Kirk Nieuwenhuis keeps impressing, but Terry Collins is unswayed.
Can you believe this guy?
Out of complete desperation, the Mets bypass Adam Loewen, Vinny Rottino and Mike Baxter, to tab the untested rookie Kirk Nieuwenhuis as the replacement for the injured Andres Torres.
Not only does he make himself right at home in centerfield, but he’s treated us to some dazzling plays and an incredible leaping grab that was hard not to applaud. At the plate he’s held his own and then some, mostly batting out of the seventh spot in the order with the two worst bats on the team for protection.
So what does Terry Collins do when he opts to give the weary 22-year old Ruben Tejada two and a half days off to recover and gain his strength? He decides to bat Captain Kirk leadoff of course and the results were ummm is jaw dropping too strong?
Kirk smacked three hits and scored three runs in yesterday’s loss and provided the only bright spot of the game.
Of course this won’t budge Collins one bit from his firm stance that Nieuwenhuis will go down as soon as Andres Torres returns from the DL.
Through eleven games, Nieuwenhuis is batting an incredible.375/.444/.531.
Wally Backman must be licking his chops relishing in the fact that in a week or two, Kirk will be back with the Herd.
Meanwhile, Andres Torres brings his career .243/.318/.403 line to the top of the Mets order – a Mets order that has too often failed to score enough runs.
Wonderful… Absolutely wonderful…
