhee and owner Ted Leonsis gag...

A MATTER OF TOM ; GLAVINE FINALLY REACHES PLAYOFFS WITH METS

During the dark days of the 2003 season when the Mets' and Tom Glavine's records sank below .500 and the rats outnumbered the fans at Shea Stadium, the pitcher remained...

THERE'S STILL FIGHT IN SPARTANS

THE jokes have been fly ing around message boards all week. What does the "L" stand for in Michigan State coach John L. Smith's name? Considering the brutal defeats to...

YASHIN, ISLES SET TO QUIET CRITICS

The Islanders may be a lot of things, but with the new season beginning tonight in Phoenix, one thing Ted Nolan's team most certainly will be is a motivated bunch....

KUO WANTS TO PERFORM LIKE WANG

Tom Glavine will take 290 career wins into tonight's NLDS Game 2 start. Hong-Chih Kuo brings in a grand total of one. But the Dodgers rookie can take heart in...

NETS NOT HAVING A BALL WITH NEW ROCK

Not dishing the stinging critique Shaquille O'Neal offered earlier in the week when he said whoever designed the new balls being used in the NBA this year "should have his...

NOW OR NEVER; ISIAH WORKING UNDER DOLAN'S ULTIMATUM

CHARLESTON, S.C. - With owner James Dolan watching the Knicks' second day of training-camp practices here, Isiah Thomas had his first chance to show the boss he deserves to stick...

MOOSE: MR. GAME 2

IN Joe Torre's mind, Mike Mussina forever became Mr. Game 3 in 2001. At the time the Yankees, down 2-0 and scoreless in their last 14 innings going to Oakland,...

PEDRO: SURGERY 'IN GOD'S HANDS'

Pedro Martinez spent yesterday rooting for his Mets teammates. Today, they'll be rooting for him. Martinez is scheduled to have surgery today on his right rotator cuff at the Hospital...

GREAT 1ST IMPRESSION ; DELGADO'S DEBUT FILLED WITH POWER

UP until yesterday, Carlos Delgado never participated in postseason baseball. Now you can call him "Mr. October," at least for one night. Delgado went into yesterday's NL Division Series opener...

PEREZ WOULD START GAME 4

MET NOTES Orlando Hernandez's injury is a torn right calf, and his absence from the Mets' NLDS roster meant John Maine pitched yesterday and Oliver Perez is slated to start...

ROOK DELIVERS IN MAINE EVENT

When John Maine arrived at Shea yesterday at 11:30 a.m., his jeans and sneakers as casual as his demeanor, Met pitching coach Rick Peterson took him aside and gave him...

TIGERS GET RAIN RESPITE

Maybe this is exactly what the Tigers need to snap out of a six-game losing streak that already has cost them the AL Central title and a put them in...

MIKE LIKES UMPS' CALL

Mike Mussina didn't mind that last night's game was scotched. In fact, he might have been the impetus behind it. After tracking the storm system on Weather.com and Intellicast.com, Mussina...

REIGN DELAY IN BRONX ; ONCE AGAIN, FANS GET SOAKED

IN the bad old days, like up to about 10 years ago, the Yankees and the Tigers would not only have been in the fifth or sixth inning of their...

UNIT ON TRACK FOR GAME 3

YANKEE NOTES While Randy Johnson continues to make progress, Joe Torre can't gauge how far Johnson has come since missing a start last Thursday. "He threw a bullpen the other...

IT WASN'T EASY, BUT IT WAS EXCITING

FOR SO much of the day, Shea Stadium was covered with angst, with nerves, with bleeding cuticles and chewed-up lips. This is why there is truly nothing quite like playoff...

EVEN SHEA IS BEAUTIFUL IN OCTOBER

IT'S STILL a mess, this big, blue blob by Flushing Bay, charmless and cheesy, incubator of so much bad, brutal baseball through the years. Even the most ardent Mets fans...

RANDOLPH RIDE WILL SURELY BE GUT-WRENCHING

WILLIE Randolph played in more than 40 postseason games during his 17year playing career, and he coached in a zillion with the Yankees. You figure all those games would give...

