THROUGH his first five outings this spring, right-handed pitcher Matt DeSalvo (right) has a 3.38 ERA in his attempt to find a place in the Mets bullpen. Nevertheless, a much more impressive statistic is that since the start of training camp on Feb. 15, the 28-year-old native of New Castle, Pa., has read 22 books. Since 2004, DeSalvo has read 350 books, and he hopes to read 50 more by the end of the season to fulfill his goal of reading 400 books in a five-year span.
“I love to read and find out about the world,” said DeSalvo who graduated from Marietta College in Ohio. “When I was in school, I didn’t have time to read, but since playing pro ball, that’s all I do. I average about five hours of reading a day.”
DeSalvo reads up to five books at a time, mixing such diverse subjects as politics, physiology, chemistry, economics and environmental science. His favorite book is Chaucer’s “Troilus and Cressida.”
When he’s not reading or pitching, DeSalvo has one diversion.
“I love watching cartoons on TV. Pretty crazy, huh?”
On the baseball side, Matt has impressed manager Jerry Manuel with his pitching. “His ball really moves,” Manuel said. “Our staff has been impressed.”
DeSalvo has appeared in nine major league games, including seven with the Yankees in 2007.
Now appearing . . .
Nets CEO Brett Yormark will be featured on Bloomberg Television’s “For The Record” program today. Gospel artist, four-time Grammy Award winner and WLIB radio talk-show host Yolanda Adams will perform a concert after Nets-Heat on Friday at the Izod Center. And R&B artist Montell Jordan will perform at halftime of Nets-Cavs next Sunday. . . . Legendary photographer George Kalinsky will conduct a tutorial on the Garden court with five children from the Children’s Aid Society before Knicks-Nets on Wednesday night. . . . Horse racing fans can meet Hall of Fame jockey Jorge Velasquez at Westbury Manor on April 1 from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at a benefit for the Honeysuckle Foundation for Children with Cancer. Tickets are available at (631) 885-1009 and honeysucklefoundation.org.
Value of Dollar Bill
Back when they were in school together at Princeton, Charles Gibson said his All-American schoolmate, Bill Bradley, made coach Butch van Breda Kolff’s job pretty easy during his four years there. “I’m sitting there right behind the bench and there’s a timeout in a game against, I think Cornell, my freshman year,” the ABC News anchorman says on the upcoming edition of YES’ “CenterStage,” which airs Thursday at 10 p.m. “There’s one last shot to be taken and . . . I’m wondering what last second strategy [the coach will] come up with. A brilliant strategy, you know, like (setting) a pick or doing something like that. So, the coach says, ‘Let’s bring the ball in and pass it around a little bit and give it to Bill.’ That was basically Princeton’s strategy for four years.”
Stadium story comes alive
Ray Negron’s latest children’s book, “One Last Time: Good-bye to Yankee Stadium, a tribute to The Boss and the Yankees greats of the past, will be coming out Tuesday. It is being produced in animation form by the Creative Group, the producers of “Speed Racer.” Voices include Richard Gere stars as Lou Gehrig and Hank Steinbrenner as his father. Copies are available at Amazon.com
Sightings . . .
Tiki Barber and Jon Bon Jovi, having dinner and discussing football at the Hudson House this past week. Bon Jovi still is waiting to hear if his AFL Philadelphia Soul will return to the field in 2010, while Barber is expanding work building playgrounds for kids in Bon Joni’s native New Jersey. . . . Controversial rapper Fabolous stopping at the table of Knicks point guard Chris Duhon, as well as the party for forward Bobby Simmons of the Nets at a packed Sofrito, the popular, upscale Puerto Rican restaurant on the Upper East Side. On almost any night, you can find a major sports figure there. Once the Mets are in season, Carlos Beltran is a regular as are many of his Latin teammates.
Coulda been a reporter
Turns out, what makes Scott Gomez among the more media-friendly athletes in New York was his time hard spent over on the dark side.
“I knew hockey always was going to be a part of my life. That at least I was going to be able to play in college, so my [high school journalism] teacher, Mr. [Lou] Chandler, wanted me to see other aspects of it,” the Rangers center and former reporter for the East Anchorage (Alaska) High School Rolling Thunder told The Post’s Jay Greenberg. “I learned more appreciation for what goes into a story.
“I once handed an assignment in to Mr. Chandler and he said, ‘Who is going to read this?’ So I understand you guys have to sell it to your boss and I learned that it’s easier to ask questions when things are going well than when they are going bad. Most of all, I learned that whatever is written, you can’t take it personally.”
Gomez wrote an editorial condemning athletes who lost their eligibility because they couldn’t maintain a 2.0 average. When the hockey program was jeopardized by budget cuts, his column helped save the team.
B-‘LT’ blitz
In conjunction with Lawrence Taylor’s participation on “Dancing with the Stars,” Foley’s NY Pub & Restaurant (18 W. 33rd St.) has introduced a sandwich in support of the greatest Giant. The B-“LT” Giant Club Sandwich is a larger version of the traditional BLT (bacon, lettuce, tomato) sandwich. It will sell for $10.56 (signifying the 10 Pro Bowls made by No. 56). Two dollars from the sale of each sandwich will be donated to the Retired NFL Players Foundation.
“There are two things that are very close to my heart: The support that the fans have always given me in my years in New York, and the assistance that we can help provide those who worked so hard on the field and are struggling today,” Taylor said. “I am glad that this effort can help combine both of those things, letting the fans have a little fun while helping raise money for the retired players.”