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Fernando Tatis will again start in left field and bat clean-up, as Gary Sheffield gets his third day off in a row.
Meanwhile, Fernando Martinez will start in center field.
Alex Cora will start at shortstop and bat leadoff, followed in order by Daniel Murphy, David Wright, Tatis, Ryan Church, Omir Santos, Martinez, Luis Castillo, and Livan Hernandez.
Hernandez (5–1, 4.18 ERA) starts for the Mets tonight. He allowed seven runs and nine hits in just four innings against the Cardinals in April. He is 4–0 with a 3.24 ERA in his last nine starts.
Joel Pineiro (5–8, 3.76 ERA) starts for the Cardinals. He allowed two runs and six hits in eight innings against the Mets in April.
Update, 4:47 pm:
According to SNY’s Kevin Burkhardt, Jose Reyes will take batting practice today and field ground balls on the infield.
However, there is still no plan to let him do light running.
…the way i understand it, there is no sense getting excited for jose’s return until there is news of him running full-speed, 100 percent on the base paths…
Update, 5:10 pm:
Jerry Manuel told reporters today that John Maine will throw a bullpen session tomorrow, and could re-join the Mets on Saturday.
Oliver Perez will throw a bullpen session tomorrow, as well.
Update, 5:41 pm:
To read quotes from Jose Reyes, who said he might not return until around the All-Star break, go to Bart Hubbuch’s blog for the New York Post.
Really! Fernando Tatis! Really!
Fine, if Jerry wants to start him I can live with that, but how can you put the DP machine behind Wright again after last night. Church should be behind Wright.
I understand the concept of trying to strengthen (I know Church has lacked some consistency, but still a better bat than Tatiz) the 2nd half of the lineup, but I just can’t fathom this.
Jerry has this approach where he puts players right back into the spot where they failed to try to snap them out of it and I don’t always agree.
What’s the definition of insanity again? I forget, ask Bobby Parnell.
It’s pretty ironic that we have such a struggling lineup yet Schneider who hit 3 run bombs two games in a row can’t get into the lineup
Last time I checked, Omir Santos was 4 for 4 last night. Calm down.
well in jerrys defense santos did have 4 hits last game and he has mentioned trying to keep both catchers fresh…but yea…schneider hits a 3 run shot then sits…then another 3 run shot and sits again…its jerry being jerry
maybe Schneider can play center
Come on guys. Are you really complaining about Schneider not starting? Schneider? Over a guy who went 4 for 4 last night? Shee whiz.
I didn’t complain .I said that with the struggles they are having scoring it is IRONIC that Schneider is not starting
OK. I interpreted that as a shot at Jerry. Carry on.
Or, maybe Schneider hit the second bomb on Sunday because he did not go 0-4 on Saturday, he instead sat and prepared, while Santos may not have gone 4-4 if he had played on Sunday.
I can’t believe people are upset with the production of the catchers, and how they have played when called upon as opposed to when either of them were every day guys.
Schneider has 58 home runs IN A 10-YEAR CAREER. I cannot believe anyone is even discussing Schneider. He stinks.
Schneider is a bomb, he stinks. This is the kinda change we have needed. Let these “kids” show the MLB players how to play with heart and win because they want it more than the other team. Let the pitcher underestimate us and make him pay, let the other team get lax and think they have the game won before it starts. When our DL team comes back they can see how a real team plays and picks each other up. LETS GO METS !!!!
Jerry really is lost. First of all Sheffield HAS to be in the lineup. Second of all Castillo is a waste in the 8 spot. He needs to be hitting 1 or 2, especially with the personnel we have right now.
I dunno – I kind of like Castillo at the 8. He’s always on base to get bunted over by the pitcher. As for Sheff, he’s not an everyday player, end of discussion. If you overuse him, you lose him.
i agree toasty joe – i feel like castillo is always on base, i mean didn’t he score at least two runs last night batting in the eight hole? if he’s on base the pitcher can bunt him over so it works out well especially with cora solidly hitting
Yeah, I’ve got no problem with Castillo at #8. I like his speed and OBP at the bottom of the lineup so Cora, Murphy and Wright get RBI chances. Plus he was killing us when he wasn’t hitting in the leadoff spot or #2.
But I have to say, where’s Sheffield? Put Sheffield in there instead of Tatis and the lineup actually looks halfway decent. I know he’s not an every-day player, but 3-days in a row? Is he hurt and they just haven’t told anyone yet? I guess Jerry wouldn’t want LaRussa to know if he doesn’t have to worry about Sheffield off the bench, but really, this can’t be good.
idk if Sheff is hurt maybe he’ll be playing tomorrow, i did get a twitter from bart hubbach that said
Gary Sheffield says he is OK with not playing for the third time in four games. #Mets
and that apparently his knee is bothering him a bit but thats something we knew about so idk if thats new information or not
I’m not so sure I agree with you RE: Sheffield, but I absolutely agree with you regarding Castillo.
