Pirates 9 Mets 3

Though many runs were scored in the game, it was far from a slugfest; mearly all the scoring occurred on infield singles and bloop hits.

This is the lineup the Mets are sending to the plate against Pirates righthander Kevin Correia:

Angel Pagan – CF
Justin Turner – 2B
Carlos Beltran – RF
Jason Bay – LF
Daniel Murphy – 1B
Ronny Paulino – C
Willie Harris – 3B
Ruben Tejada – SS
Chris Capuano – P

Personally I’d prefer to have seen Nick Evans in there again, but it’s more important to get Willie Harris’ slick glove at the hot corner and his lefthanded bat in the lineup right now than find out if Evans will ever hit righthanders. Mildly strange, though, not to see Josh Thole behind the dish with the righty on the mound. Is it possible that Capuano prefers to work with Paulino? Inquiring minds want to know …

Every time my computer acts up, the IT department tells me the first thing I should do is “re-boot”.

It appears the Mets are following a similar strategy with disabled first baseman Ike Davis, who is going back into a boot for three weeks — though possibly longer.

Unfortunately, that likely means he will be out of a Mets uniform for at least 5 weeks, since you have to figure in the “back to baseball activities” part of the process and the minor league rehab assignment. Supporting that theory is Sandy Alderson’s statement that he “hopes” Davis will be back before the All-Star Break.

In other injury-related news, David Wright will get an X-ray on Thursday to determine when he can return to baseball activities. So hopefully we’ll get an update tomorrow.

One bit of injury news that may have flown under the radar — I certainly missed it — was that Angel Pagan’s strained oblique was not a strained oblique, but rather, a stress fracture in his ribs. Oops. I guess an X-ray wasn’t part of the examination process early on.

Meanwhile, R.A. Dickey is going to grin and bear it through his plantar fascia tear; it didn’t seem to affect his pitching last night.

Finally, though he’s not injured, Jose Reyes is expected to return to the Mets tomorrow night. Terry Collins has indicated that temporary leadoff hitter Angel Pagan would not bat second upon Reyes’ return, but is more likely to be placed somewhere lower in the lineup. I suppose as long as Justin Turner remains hot, that makes sense.