In a somewhat surprising development, New York Mets' third baseman David Wright is in the lineup for Saturday afternoon's game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Wright broke his pinkie on Monday against the Nationals when he dove back to a base. He was unable to take swings on Friday, and he was going to test it one more time on Saturday before a likely trip to the DL. But apparently Saturday's tests went well, and Terry Collins has him batting third against Vance Worley. Via @Mets:
Mets Sat. lineup at Philly: Tejada-SS, Murphy-2B, Wright-3B, Davis-1B, Bay-LF, Duda-RF, Nieuwenhuis-CF, Thole-C, Niese-LHP
— New York Mets (@Mets) April 14, 2012
It's an unexpected turn of events, as Wright seemed destined for the disabled list after being held out all week and struggling to swing on Friday. On Friday night, he said the fracture prevented him from wrapping the pinkie fully around the bat. Via MLB.com:
"Right now my finger won't wrap around anything," he said. "Obviously, it's painful, but right now it's more of a functional thing, too. It's tough to make a fist, so I can't really get that finger moving the way that I need it to grip a bat."
But he was cleared to play as long as he was able to bear the pain and effectively swing and grip his glove. He reiterated that he doesn't want to play through the pain to point where he's largely ineffective and hurting the team, but he's going to give it a go on Saturday against the Mets' bitter rival.
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