The New York Mets (7-9) host the Atlanta Braves (13-3) at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie today in Grapefruit League play, with Livan Hernandez (0-1, 3.72) taking the mound opposite of Braves top prospect Tommy Hanson (1-0, 3.37).
According to Adam Rubin's Surfing the Mets blog at NY Daily News, Hernandez is expected to throw around 90 pitches today, which tells me the Mets are giving him the opportunity to win the fifth starter job outright. Game time is 1:10 PM EST, and it will be broadcast on SNY, MLB Network, and MLB.TV.
Here's the lineup for the Mets:
Jose Reyes, ss
Luis Castillo, 2b
Daniel Murphy, lf
Fernando Tatis, 3b
Ryan Church, rf
Nick Evans, 1b
Jeremy Reed, cf
Rene Rivera, c
Livan Hernandez, sp
Following his 3 for 4 performance yesterday, Daniel Murphy enters today's game batting .400/.451/.533 in 45 AB (T-4th most in MLB), and of the players who have accumulated 42 or more at-bats this spring, Murphy has the best batting average.
I think Jerry said it best: "The more at-bats [Murphy] gets, the better we will be."
Along with how Reyes and Castillo perform, i'm also looking for a strong outing from Livan, followed by an unlikely strong outing from Freddy Garcia.
As always...Let's Go Mets!
Original Story:
http://www.ddmetsfanblog.com/2009/03/...
