For seven innings, R.A. Dickey’s dancing dipsy-doodle devoured the Pittsburgh Pirates batters. If this were a high school game, Dickey would’ve finished with a shutout victory. Unfortunately, they play nine-inning contests in the Major Leagues.
Here is tonight’s Mets lineup against Pirates righthander James McDonald:
Angel Pagan – CF
Justin Turner – 2B
Carlos Beltran – RF
Jason Bay – LF
Daniel Murphy – 3B
Nick Evans – 1B
Josh Thole – C
Ruben Tejada – SS
R.A. Dickey – P
Happy to see hot-hitting Angel Pagan in the leadoff spot.
On Twitter, my friend JamesK from AmazinAvenue tweeted:
I’d like to hear @metstoday’s opinion on the Buster Posey situation and any rule changes going forward.
Since I’m a huge fan of Buster Posey, but the subject doesn’t really fit into a Mets blog, I posted my opinion over at my other blog, OnBaseball.com. It’s the lead story, so if you are interested in my take on the Buster Posey situation, go ahead and check it out.
Many thanks to James K. for making the request.
You may have been wondering why it’s taken me so long to respond to the quotes by Fred Wilpon in the recent New Yorker and SI articles. There were a few reasons.
The Mets extend their winning streak to two games with a win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Here is tonight’s Mets lineup to face Pirates righthander Charlie Morton:
Willie Harris – 3B
Justin Turner – 2B
Carlos Beltran – RF
Daniel Murphy – 1B
Angel Pagan – CF
Josh Thole – C
Jason Pridie – LF
Ruben Tejada – SS
Dillon Gee – P
It seems like whenever I knock Willie Harris, he reaches base four times. But I don’t care about those blips beyond the mean — with Jose Reyes and David Wright out of the lineup, I want Angel Pagan getting a guaranteed at-bat in the first inning. In fact, I probably want Pagan somewhere in the top three even with Reyes and Wright in the lineup. But that’s just me.
Question: if Willie Harris and Justin Turner flipped positions, would Harris be batting second?
Don’t worry — Jose Reyes is not injured. But he will miss at least three days, possibly up to seven, after the death of his grandmother.
From the Mets PR department:
NOTE: Jose Reyes found out this afternoon that his grandmother passed away. He is being placed on the Bereavement List (minimum 3 days – maximum 7 days). Reyes is flying home to Santiago, Dominican Republic. His roster replacement has not yet been named.
Considering that Reyes has been playing like a superstar through the first 50 games of the year — and few others on the team have been as offensively consistent — this is likely to put a dampener on the Mets’ offense, which is already without David Wright and Ike Davis.
The Mets pounded Phillies pitching for 17 hits and 9 runs to avert a sweep and move two games away from the NL East cellar.
