Tonight’s Mets Lineup vs. Pirates
Here is the lineup the Mets will send to bat against Pirates lefthanded starting pitcher Paul Maholm:
Jose Reyes SS
Justin Turner 3B
Carlos Beltran RF
Angel Pagan CF
Jason Bay LF
Ronny Paulino C
Daniel Murphy 1B
Ruben Tejada 2B
Mike Pelfrey P
Jason Bay moves to the 5-hole after hitting a groundball single and a sac fly; is that a move to boost his confidence? I might prefer lefty killer Ronny Paulino a slot higher. Interesting to see Dan Murphy in the lineup against the lefty and hitting so low in the order. If you think he can hit lefties, then why put him so low? If you’re not sure, why not get Lucas Duda in there? Puzzling.
Then again the team is winning, and so long as they are winning then I think you will see these kinds of moves: the ones that are safer and don’t involve getting a rookie regular at-bats.