It’s a call to the bullhen.
Mets reliever Tim Byrdak turned the team’s luxurious clubhouse into a chicken coop this weekend — buying an $8 hen in Chinatown that he kept stashed at Citi Field for the Subway Series.
“We originally called him ‘Little Derek Jeter,’ ” Byrdak said before last night’s game.
Byrdak, the team’s joker who is known for his outrageous sense of humor, ordered up the bird to play a practical joke on teammate Frank Francisco.
The closer referred to the Yankees as “chickens” in an interview with The Post on Thursday — leading to a front-page photo of Jeter’s head superimposed on a hen’s body.
Before [Friday’s] game, “I told him [Francisco] the Yankees sent it over for him. He had a look of concern,” Byrdak said.
The name Jeter didn’t last long — and they decided, “We’re going to call him Little Jerry Seinfield.” It’s a nod to an episode of “Seinfeld” in which Kramer buys what he thinks is an egg-laying hen and names it after his Met-loving neighbor, Jerry. The bird turns out to be a champion cockfighting rooster.
Seinfeld weighed in on his bird-brained namesake last night, telling The Post, “As much as I enjoy the Byrdak humor, he should be aware Little Jerry Seinfeld is no chicken.”
Byrdak admitted his new pet spent Friday night in the Mets’ clubhouse, but wouldn’t say exactly where.
He had a pal buy the bird from a live poultry market in Chinatown, and said it was a steal considering the good-luck charm it has become.
“Of course! We scored five runs in the first [Friday],” he said.
But the Met’s feathery friend did little to help them in last night’s game — they laid an egg against the Yankees, losing 4-3.
Along with battling the Yanks in the subway series, Byrdak’s main concern yesterday was trying to find a permanent home for the team’s new mascot.
“A lot of people said they wanted to throw him in a KFC bucket. That wasn’t funny.”
“Does anyone live on a farm that could take a chicken off my hands?” Byrdak tweeted shortly after the Mets beat the Yankees, 6-4, Friday night.
He also posted a 15-second video of the hen on the social networking site.
In the video, the little white clucker can be seen hopping around on the clubhouse’s recognizable Mets carpeting.
The bird won’t be flying the coop — just yet. After last night’s game sources said the bird was in a cage “in a restricted area” of the clubhouse and would remain there overnight.