NewYork.Mets.com

By Kevin T. Czerwinski / MLB.com

General manager Jim Duquette confirmed the news that had been buzzing through the Shea Stadium press box for most of Sunday evening during the third inning of the game between the Mets and Yankees. Heilman, the former No. 1 pick from Notre Dame, started Sunday for Triple-A Norfolk against Columbus but only went three innings, using the 52-pitch outing as tune-up for Thursday.

Duquette also pointed out that Heilman's long-awaited debut was also contingent on there being no further weather issues -- rainouts -- this week in Queens.

Heilman allowed two hits and two earned runs while striking out four against the Clippers. The 6-foot-5 righty was 12-12 in 49 minor-league games, including going 6-4 with a 3.15 ERA in 15 starts this year, prior to Sunday's outing. He has 71 strikeouts in 95 1/3 innings.

Duquette said the callous/cracked nail on Jae Weong Seo's index finger expedited Heilman's arrival. Seo was scratched from his start this weekend against the Yankees because of the nail and was re-scheduled to go on Thursday at the earliest. But the Mets decided it would be best to give him an extra day of rest so Seo will start Friday night against the Yankees in the Bronx.

Heilman's arrival has been talked about for the better part of a month and such discussions only grew in intensity when Jose Reyes was called up from Norfolk two weeks ago when the club was in Texas.

When New York needed an emergency starter on June 14 in Anaheim, though, Jason Roach was recalled, not Heilman. At the time, Duquette said that Roach's control and overall recent body of work made him better suited to facing Anaheim.

"[Heilman] has been pitching better the last two weeks," Duquette said. "He's been more consistently in the strike zone with his pitches. We could have brought up Roach or Heilman [to face the Angels] but we also felt that it was closer to Roach's fifth day than Heilman's. At the time, if Heilman were the only one available, we would have brought him up. But we were talking about this as a possibility before Jae's blister problem."

Heilman went 1-2 with a 4.05 ERA in five games [two starts] during Spring Training, losing out on the fifth starter's spot in a battle that included Mike Bacsik and Jason Middlebrook, a battle that was eventually won by the dark-horse Seo.

Now the Mets rotation for the series against the Marlins will be Al Leiter, Steve Trachsel and Heilman. After Seo, Tom Glavine will start one of the Saturday games with the second starter to be determined. Duquette said that Jeremy Griffiths and Bacsik, and perhaps Dan Wheeler, were candidates. It looks, however, that it will be Griffiths who gets the nod.

Duquette also said that manager Art Howe had a talk with Bacsik to inform him that Heilman would be making the start Thursday and that the young southpaw would be slotted for long relief.

Glavine takes a shot: Though Glavine took a Derek Jeter liner in the stomach Sunday, a shot the ultimately caused him to leave the game, he says he won't miss his next scheduled start on Saturday against the Bombers.

Glavine was sailing along when Jeter came up to lead off the fourth and lined a shot back up the middle. The veteran southpaw stuck out his glove but missed the ball, which hit him just below the rib cage in the middle part of his upper abdomen. He retrieved the ball and made the play on Jeter but doubled over in pain after making the throw to first.

He would pitch two more innings before coming out after only 66 pitches. Glavine labored through the fifth and sixth innings before coming out.

"It was a decent shot and it was sore when it happened," said Glavine, who pitched very well in his second start back after missing a turn because of inflammation in his elbow. "Each inning though it got progressively worse. It was tough to bend over to where I wanted. Physically when its tough like that you have to be smart sometimes.

"I was pitching a good game before that, though, and doing what I wanted to do. I had a plan and I was able to execute it. Unfortunately I took a line drive off the chest."

When asked if he could suffer through any more twists and turns this season, Glavine shook his head.

"God only knows," he said. "I hope not many more."

Slow goin': The page has almost turned on June and the Mets have yet to reach an agreement with first-round pick, Florida native Lastings Milledge. The high school outfielder says he and his agent, Tommy Tanzer, are speaking with the club and are hopeful of getting a deal done in the near future.

"I didn't know what to look forward to when I got picked," Milledge told MLB.com. "But we've been talking to the Mets often."

Milledge, who has made a commitment to Manatee Community College in Bradenton, Fla., hasn't played baseball in nearly three weeks. His last game action came at the All American Games earlier this month in Little Falls, N.J. But he says he is staying in shape by hitting in a batting cage in his backyard with the help of an automatic pitching machine. He's also been throwing and running.

The Mets will send him to Class A Kingsport of the Appalachian League when he does sign to work with manager Mookie Wilson.

"I know when I get there my arm is going to be in shape," Milledge said. "It's the hitting part I have to work at."

Minor notes: Class A Cap City pitcher Miguel Pinango is unable to participate in the South Atlantic League All-Star game because of a bout with tendinitis and was replaced on the roster by Anthony Lerew of the Rome Braves. Pinango himself originally made the squad as an injury replacement, filling in for Savannah's Jason Bergmann. The Sally League All-Star game will be played Tuesday in Lexington, Ky. Pitcher Kevin Deaton [7-2], who will start the game, and infielder Aaron Baldaris of Cap City were tabbed as All-Stars while the Bombers' pitching coach Blaine Beatty was chosen as part of the staff.

This and that: Alfonso Soriano stepped on Jeromy Burnitz's right ring finger and cut it as the Mets right fielder attempted to break up a double play in the ninth inning. Burnitz left the game and needed a stitch but x-rays were negative. He isn't expected to miss any time. "He's a pretty tough customer," Howe said. ... Academy Award-winning actor Jack Nicholson was at the game and sat in the front row just to the left of the Yankees' dugout. He wore a white Yankees' cap with a blue NY logo and autographed baseballs in between innings. ... Jason Phillips' four hits were a career high. He is hitting .500 [10-for-20] with three RBIs over his last five starts. ... The 11 innings represented the longest game of the year for the Mets. ... Reyes hit right-handed against Mariano Rivera in the 10th inning and grounded out to short. "Rivera is much more comfortable to hit against from the right side," Howe said. "That's what we recommended to him and he listened. He's that kind of kid." ... The average game-time temperature for a game at Shea Stadium this season is 57.6 degrees. ... The Mets snapped a 24-inning scoreless streak at Shea in the second inning Sunday when Cliff Floyd blasted a solo homer off David Wells. The streak was the longest streak since the Mets went 35 consecutive scoreless innings at Shea in May of 1992. ... The Mets were 12-20 with Mike Piazza in the lineup and 21-19 without him in the lineup heading into Sunday's game. New York was 17-16 in game started by Vance Wilson, Piazza's replacement, before Sunday. Wilson had hit in 19 of 26 games prior to Sunday.

Kevin T.Czerwinski is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. The Elias Sports Bureau contributed to this report.