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Until recently, I had spent so much time around the office advocating the guy and playing phone tag with the Mets' Triple-A affiliate's media relations department that my colleagues began to suspect something fishy. Maybe Pascucci was a myth, a figment of my imagination, they suggested. Maybe I unconsciously created a 6-foot-6, 260-pound right-handed masher in a desperate attempt to find a solution for the Mets' offensive inadequacies.

But unless I'm the victim of a vicious practical joke, I now know Pascucci is alive and well, knocking home runs in New Orleans and keeping an eye on the big-league team.

"Everybody watches the parent club a little bit," he says. "I try to catch them on TV or watch SportsCenter at the end of the night to see how those guys are doing."

In 2008, Mets first basemen have hit .236 with a .698 on-base plus slugging this season, the third-lowest figure among National League teams. Left fielders have hit .248 with a .621 OPS, 26th out of 30 Major League clubs.

Pascucci, who has experience in both positions, is hitting .288 with a 1.065 OPS in Triple-A. The 29-year-old Minor League veteran has more home runs in 32 games with the Zephyrs than the total produced by Mets left fielders and first basemen in 2008.

Yet even with a slew of players on the disabled list, the Mets have yet to call up Pascucci. Instead, they've gone to Fernando Tatis, a 33-year-old journeyman who was a productive Major Leaguer around the turn of the millennium, and Nick Evans, a 22-year-old with fewer than 200 at-bats above Class A.

"I knew they needed some sort of right-handed bat off the bench, or even in the lineup," said Pascucci when asked about the Mets' needs. "I thought it might work out, but they called up Tatis and Evans."

Pascucci must be getting used to that feeling. He has torched Minor League pitching since 2003 but only seen 62 Major League at-bats, a rough stretch with the Expos in 2004 that produced a .197 average and a pair of homers. In nearly 1,500 Triple-A at-bats, Pascucci boasts an on-base percentage over .400 and an OPS around .930.

"You just never know how baseball's going to work out," says Pascucci. "Some guys have great Minor League careers and never get a shot. You can't really control it; the GMs and managers and everybody else make those decisions. The only thing you can control is what you do on the field, so you just try to do your best and put up numbers and hope someone takes notice."

Deric McKamey, Director of Minor League Analysis for BaseballHQ.com, says Pascucci's case for the bigs has been hurt by "well below average" speed and defense.

"He punishes left-handed pitching," says McKamey, "but there isn't a great demand for a right-handed hitting first basemen who can't help you in other ways."

That may be true, but if there's a team that needs Pascucci, it's the one he's affiliated with. Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado has struggled mightily against southpaws in 2008, batting .214 with a .247 OBP and 24 strikeouts in 70 at-bats. Delgado's primary right-handed backup, Damion Easley , is hitting .280 with a .286 OBP against lefties.

In a small sample -- 33 at-bats -- against portsiders in New Orleans, Pascucci has hit .364 with a .450 OBP and a Ruthian 1.420 OPS. And he claims to offer more than just a powerful bat.

"I've played quite a bit at first, right and left, and I'm pretty comfortable," he says. "And I think people underestimate my speed a little bit. Last year I stole nine bases, and this year, I've run down a few balls in the gap."

Pascucci has gone much further than that in pursuit of his Major League dreams. After finishing the 2004 season with the Expos, he went to Japan to play for Bobby Valentine's Chiba Lotte Marines, where he learned to better recognize offspeed pitches. In 2006, he represented Italy in the World Baseball Classic and every day played catch and talked hitting with former Met Mike Piazza. The best hitting catcher of all time told Pascucci that if he kept driving the ball, he'd make it back to the Majors.

More than two years later, Pascucci is doing just that. He's just waiting for the call.

"You never know, it's baseball," he says. "Sometimes it's just being in the right spot at the right time, and having someone on your side."

Playing in an organization bereft of power at first base and left field, Pascucci appears to be in the right spot. And he's finally starting to get some people on his side. Beyond this column, Pascucci has been endorsed by John Peterson at MetsGeek.com and Tim Marchman of the New York Sun.

Near the end of our conversation, I confessed to Pascucci that I was trying to start a movement and asked if he had any nicknames that might endear him to Mets fans. He said he's always been called "Scooch," but that struck me as a nickname more befitting a speedy pest of a player, not a 6-foot-6 thumper. He added that teammates have occasionally deemed him "Boss" because of his Italian heritage. I'll ignore the stereotyping and go with that one. A boss is a powerful man, and Pascucci is certainly that.

Boss pointed me to a YouTube clip capturing a Japanese cheer in his honor. I've embedded it below. Listen closely.

Until Pascucci is hitting home runs in Flushing, that song is all the proof I need of his existence. I'm going to make it my ringtone.

Now that I know he's real, I can say without hesitation that Valentino Pascucci should be a part of the 2008 Mets, as a right-handed bat off the bench and platoon partner for Delgado. And maybe sometime soon, fans will sing his name at Shea Stadium.