The Mets will attempt to regain their footing this afternoon behind this lineup and Mike Pelfrey:
Kirk Nieuwenhuis, cf
Daniel Murphy, 2b
David Wright, 3b
Ike Davis, 1b
Jason Bay, lf
Lucas Duda, rf
Josh Thole, c
Ruben Tejada, ss
Mike Pelfrey, rhp
LINEUP COMMENTS: For the most part, Terry Collins’ lineup has been consistent. I like Kirk Nieuwenhuis in the leadoff spot and beginning to think he’s a keeper.
Mets fans and the media have been critical of former GM Omar Minaya for some of his moves, but to be fair he had some good acquisitions and R.A. Dickey is one of them.
DICKEY: Reliable
By reputation, knuckleball pitchers are supposed to be erratic, but Dickey has proven to be the opposite. Once considered to be a journeyman, but now cornerstone in the Mets’ rotation, Dickey will be going after his 15th straight quality start in a few hours against the Braves. Dickey has given the Mets seven innings in 15 of his last 24 starts.
Dickey is coming off a stellar performance at Philadelphia in which he gave up a run in seven innings. The team record for quality starters – defined as giving up three runs in six innings – is 21 by Dwight Gooden in 1985.
The Mets’ rotation has been tattered in recent seasons, but for the most part he has always kept them in the game and we can’t ask for much more.
Dickey will work with a revamped lineup for today’s game with Ronny Cedeno giving Ruben Tejada a day off at shortstop and Kirk Nieuwenhuis leading off.
Here’s the lineup:
Kirk Nieuwenhuis, cf
Daniel Murphy, 2b
David Wright, 3b
Ike Davis, 1b
Jason Bay, lf
Lucas Duda, rf
Josh Thole, c
Ronny Cedeno, ss
R.A. Dickey, rhp
David Wright, Andres Torres and Jason Bay have all missed games because of injuries, but for the most part manager Terry Collins has resisted any urge to crazy juggle his line-up, something Jerry Manuel did on a consistent basis.
Johan Santana will make his third start of the season tonight. Here’s the line-up behind him:
Ruben Tejada, ss
Daniel Murphy, 2b
David Wright, 3b
Ike Davis, 1b
Jason Bay, lf
Lucas Duda, rf
Josh Thole, c
Kirk Nieuwenhuis, cf
Johan Santana, lhp
David Wright gave it a go and will be in the lineup this afternoon at Philadelphia. For five days Terry Collins expressed optimism Wright would be able to play, but also admitted the DL was a possibility.
There is a risk to Wright playing today, which is if Wright aggravates the injury and does go on the DL the Mets would have lost five days in the process.
If his pinkie feels better today, it would probably improve over the next couple of days. I believe the Mets are taking a risk.
Here’s today’s lineup:
Ruben Tejada, ss
Daniel Murphy, 2b
On second thought, the Mets opted for caution and decided not to play David Wright after all. That seemed like the prudent decision. The season is young so there’s no sense to push things. I would serve no purpose.
Here’s tonight’s line-up:
Ruben Tejada, ss
Daniel Murphy, 2b
Justin Turner, 3b
Ike Davis, 1b
Jason Bay, lf
Scott Hairston, cf
Josh Thole, c
R.A. Dickey, rp
LINE-UP THOUGHTS: Thole didn’t have a good day behind the plate the other day. I was thinking Mike Nickeas would get to catch the knuckleballer.