And not a California Angel.
No instead it’s Luisangel Acuna getting the call (and the start!) today, playing shortstop instead of Francisco Lindor whose consecutive-game streak is ending. I don’t believe Acuna is here for injury but to pinch run. Given he OPSed all of .654 in triple A its not the bat you want out there.
Acuna gets the No. 2 worn most recently by released catcher Omar Narvaez. DJ Stewart is going down.
As we know Eddy Alvarez was acquired from Boston and took the spot of Pablo Reyes in a hot second, tearing the No. 26 off his back on the way. Reyes is among a long list of guys who probably won’t be getting World Series rings.
As I’d 
And who’s to say they can’t? Mark Vientos, whom I’d once dismissed as a discount-store Giancarlo Stanton, is hitting for average and power; Francisco Lindor is having an MVP year and the role-players and reserves are all doing their jobs. The scrap-heap starting rotation has also been good and the bullpen after a few turns of the soil has also come through most nights. And don’t look now but Carlos Mendoza is a manager of the year candidate even after that awful start.
Pablo Reyes was the only new callup when rosters expanded (they don’t expand like they used to). He was issued No. 26.
I like it too. Winker is a good hitter, especially vs. right handed pitching, can steal bases, and play the outfield better than DJ Stewart, whom I’m afraid is about to lose his job. Who knows, maybe Stewart is in the package. Winker is also a colorful performer so some new energy on the team sounds like second-half fun. Ryne Stanek also matches that description; the Mets made it official by the way and gave him 55.
The biggest series in years starts tonight and with a surprise: Francisco Alvarez is batting 7th and wearing No. 50.
Tyler Naquin appears to vomit into his helmet then look wobblingly unsteady up there at the plate, which may as well be symptoms, as were two walks, a hit, a run, and just one whiff last night. Mark Cahna, Eduardo Escobar and even Mychal Givens appear to have been exposed. And the slumping Daniel Vogelbach seems to have caught something last night too and looked again he that could be our good year blimp.
Here’s another thing I realized only today. Both of this year’s most exciting call-ups, Brett Baty and now Vientos weren’t even born when this site first went up. That was in 1999, another year where a Mets-Braves September pennant race was pretty sick.