Pirates 3 Mets 1

Generally speaking, you’ll take a split on the road. But, this seemed like a series the Mets could have taken, if not swept.

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.

The quote of the day, from Pirates pitcher Kevin Correia, on manager Clint Hurdle’s ejection from Sunday’s game:

“When a manager gets thrown out, sometimes it will fire you up a little bit,” Correia said. “But I don’t think that it did much today.”

Ouch.

Hurdle was booted in the bottom of the seventh while arguing the Angel Pagan catch/trap of Lyle Overbay’s long fly to the centerfield fence. At the time, the score was 1-0 Mets — it was still a tight ballgame, and at the time, that play was huge.

Maybe if Hurdle was a little more fiery and threw some stuff around the field, his Pirate players might have woken up and scored a few runs, rather than give up six in the final two frames. Or, maybe not.