times return - for one set of fans. Hibernian manager Alan Stubb

NEW YORK -- Lucas Duda made the Mets look awfully smart, for one night at least. Duda hit a pair of two-run homers only hours after the team gave him the starting job at first base, and New York beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 Friday behind Jenrry Mejia for its first victory of the season. "Im just glad to play and contribute any way I can," said the soft-spoken Duda. "Its just one day." Replacement closer Jose Valverde struck out Jay Bruce with two on to end it, and the Mets avoided their first 0-4 start since opening with five consecutive losses in 2005. The 24-year-old Mejia (1-0), who beat out Daisuke Matsuzaka for the final spot in the rotation, struck out a career-high eight in six innings. Flashing a sharp breaking ball, he allowed one run and four hits in a steady rain and mist. "It was a good game for us tonight. We needed it bad," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "Were a better team than weve played." Bruce homered and drove in three runs for the Reds, who had won six straight at Citi Field. Mike Leake (0-1) gave up five hits and three walks in 6 2-3 innings. "It was the Lucas Duda-Jay Bruce show, and Duda won," Leake said. Mets left fielder Eric Young Jr. robbed Brandon Phillips of a home run, and backup catcher Anthony Recker threw out speedy pinch-runner Billy Hamilton trying to steal second for a big out in the eighth. New Yorks maligned bullpen, which compiled a 10.61 ERA during Washingtons three-game sweep to start the season, held on this time behind Valverde and fellow veteran Kyle Farnsworth, who got four outs. The excitable Valverde worked the ninth for his first save with the Mets. He took over as closer when Bobby Parnell went on the disabled list with a partially torn ligament in his right elbow after blowing a save on opening day. "I remember Valverde back in 2009 when he was throwing 99 mph," Bruce said. "He came right at me tonight. I just missed the one pitch and then he finished me off with the splitter. Pretty typical Valverde." Mejia struck out five of his first eight batters and overcame five walks, which matched a career high. His right ankle was wrapped after the game -- Phillips third-inning grounder hit him just above the outside part of his foot -- but he said he was fine. Mejia pounded his glove and pointed to left field when Young robbed Phillips of a first-inning homer. "I was just pumped up," Young said. "It ended up being the difference in the game because it was one run, so it was huge." Bruce put Cincinnati ahead with an RBI single in the third. Curtis Granderson beat the shift in the fourth when he grounded a leadoff double inside third base. Duda drove the next pitch into the Mets bullpen in right-centre for a 2-1 lead. "Sometimes its just about confidence," said Collins, who chose Duda at first over incumbent Ike Davis. "And maybe once in a while, when you feel good about yourself, you can start to do what everybody expects you to do." David Wright opened the sixth with an infield single and, after Bruce robbed Granderson of extra bases with running catch in deep right-centre, Duda ripped a line drive over the fence in right for his fifth career multihomer game. Duda is 6 for 8 against Leake with three extra-base hits. "Hes a guy that sees me well. It didnt help that the two pitches he hit werent quality pitches," Leake said. Bruce cut it to 4-3 in the seventh with a two-run drive off reliever John Lannan. NOTES: Cincinnati rested Hamilton (0 for 12) and SS Zack Cozart (0 for 11). "For no other reason than trying to make sure that our other guys stay sharp," manager Bryan Price said. CF Roger Bernadina drew three walks in his first start for Cincinnati, and Ramon Santiago became the 24th Reds shortstop to play next to Phillips. ... It was the first stolen base attempt of the season for Hamilton, who set a professional baseball record in 2012 with 155 steals combined at Class A Bakersfield and Double-A Pensacola. The only other catcher to throw him out in 15 major league tries was Juan Centeno of the Mets on Sept. 25 last year. ... Mejia threw a career-high 101 pitches. ... Mets RHP Dillon Gee starts Saturday against RHP Johnny Cueto. Blue Jays Jerseys 2019 . According to Tony Barrett of The Times, the Liverpool captain is set to announce that he will leave the club at the end of the 2014-15 season. Custom Toronto Blue Jays Jerseys . After Mariota was pushed around by Stanford on Thursday, finishing 20/34 with 250 yards and two touchdowns in Oregons Title hope-crushing defeat, hes going to need a poor performance or two from the remaining frontrunners to have a shot at the most coveted individual trophy in college