Looking good so far and the game's even unscrambled on MLB Extra Innings.  Of course I have to go to work.

Jerry Manuel's lineup confused me a bit. Why Gary Matthews over Angel Pagan in Center Field? Why have Mike Jacobs batting cleanup instead of Jason Bay? We got the win but I don't like those choices in future games. The two most encouraging signs today were David Wright's opposite field home run and Johan Santana's ability to get batters out. 

I'll agree on Johan, even more than getting guys out that he appeared healthy and strong.  Wright's HR was a bit of a cheap pole shot.  I was disappointed it wasn't a power alley shot but I'll take it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: WHY do the Mets always have to have a day off after Opening Day?  Are they that worn out?  For a team with the MLB-best record on Opening Day, it sucks always having to interrupt that early momentum of the OD win.

Hey Rob I thought I'd try and explain Manuel's thought process on the lineup for opening day...Johnson is a right hander, and while both Matthews and Pagan are switch hitters Pagan has far better career numbers hitting from the right side. Against a righty he'd have to hit from the left side, from which he's not as good. Matthews has far less of a split vs. righties or lefties, so batting from the left side against right handed johnson was not as big of a hindrance for him. and it paid off: matthews had two hits, and pagan came in as a pinch hitter contributing an rbi single and a steal vs. a left handed reliever. As for Jacobs batting cleanup, I can only speculate, but I would guess that since Jacobs and Francouer both have poor plate discipline and strike out a lot, perhaps Manuel didn't want them ot bat back-to-back in the 5-6 spots so he seperated them by putting Bay and Matthews in there instead. I would suspect that once Reyes returns to bat leadoff Bay will return to the cleanup spot, and if/when beltran returns i suspect it will read 1. reyes, 2. castillo, 3. wright, 4. bay, 5. beltran, 6. Francouer, 7. Murphy/Jacobs, 8. barajas

Jerry is putting way too much thought into the lineup. If guys can hit they can hit whether they are facing lefties or righties. The problem is that the Mets have too many players that can't hit well. Mike Jacobs and Gary Matthews Jr. are two of those players. I would like to see the Mets go with Wright, Bay and Francoeur 3-4-5. That way the opponents can't get away with pitching around David Wright to get to Mike Jacobs after Castillo gets on base. Unfortunately the Mets don't have a strong lefty power hitter right now. When Beltran returns that will change and there will be more options. Til then I think that Jerry should play it straight up and go with his best in the middle of the lineup.

Jerry heeded my advice with respect to the lineup for game 3. Angel Pagan is in the game. Fernando Tatis is in for Jacobs. Wright, Bay and Francouer are 3-4-5 in the lineup. So far it's not going good in the bottom of the 7th. Pagan has 2 hits and so does Francoeur but the Mets have only scored a run.