Actually, he does - not literally, of course. Not primarily because he made a bad decision - that I can live with - but because he cr**s into his own mouth. Since spring training, we've been hearing from him -- and righty so -- about the importance of 'small ball', 'team first approach', 'situational hitting'. And then, when he has a chance to put this into reality, he drops the ball big time.

And all this talk about Tatis being 'one of his better hitters' does not help him much. If he is, how come it took 2 weeks into the season to give him a start? (Don't get me wrong, I agree that Tatis is a good hitter)

The way I see it, a bunt by Castillo would give us a great chance to win the game. Then, with 7-5 up, Manuel could show confidence in Tatis by playing him in St.Louis instead of Murphy or Wright.

Yeah, it was a 5-out 1st inning by Figgy! (Counting Wright's error and clear strike 3 to Fielder)

well, Stokes has not been used that much yet. (As opposed to pretty much everyone else.) In fact, I did not quite undestand yesterday why he (or, O'Day for that matter) was not brought to finish 8th and/or 9th inning. I guess the reason was that he is supposed to be a long man, and the Mets wanted him to be ready today - when Maine is pitching. However, if he indeed is a long man, it should not be such a stretch for him to take a spot start.

Figgy would definitely be the best option. Unfortunately, the problem with him is that he cannot be optioned back to Buffalo. Hence, it will be either Niese or Gee (who both can be optioned back), or Stokes with Robertson or Muniz called from Buffalo to provide 2 innings. Personally, I would prefer Stokes + Muniz, provided Stokes is stretched enough to provide 5 innings.

How about trying him batting 2nd first? He is NOT an RBI guy and he has never been one. He is an OBP guy who can bunt. His skillset is put in wrong use batting 8th.