In an exclusive to New York Baseball Digest, a source with intimate knowledge of the results has confirmed that Meet the Mets is the runaway winner in the 2009 Eighth Inning Sing-a-Long Contest.

While official vote totals and results cannot be released at this time, pending their certification by the New York Mets Board of Elections, we can reveal that Meet the Mets easily defeated second-place finisher Twist and Shout. Curly Shuffle finished just behind Twist and Shout, with Mama Said Knock You Out, inexplicably, a strong fourth.

I Like It Like That, Hooked on a Feeling, and This Land Is Your Land finished a distant fifth, sixth and seventh.

The news comes as a welcome sign that the wisdom of Mets fans, and the organization, far outstrips the musical stylings of Craig Carton and Boomer Esiason. After all, if Mr. Carton’s version of humor is calling Mike Silva “Mike Saliva”, I suppose it is natural that his musical tastes would lag behind those of sophisticated Mets fans as well.

According to the well-placed source, the Mets held voting from Monday, June 29 to Thursday, July 2. Turnout cannot yet be revealed, but was strong enough to represent a significant cross-section of the Mets fan population.

Reaction has been overwhelming to yesterday’s piece about the uncertainty hovering over the Eighth Inning Sing-a-Long election, and the news comes as a relief to many who feared the Mets might choose the Iranian route of fixing the election and physically repressing the fan base. Fortunately, crowds are still welcome to gather at Citi Field, and special forces will not physically attack those massing at Shake Shack in pursuit of a burger, and if possible, fries.

In the coming days, New York Baseball Digest will bring you further coverage of this story as it develops. I’d like to hear from any Mets fans who voted in this election, not only with the song you chose, but the reasons for doing so. I can be reached at hmegdal@yahoo.com. It is worth pointing out that while you may have differed from one another on song choices, you as Mets fans have far more in common than your lyrical differences would suggest.

Now is the time to come together, to sing of the East Side, yes, but also the West Side. Everybody has come down, and now it is time to hope that soon, the Mets will once again be sockin’ that ball- that indeed, before too long, David Wright will be knockin’ those home runs over the wall.

Tags: Craig Carton, David Wright, Meet the Mets, Mir Hussein Moussavi, New York Mets, Shake Shack, Sing-a-Long, Twish and Shout