Nationals 3 Mets 2

You can’t blame Scott Hairston for this one.

Here is the lineup the Mets will send to the plate against Washington Nationals pitcher Jordan Zimmermann:

Jose Reyes – SS
Willie Harris – 2B
Dan Murphy – 1B
David Wright – 3B
Angel Pagan – CF
Jason Bay – LF
Lucas Duda – RF
Josh Thole – C
Jonathon Niese – P

Willie Harris gets the start at 2B against his old mates. Murphy is 4-for-9 (.440) with a homerun in his career against Zimmermann, and Thole is 3-for-7.

Nationals 3 Mets 0

After scoring 8 or more runs in four straight games, the Mets get blanked by a replacement pitcher who was manhandled by the Buffalo Bisons less than a week ago. Go figure … baseball is a funny game.

Here is the lineup the Mets will send to the plate against Washington Nationals pitcher and Staten Island native Jason Marquis Yunesky Maya:

Jose Reyes – SS
Justin Turner – 2B
Dan Murphy – 1B
David Wright – 3B
Angel Pagan – CF
Jason Bay – LF
Lucas Duda – RF
Josh Thole – C
R.A. Dickey – P

I guess Thole is catching because he is the “knuckleball catcher”. Lately Terry Collins can do no wrong so who am I to question his decisions?

In 48 career plate appearances against Marquis, Jason Bay has a .372 batting average with 5 HR and a 1.289 OPS. In other words this is a great pitcher for him to keep his little hot streak going — let’s hope he can finally get in the groove.

Speaking of hot streaks, the flaming hot David Wright has a .406 average and 1.068 OPS in 33 career plate appearances against Marquis. This has the makings of another 8-run outburst by the Mets offense.

Would you ever have thought that Willie Harris and Mike Pelfrey would emerge as leaders in the Mets clubhouse?

According to ESPN, the Phillies have completed a deal to acquire Astros outfielder Hunter Pence.

Reportedly, the main players sent to the Astros include Phillies prospects Jarred Cosart, Jonathan Singleton, Josh Zeid, and a player to be named later. Domonic Brown is apparently NOT part of the deal.

Pretty big pickup for the Phils, who for some time now have been desperate for a corner outfielder with pop.

Mets 8 Nationals 5

The Mets winning streak extends to 5 as the Mets go four games over .500 for the first time all year.

Carlos Beltran was officially traded to the Giants on Wednesday, and made his San Francisco debut on Thursday in Philadelphia.  Meanwhile, the Mets gutted out a sweep of the Reds in Cincinatti to move to a season-high 3 games over .500.

Enter the bloggers:

• 7 Train to Shea has a unique perspective on Beltran, Zack Wheeler, Sandy Alderson, and apostrophe usage.
• The Eddie Kranepool Society remembers how, at times, Beltran was treated unfairly by the fans and ownership.
• The Mets Police examines the current script Mets logo and finds it’s more than a little off.
• MetsZilla has some more Wheeler coverage.
• Metstradamus noticed Beltran wasn’t entirely in a Giants uniform on Thursday.
• Ted Berg has an embarrasing photoshop of Cole Hamels.

Happy reading, and stay up-to-date on Mets Today.