Castillo
Cora
Wright
Church
Tatis
Murphy
Santos
Martinez
I’d even be tempted to slot Daniel in at #3, sliding everyone back, and giving him a little protection.
does anybody really believe schneider is going to hit 3 run bombs every game that he starts in from now on? That’s the least of our worries i think the biggest problem is tatis fourth – how man dp’s has he grounded into? If tatis is going to be playing he needs to be furthur down the lineup or stop hitting in double plays – maybe he will get on a major hot streak and have five rbis tonight and jerry will look like a genius, idk but no more double plays – that should be his goal for th enight
I agree. Tatis looks finished. Maybe Jerry is just trying to get him going because they desperately need him right now. It’s probably worth a shot given the injuries, so long as at some point they pull the plug.
i figured the same thing, i mean he did have a good year last year and it is worth a shot to get him going, it could happen but the double plays are killing us
Keith’s comments about Tatis’ swing and the SNY split screen comparing this year and last year tell the whole story. He’s taking so long to get the bat through the zone.
If Keith sees it from above how are they not working to correct this?
Easy: HoJo stinks as a hitting coach.
Glad someone else thinks that too. I’m not impressed at all with HoJo. And for those of you who will read this and start in with “he doesn’t swing the bat” I get that. I also get that it’s the hitting coaches job to find the problems in a hitters swing and try to correct them. As far as I can see, Keith Hernandez is kicking HoJo’s @$$ at identifying problems in the players swing.
I’ve never been a fan of hojo i’m sure he’s a nice guy and whatnot but if keith is able to sit up in the booth and identify all the issues with d.wright’s swing shouldn’t hojo realize these issues as well? Keith also seems to have identified Tatis’ problem in that he has elongated his swing so why hasn’t somebody else figured this out?
I like how when the Mets are chasing, the loss back column uses half games.
with all that has gone on with this team, I fully support anything that makes the team look better.
Tatis back in the lineup and batting cleanup. And against a ground ball pitcher, no less. This is just inviting the DP. Jerry, you never cease to amaze me; you must actually believe your own BS.
The hit and run with Castillo on 1st and nobody out with Livan up….maybe the stupidest call I have ever seen Jerry Manuel make…and he has had more than his share. Absolutely stupid and prevented us from a real shot at tieing the game. Jerry, please get over yourself with these dumb ass moves.
can livan get out of this jam here? 3-1 count are we going to walk him with pujols on deck and i agree the hit and run was stupid maybe jerry thought he’d throw a strike and livan would have a chance i’m not sure but that sucked especially with the way Pinero is throwing
Not sure who disgusts me more…the nutcase managing this team who bats Tatis cleanup or the human DP machine himself. I guess the manager is worse for coming back with Tatis tonight after his 2 DP night last night.
There was a slight problem with the offensive power of the batting order tonight.
Does this guy own the Mets or something?
some things to take away from this game
livan pitched well again good for him he’ll be important if we want to stay afloat in the comming two weeks
secondly – no more tatis in the four hole, put church there or sheff if he’s going to play, tatis grounds into too many double plays, if he’s going to play it has to be furthur down in the order till he gets himself right if he can get himself right
i like tatis and just to put something out there, pinero was getting ground balls all night and like none of them were with guys on base except that one tatis hit so its really just his bad luck that it was a double play it could have been anybody tonight but that being said yeah he is the double play machine we have seen that the last couple of nights
I get what you’re saying, but I personally have heard enough of this “bad luck” thing. Either this man has the worst luck in the history of bad luck, or he’s just not that good anymore. He’s not getting any younger and never was an elite player. I’ve heard this “he hit the ball hard” or “he hit it right at someone” thing long enough. If the man cant produce, get someone who can or at the very least get somene who may in the future. Great idea Jerry, great idea. This man will manage the Mets out of contention.
no i agree with you was just saying that tonight everybody hit ground balls and his just was with a runner on but yea idk if tatis is down but he really does not belong in the four hole, i don’t think he should be starting at all at this point
True enough. I don’t think he belongs in the starting lineup either. And back to this hitting thing, for God’s sake it would be one thing if the hitters had different reasons why they went into slumps during the year. But it seems like the Mets players have the same problems and they do not get worked on. Again, not to throw HoJo under the bus, but I just threw it in reverse and I am backing it up to get another run at him.
what i don’t understand is why `evans isn’t starting if sheffield isn’t starting. give teh kid a chance to show what he’s got if not then you know he’s not part of the future
That’s a good point. Hadn’t thought of Nick Evans.
also i agree why isn’t evans starting? why was he brought up if not to try and help this ballclub? very odd
just came back from the game, mets fans knew it was over at 3-0, half the crowd just walked up and left.
this was the most boring game i’ve ever been to, i usually like close games but everybody at the stadium knew the mets weren’t scoring.
what’s the point of having prospects? to use them for a trade when the big team needs it, well they desperately need it.
3 games back and counting the wrong way
Personally I like building out of the farm system. I like growing prospects into major leauge talent. IMO you trade prospects when there is a need now to get you over the top. For better or worse the Mets aren’t anywhere near the top so for once I agree with Omar. Making a trade to play catch up is dangerous.
i agree with you, but then why not sell the pieces that you can and build for next year?
even when everybody was healthy the mets were at .500 or close to it. Why not build for the future.
Bring up Malo and start him at short, Cora at second, Wright at third, Murphy at first, Santos catching, Evans in right, martinez in center, and church in right.
See if you can sell high on Hernandez, Redding, and/or Stokes. You’re getting Maine back and just pitch Niese. Bring back Wagner early to showcase him and then trade him.
Either that or get a big bat and a big arm to compete.
I’ll back you up on that. I think this season is a wash as well so absolutely build for next season.