At the beginning of the year, Jerry Manuel said something to the effect that David Wright and Carlos Beltran were interchangeable in the lineup. So why not make the switch and see how it works out?
As reader KM points out, Wright left ten men on base during the series with the Brewers. Wright has only four RBI on the year. And three of those came on his home opener homer. Wright has also now struck out 15 times in 45 at bats.
Beltran has not always hit in the clutch, either. He left six men on base during Friday night’s game. But he’s having a better year than Wright so far. And Beltran will have more of a chance to run if he is batting third. Beltran has had no steal attempts so far, while Wright has attempted three steals but is only 1 for 3. After all the talk in spring training of building runs, the Mets have not even been able to get their running game going so far this year.
Another suggestion for Manuel: Play your hot hitters. Going into today’s game, the two Mets with the highest averages were Luis Castillo (.400) and Ryan Church (.389). Castillo had two hits in each of his last three games. Over his last seven games, Luis was 13 for 25.
So is this the best day to bench Castillo for Fernando Tatis, o for 4 on the year? Or to bench Church for Gary Sheffield, who was hitting .125?
Maybe load up on righties if the pitcher is lefthanded, but that was not the case today.
The Mets did get 12 hits and three walks today, so Manuel can argue that the lineup changes still produced plenty of men on base. And plenty of men left on base – ten today.
Manuel needs to figure out which lineup can build runs when nobody hits a homer. As long as Church and Castillo are producing, such a lineup is not likely to include Sheffield or Tatis.
What should the Mets do to address the problem of leaving too many men on base? Tell us what you think.
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