METS, DELGADO GRAB OPENER

GAME 1 Mets 6 Dodgers 5 The arm moved in a windmill motion for Carlos Delgado afterwards. He pumped his fist, exuberant in the seventh inning after his key hit....

SHEA HOME TO STRANGE DOUBLE PLAY

The Mets' second-inning double play caused an avalanche of adjectives yesterday at Shea Stadium. Unbelievable. Improbable. Crazy. Wacky. Bizarre. Strange. Take your pick. Everyone in the stadium, from the players...

METS GET LONG RELIEF

IT is no secret the Mets' fortunes in this NL Division Series against the Dodgers will rest with the success of their bullpen. This was known even before starters Pedro...

PENNY FAILS TO CASH IN

Dodgers starter Brad Penny enjoyed the best year of his career this season. But there was nothing enjoyable about yesterday's relief performance, coughing up a pair of seventh-inning runs to...

DEREK AND MARIANO AGAIN BOMBERS' OCTOBER KINGS

AS always, October arrived, and the Yankees felt best when Derek Jeter was up at bat and Mariano Rivera was up in the bullpen. After all the years and all...

BOSS HAILS 'GREAT LEADER'

An ornery George Steinbrenner stormed out of Yankee Stadium shortly after the Yankees game against the Tigers was postponed last night and promptly knocked the league and his team's crosstown...

PEREZ WILL GET START IN L.A.

MET NOTES Orlando Hernandez's injury is a torn right calf and he's absent from the Mets' NLDS roster. And because John Maine pitched yesterday, Oliver Perez is slated to start...

SCOUT RECALLS HOW CAPTAIN CLUTCH LANDED IN BRONX

The scout who, 14 years ago, told Yankee brass that Derek Jeter was headed for the Hall of Fame wants to be on hand for Jeter's Cooperstown induction. "When you...

GIAMBI FEELING HIS OATS

Everyone knew about Derek Jeter's 5-for-5 effort in Game 1, but Jason Giambi had his kind of perfect night, too. Giambi, the Yankees' slugging on-base machine, reached safely in every...

GIAMBI'S FEELING HIS OATS

Everyone knew about Derek Jeter's 5-for-5 effort in Game 1, but Jason Giambi had his kind of perfect night, too. Giambi, the Yankees' slugging on-base machine, reached safely in every...

BIG UNIT STILL ON TRACK FOR GAME 3

YANKEE NOTES While Randy Johnson continues to make progress, Joe Torre can't gauge how far Johnson has come since missing a start last Thursday. "He threw a bullpen the other...

ROOKIE BALL - WILKINSON GEARS FOR 1ST START

Roll call of Giants linebackers for Sunday's game. You have Antonio Pierce, whose fire continues to burn bright and hot at the very mention of the Redskins team that gave...

GIBBS SOFTENS STANCE ON LAVAR

GIANT NOTES The situation for LaVar Arrington with the Redskins went from bad to worse the past two years after Joe Gibbs took over as head coach. While Arrington certainly...

SHAKY SET-UP MEN COULD DOOM YANKS

MIKE MYERS couldn't keep the ball in the yard against the one hitter he faced in just the kind of lefty-lefty matchup for which he was hired. Scott Proctor yielded...

PRACTICE PATIENCE - INACTIVE BLAYLOCK WAITS IT OUT

Derrick Blaylock seemed to be on a path toward the finest success of his career as training camp unfolded. Curtis Martin, the Jets' incumbent starting running back, has been shelved...

RESURGENCE CONTINUES

The attitude has been obvious since the first day of training camp. If last season was about creating a culture of accountability and a foundation of credibility, this season is...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

You've heard of voter apathy, but how about candidate apathy? Paul Herold, a candidate for City Council in Blaine, Mich., wants to lose. In fact, he's actively urging voters to...

UPDATE: Jet Blue to Chicago? Yes, please

Comes word (via Ben's blog at USAT) that JetBlue have filed with the FAA for landing rights at Chicago O'Hare.This, ages upon ages after speculation that the airline may move...