McGehee, who was hitting.230 with eight home runs for the Pittsburgh Pirates, was brought in to provide flexibility for Girardi as he fills a lineup card without Teixeira or Rodriguez, knowing that Eric Chavez's chronic back injuries no longer allow him to play every day.
Jose Torres, the inspirational light heavyweight champ from Puerto Rico who became a writer, died at 72. Baseball could fill a lineup card with its departed from 2009: On the mound, Nick Adenhart, Mark Fidrych, Carl Willey and Tom Sturdivant throw to Johnny Blanchard behind the plate.
Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel may have done the Mets a favor when he filled out his lineup card.
Piniella, now the Chicago Cubs' manager, filled out the lineup card but left five spots blank: 1, 2, 7, 8 and 9.
Winning the first two games afforded Manuel some flexibility as he filled out his lineup card Sunday, and he loaded up on power, starting Gary Sheffield in right field and, for the first time at second base, Fernando Tatis.
This generous gift means fans will be glued to Marlins games for the rest of the season, watching what happens when their former general manager and new manager, Dan Jennings, who never played the game on any level, and hasn't filled out a lineup card since his players were squeezing zits in high school, takes over a dugout filled with burly multi-millionaires.
The first six World Series were won by guys who filled out the lineup card and also were on it.
"It required a leap of faith on the Granada's part to allow us to fill the lineup with bands we love, regardless of what their draw might be," Mr. Cantalini said.
His reputation as someone who could fill a lineup grew, and detectives began to pass around first his beeper number, and later his cellphone number, which is now posted in some squad rooms.
But the Mets did not trade for Johan Santana or sign off on a payroll in the $140 million range to let bench players fill two lineup slots where significant production is expected.
Despite an inordinate amount of injuries that have forced him to fill out lineup cards in a slew of combinations and a financial turmoil in ownership, Collins remained upbeat and kept the Mets around.500 for the majority of the year.
