Coleman: Bad Break For David Wright, Mets

By Ed Coleman
» More Columns

You didn't think it was going to be all smooth sailing, did you Mets fans?

The first bump in the road for the fast-out-of-the-gate Mets occurred prior to Tuesday night's game when David Wright was scratched from the starting lineup because of an injured right pinkie finger. Wright suffered the injury while diving back into first base on a pickoff attempt after an RBI single off the Nationals' Edwin Jackson in the third inning Monday night.

The finger swelled up on Wright overnight, and he tried to take some swings in the batting cage at Citi Field when he arrived on Tuesday -- to no avail.

As well he should have. X-Rays of Wright's finger were eventually taken, and they revealed a small fracture at the middle joint of the finger. It will be splinted and re-evaluated on Wednesday. It is a non-operative injury, and Wright can return to baseball activity as tolerated.

The original plan that manager Terry Collins envisioned was to have Wright sit out Tuesday night's game as well as Wednesday's day game, take the off-day on Thursday, and hopefully be ready for the Phillies' series which begins on Friday night at Citizens Bank Park. Now it appears it will take a tad longer than that.

Wright was very disappointed that he had to exit a lineup that was seemingly just beginning to flow together.

This is not as serious as the back injury that KO'd Wright in the 2011 season, nor is it as bad as the side muscle injury that kept him sidelined for most of this past spring training. But as Wright learned in both those cases, you can't hurry health.

Wright will have a splint made on Wednesday when he visits a hand specialist at the Hospital for Special Surgery. And of course, the DL is always a possibility -- but does Wright think it's likely?

Collins has already lost his starting center fielder to injury. Now his franchise player, who just happens to be hitting .583 with a HR, 4 RBI and a .647 OBP, will be sitting on the bench alongside him during games.

Does the manager have a worst case-best case scenario?

The most important thing to Collins, though, is that Wright does nothing that will adversely affect his swing that has made him one of the hottest hitters in the game in the early going.

Sounds like a plan. Meanwhile, there will be no 162-0. The Mets played ugly in their first loss of the season, 6-2 to the Nationals. They have done a lot of things right in the early season to win four of their first five, but they were sloppy in the field and continued come up short with RISP - they're now 9-48 (.188) in such situations.

C U later
Eddie C.

Mets fans, do you think Wright will miss extended time? Sound off in the comments below...

In:
• Washington Nationals
• New York Mets