Watching David Wright at points this season has been painful. Wright has struck out ten times in the past ten games, and now has 32 strike outs through 28 games. With every game counting right now, the Mets need to put themselves in a position to win. Wright is not getting the big hits when his team needs it and he strikes out way too much to be a number three hitter. I think it's time to drop Wright down in the order, to the five or six spot. 

When Angel Pagan comes back, my line-up would look something like this:

1. Jose Reyes – SS
2. Angel Pagan – CF
3. Carlos Beltran – RF
4. Jason Bay – LF
5. Ike Davis – 1B
6. David Wright – 3B
7. Daniel Murphy – 2B
8. Josh Thole – C

I like Carlos Beltran in the third spot because he doesn't strike out as much as Jason Bay, Ike Davis, and Wright, plus he is a switch hitter, which gives the Mets three switch hitters at the top of the line-up. 

I don't think this should be a permanent spot of Wright, but right now he is not the team's best number three hitter.

Wright might see worse pitches with Murphy behind him instead of Beltran, but right now I don't think it really matters. Pitchers know they can get Wright to swing at pitches out of the strike zone, being down in the order he might see more of them, and learn to lay off of them.  

Well, if there is a game today it's scheduled for 1:10 P.M. at Citi Field with Dillon Gee taking on Barry Enright. However, if this rain holds up, Mets might be looking at their third doublheader of the season… and it's still only April.

DBacks line-up has two changes to it from last night. Ex-Met Melvin Mora will be at third instead of Ryan Robert and Juan Miranda will be at first instead of Russell Branyan.

The Mets line-up is pretty much the same as last last night's. Only difference is Josh Thole is catching instead of Mike Nickeas. I really like this line-up for the Mets right now. Would be nice to have Angel Pagan in there, but the way he was hitting it wasn't the worst thing in the world to give him some time off.

Generally people have always told me that ideally your #3 hitter should be your most well-rounded batter, with 4 being your powerful cleanup hitter and #5 the next best guy in terms of power & average. The question I am starting to raise is whether or not David Wright belongs in the #3 spot. 

Clearly everyone believes David is our best, overall player and the leader in this lineup. Yet, when I look back on the Mets when they were actually good (2006, 2007) I recall the 3-4-5 being: Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, David Wright. I also recall that being around the time where David Wright received high praise for his ability to pick up a base hit on an 0-2 count. Now it seems like David is fishing in the dirt whenever he gets an 0-2 count, and I truly wonder if his spot in the lineup has anything to do with it. 

I ran through some numbers at FranGraph's and compared some basic numbers from 2006 & 2007 to recent years. 

2006 – .311, 26 HRs, 116 RBIs – K% = 19.4% – NLCS 3-4-5 was Beltran, Delgado, Wright. 

2007 – . 325, 30 HRs, 107 RBIs – K% = 19.0%

2008 – .302, 33 HRs, 124 RBIs – K% = 18.8%

2009 –  .307, 10 HRs, 72 RBIs – K% = 26.2%

2010 –  .283, 29 HRs, 103 RBIs – K% = 27.4%

2011 –  .229, 2 HRs, 8 RBIs – K% = 31.4%

FanGraphs

Maybe the numbers could be a result of a gradual change in batting stance, or possibly it could be from his spot in the lineup weighing him down. He's feeling the pressure. All I will say is, Beltran is hitting the ball very well, Bay is a power hitter back in the lineup, and Wright strikes out way too much in 3 spot. Maybe it's time to move him back to No. 5 in the lineup and perhaps the David Wright of 2008 will return. 

The Mets will look to avoid being swept in this three game series and to snap their seven game losing streak. The game will be played at Turner Field with the first pitch scheduled for 1:35 P.M. and the game will be aired on WPIX.

Josh Thole will bat second in the line-up for the Mets today and Angel Pagan will be moved down to the sixth spot again.

OK Terry, can you just pick a spot for Angel and keep him there? This is getting ridiculous.

Brad Emaus gets the start today over Daniel Murphy and will hit eighth.

I think Murphy has proved he's better than Emaus so far this season. Not sure he has any right starting over him with a right handed pitcher on the mound.

Larry Jones is not in the line-up today for the Braves. Yes.

Here are the line-ups for the Mets and Braves:

The Mets have announced their line-up for their first game of the 2011 season against the Flordia Marlins tomorrow:

1. Jose Reyes – SS
2. Willie Harris – LF
3. David Wright – 3B
4. Carlos Beltran – RF
5. Angel Pagan – CF
6. Ike Davis – 1B
7. Brad Emaus – 2B
8. Josh Thole – C
9. Mike Pelfrey – P

I had a few ideas of what the Opening Day line-up might look like, but none of them looked like this. I guess Terry Collins' thinking here is that Pagan has more extra base power than Harris, so he wants to put him in the middle of the order to drive more runs in. Not too sure if a agree with it, but I still like this line-up. 

The Mets team is going to be able to go up against any other team in the league and give them a hard time. The Mets by no means have a bad baseball team. They just have a lot of question marks. If everyone can stay healthy and they put up the number we're use to seeing, than this could be a playoff team. I just don't know if that is going to happen though.