sports. https://www.cheapbluejays.com/ . Brassard and Coyotes defenceman Derek Morris were battling for position in the crease when a nudge from Morris sent Brassard on top of Smith late in the third period. Toronto Blue Jays Gear . That time around, the cage is as much a part of baseballs daily routine as a beer and a hotdog is to a fan in the stands. Coaches, scouts, broadcasters and other media hover, tossing verbal barbs, telling stories and sharing laughs. Occasionally, especially in spring when the atmosphere is relatively laid back, the list of invited guests expands and on this day, Gibbons welcomed two men strongly influential in his life. Blue Jays Jerseys 2020 . The motion to expand the stadiums capacity passed through by a count of 39-3, with Toronto mayor Rob Ford being among those in opposition.Sky Sports coverage of the Scottish football season reaches a climax on Scottish Cup final day. Its live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 2pm on Saturday. Presenter David Tanner looks forward to the final, and also the arrival of Brendan Rodgers at Celtic... The city of Glasgow never tires of talking football. On the evidence of my strolls along Sauchiehall and Buchanan Streets this week, the volume of the chatter has reached levels not heard for years. Celtic fans told me of their excitement about Brendan Rodgers coming to town. I could only agree! Others were sad that Neil Lennon wasnt being welcomed back; I agreed with them, too. Discussions tended to move onto thoughts about whether the new boss should worry about the return of the other half of the Old Firm to the Premiership. Meanwhile, the blue half of town is all over the Scottish Cup final. As is the green end of Edinburgh! It struck me that this week might prove to be a watershed for Scottish football and for the fans in the countrys biggest city. This is the time when football people appear to me to have started looking forward with anticipation and excitement, rather than looking back in anger. The events that have unfolded at Rangers since 2012 - and the fiscal arrangements which preceded them - have dominated and soured many discussions about Scottish football for way too long. Without the Old Firm going head-to-head to provide the entertainment, fans of the great rivals have been left to argue the toss about tax schemes and other legal complexities. And youd be amazed how many tax experts there are out there now! Everybody has their own truth on this subject. The discourse of discontent can hopefully be drowned out now. Mark Warburton and Alan Stubbs will go head-to-head at Hampden Park Celtic have shown huge appetite and ambition in their pursuit and capture of Rodgers (there were so many fantastic options available to the champions this time!) and there is clearly about to be substantial investment in human resources at Parkhead. The personal intervention of Dermot Desmond in the recruitment process excites me; it sends out a strong message that wasnt there when he took a back seat when the unfathomable appointment of Ronny Deila was made two years ago. Id argue that these great Glasgow clubs exist primarily to beat the other one! Trophies and European runs are an added bonus! As a Celtic supporter, Brendan will understand this but only to a degree... as he becomes immersed in Celtic and the Old Firm, hell soon discover more about the unique culture of bedlam! Hell find Glasgow to be more intense than Liverpool. I believe that prospect will excite him! Luke Shanley tells us Brendan Rodgers is the big-name manager Celtic wanted Before Brendan experiences the Old Firm clash next season - remember, all of the meetings in the Ladbrokes Premiership will be live on Sky Sports - theres a William Hill Scottish Cup final involving Rangers and another big city club, Hibernian, to look forward to.The word from inside Hampden Park is that demand for cup final tickets outstrips even that for the colossal Old Firm semi-final! Hibs and Rangers fans are noticeably looking forward to this game more than they have any other in recent years. McCann: Stubbs tactical edge Neil McCann is backing Rangers to prolong Hibernians Scottish Cup misery this weekend... Why is there such a final frenzy? First and foremost, both sets of fans know that their favourites can win it. For much of this season, it was difficult to separate the clubs in the league - it was two home wins apiece. The years of mayhem at Rangers and, similarly, Hibernians slide into the Championship - and their extended stay there - means the cup final has additional... well... everything! Despite their Championship status, Hibs managed to reach the final of the League Cup. But that good work seemed to be unravelled by the nature of the late defeat to Ross County