G-Fafif

Jon Niese is the best advertisement going for a five-man rotation.

Granderson has pulled ahead of Bay for sole possession of ninth place, a very 1968 kind of thing to do. Duda is within four of Wright for the lead.

Harvey 2.5 Duda 1.5 Granderson 1.5 Murphy 1.0 Tejada 1.0

Don't look now, but Lucas is gaining big-time on David. Wright leads the Citi Field pack at 46, but Duda's coming up fast at 41...and Wright ain't hitting no more home runs anywhere for a while. Also noteworthy: � Flores ties Francoeur for 11th place with 9. � Nieuwenhuis leaves tied with d'Arnaud for 13th place with 8. � Syndergaard becomes the 19th Met -- and third Met pitcher -- with exactly 1 Citi Field HR.

He wasn't exactly Darren Reed, but his spring of 2015 convinced me he was going to be a dynamite 4th OF this season. Then April came and it reminded me why they make with the adage about not trusting what you see in March.

Mets overbought on NIEUWENHUIS 9 gear after his hot start. You could always find a stack of them in the team stores during the latter half of 2012. Bob Costas decreed Kirk's Father's Day HR signaled the decline of Western Civilization. Truly, eff Bob Costas. Good luck, Angel Kirk. Regards to Collin Cowgill.

Syndergaard 5.0 Duda 4.0 Murphy 0.5 Cuddyer 0.5

On a trip to Citizens Bank Park in 2007, before the National League East paradigm shifted, I recall a sales associate standing outside the CBP Build-A-Bear workshop kiosk brandishing that exact combination: Phanatic in Mets drag. With such a large percentage of the customers having come to support the visiting team, they must've figured, well, why not?

Flores 3.5 deGrom 3.0 Familia 1.0 Cuddyer 1.0 Lagares 0.5 Murphy 0.5 Duda 0.5

"Almost all of [Flores'] misplays and errors result in one lost base, which is relatively minor in terms of run value, compared to something like a failed conversion of a deep fly ball by an outfielder or a groundball down the line that becomes a double. If he is plus in terms of range or throwing, he can more easily offset a high volume of mistakes by converting extra balls.� The one lost base/run value component turns the idea of the importance of a "two-out shortstop" on its head, which may not be all that new (Moneyball, et al), but I found fascinating the idea that a Wilmer screwup wouldn't be as bad a ball getting by one of the corner positions. That would probably happen less frequently, however. He really does seem like a smart player who works hard and improves. That gives me hope. That and the 27-HR pace.

Mark Simon makes the case that for a shortstop who sucks defensively, Wilmer Flores doesn't really suck all that much defensively. Flores entered Monday with minus-1 defensive runs saved this season and a 1.2 Ultimate Zone Rating. Those equate to being a hair below and a hair above average this season. That's not great, but it's certainly not as bad as it could be. We checked in with the folks at Baseball Info Solutions, which devised the defensive runs saved stat (a measure of how effective a player is at turning batted balls into outs and performance at other position-related skills, such as turning double plays), for a comprehensive explanation of how Flores could rate so well, despite his many early season miscues. Scott Spratt, one of the Baseball Info Solutions research analysts, made three points on Flores' play. 1. �We noticed that Flores looks like he's doing a good job of shading himself to account for the batter's tendencies and bat side. I think that may be helping him get to some balls that not every player makes.� 2. �It looks like many of Flores' best plays have been the result of great throws. It looks like he's maybe making up for some of his errors by making those unexpected plays with good throws.� 3. "Almost all of [Flores'] misplays and errors result in one lost base, which is relatively minor in terms of run value, compared to something like a failed conversion of a deep fly ball by an outfielder or a groundball down the line that becomes a double. If he is plus in terms of range or throwing, he can more easily offset a high volume of mistakes by converting extra balls.�

Flores 3.5 Colon 2.5 Duda 1.5 Cuddyer 1.5 ATorres 0.5 Robles 0.5

We used to be a first place team, you know Even without Wright We won Until we went out on the road We used to be a team beating up someone But the times have changed The less we hit The more that we look done But we're welcoming those Philadelphia Phillies And we hope it's like The last time they were here Philadelphia Phillies Helped us to a record streak Gave us peace of mind We haven't had for weeks

Flores 0.5

Josh Harrison, 2B Jose Tabata, RF Andrew McCutchen, CF Starling Marte, LF Jung Ho Kang, 3B Sean Rodriguez, 1B Francisco Cervelli, C Jordy Mercer, SS Francisco Liriano, LHP

Curtis Granderson - RF Wilmer Flores - SS Michael Cuddyer - 1B Daniel Murphy - 2B John Mayberry Jr. - LF Anthony Recker - C Darrell Ceciliani - CF Ruben Tejada - 3B Jonathon Niese - LHP Duda tight hamstring; Lagares armpit soreness; Pirates severe overconfidence.

I found this one sitting by the curb.

Southpaws ahoy! Niese vs. Liriano. The smart money says go with the lefty. Our lefty.

Murphy 2.0 Tejada 1.0 Campbell 0.5

This exception to protocol derailed my prospective thread title. IGT 5/23: NYM @ PIT -- Pitch Like A Harvey Day Or, I suppose, a Harrrghvey Day.

Syndergaard 2.0 Lagares 1.0 Goeddel 1.0

deGrom 5.5 Duda 3.5 Mayberry 0.5 Cuddyer 0.5

To whoever made the fake All-Star Pitchers card: It's Dock, not Doc. There was only one Dock Ellis. He deserves that.

Colon 0.5

Murphy 1.0 Ceciliani 0.5