Carlos Beltran (pictured) will be hitting in the No. 2 hole tonight for the first time since June 2007 when the Mets and Johan Santana take on the Astrosâ Roy Oswalt here at Minute Maid Park. Jerry Manuel said he shifted Beltran to second in a bid âto get him goingâ after a recent slump caused the Mets to take the center fielderâs cleanup role away from him and give it to the red-hot Carlos Delgado. Beltran is hitting .265 with 15 homers and 72 RBIs.
As for the rest of the lineup, the 58-51 Mets â still in second place in the NL East after blowing a chance Friday to tie for the lead â will look like this:
Jose Reyes SS
Carlos Beltran CF
David Wright 3B
Carlos Delgado 1B
Fernando Tatis RF
Daniel Murphy LF
Damion Easley 2B
Ramon Castro C
Johan Santana LHP (9-7, 2.93)
The 51-57 Astros are going with this lineup:
Kaz Matsui 2B
Miguel Tejada SS
Lance Berkman 1B
Carlos Lee LF
Mark Loretta 3B
Hunter Pence RF
Darin Erstad CF
Brad Ausmus C
Roy Oswalt RHP (8-8, 4.67)