at Hampden, coupled with a complete collapse in the league. The form slump led to a new phrase entering the Scottish football dictionary... Hibernian will look to end a run of 10 Scottish Cup final defeats stretching back to 1902 when they play Rangers on Saturday Hibsed it (phrasal verb) - to lose a football game, usually near the end, when victory would seem like the easier option. Hibs have Hibsed it again.Dont dare say those words within earshot of Alan Stubbs. The Hibernian manager knows only too well that if his team dont Hibs it against Rangers and actually win the cup for the first time since 1902, then the phrase can be removed from the footy lexicon as quickly as it appeared there - and sports most enduring hoodoo will also have been ended. Hibernian were victorious the last time the sides met, defeating Rangers 3-2 at Easter Road Cup finals are usually decided by courage.dddddddddddd The team that shows the most of it has a habit of winning. In recent years, though, theres been an additional influencing factor in finals.Since the introduction of the divisional play-offs by the old Scottish Football League, the three divisions below the Premiership have all completed their 36-game season some weeks before the top leagues 38-game campaign has ended. This has presented a problem for the lower-league sides: how to rest the players without letting them switch off. Sky Sports pundit Neil McCann is expecting the Scottish Cup final to be a tight match This years is the fifth final since 2006 that teams from outside the Premiership have featured. A decade ago, the then Division 2 winners Gretna lost on penalties to Hearts; since then Division One/Championship Queen of the South, Ross County and Falkirk have all tried to take the final step. All have failed, despite some having engineered some big cup shocks along the way.And that could be where Hibs have the edge in this unprecedented all-Championship final. Their season was extended beyond the end of Rangers campaign by their participation in the play-offs. The last competitive game for Stubbsy and co - one that ended in late defeat in the play-off semis against Falkirk - was just eight days before Hampden. Wallace: Time to deliver Lee Wallace will get the chance to lift his first major trophy as a Rangers player on Saturday... Rangers, on the other hand, havent played a game with anything riding on it since the Old Firm semi-final FIVE weeks ago! Mark Warburton will have had sleepless nights worrying about the after-effects of winning the title so early and the cold storage which followed it.Will Rangers be rested or ready? Will Hibs be sore or stimulated? Is momentum more powerful than inertia? Answering those questions with me in the studio will be a panel of multiple cup winners: Scotland manager (and Hibs fan!) Gordon Strachan, former Hibs and Rangers manager Alex McLeish and Skys Neil McCann, a five-time cup winner. Former Hibernian defender John Brownlie and former Rangers winger Willie Henderson look ahead to Saturdays Scottish Cup final Make sure you tune in from 2pm to enjoy the full live build-up from Hampden - well have exclusive interviews with the Rangers squad and management, Hibs and Scotland midfielder John McGinn tells us about his Hampden hopes and theres my sit-down with Alan Stubbs, a thought-provoking chat about how a cup final drugs test saved his life. So, years of adversity have given the Hibees and the Bluenoses a renewed hunger for success. Saturday May 21 will be the day the good times return - for one set of fans. Hibernian manager Alan Stubbs says his side are determined to win the Scottish Cup final against Rangers Next season, Brendan Rodgers Celtic, Aberdeen and Hearts will all invest to meet the changes in the landscape brought about by Rangers winning promotion. The fixtures for 2016/17 will be announced by the SPFL on Sky Sports News HQ on June 17, so the excitement starts early! Mark the date in your diary... Brendan certainly will!I was asked this week what my personal ambitions are and, without hesitating, I instinctively said: to be in the studio the night Scotland finally qualify for a major tournament! Scotlands World Cup qualifiers are live on Sky Sports next season. Thats something else to look forward to in what will be a outstanding season for the game here.The campaign which ends this weekend has been one in which more of the matches that mattered in Scotland have been live on Sky Sports and its been a pleasure and a privilege to cover them for you. See you next season for even more big games and, as Celtic have now shown us, big names! Enjoy the cup final! Also See: Celtic appoint Rodgers Sky Live: Scottish Cup final Rodgers can make Celtic great Hughes leaves Inverness ' ' '