Mets' lefty-hefty lineup successful vs. southpaws

In the middle game of the Mets' three-game sweep of the Phillies on Tuesday, Lucas Duda stepped to the plate against lefthanded reliever Antonio Bastardo with the score tied in the seventh inning.

Duda, a lefthanded batter, lined a single to right to give the Mets the lead. Two innings later, he hit another RBI single against a lefthander. The Mets won, 7-4.

Manager Terry Collins later said he thought about hitting for Duda. But why should he have? It's not as if the Mets aren't familiar with facing lefthanded pitchers this season.

"This year's been crazy," Ike Davis said. "So far we've faced basically all lefties."

That's an exaggeration, but 15 of the Mets' first 31 games have been started by lefties. That number will hit 50 percent Friday night when they face Mark Buehrle of the Marlins in the opener of a three-game series in Miami. Johan Santana will pitch for the Mets in the franchise's 8,000th game.

The Mets' ability to handle lefties with their left-leaning lineup has been one of the reasons for their surprising 18-13 start. The Mets are 7-8 in games started by southpaws, including Wednesday's 10-6 victory over the Phillies in a game started by Cliff Lee.

The Mets didn't beat Lee, but they held their own against him, twice tying the score after falling behind by a run. They then exploded for eight runs in the final three innings against the Phillies' bullpen for their 11th comeback win of the season.

Before catcher Josh Thole suffered a concussion on Monday, the Mets' regular lineup included five lefthanded hitters. Thole (.296) and Daniel Murphy (.280) have done well against lefties. Duda (.236) has been OK. Rookie Kirk Nieuwenhuis (.182) has not, so he's most in danger of being platooned.

Davis hasn't hit any type of pitcher, though he did have a double and three-run home run against righties in the late innings Wednesday. He's batting .186 against lefties and .179 overall.

"We've seen a stretch that usually doesn't happen," Davis said. "I think it helps. The more you see them, the more you're comfortable with them. That's it, really. The more you see them, the better chance you have of recognizing pitches and stuff."

Collins, who called the number of lefties the Mets have faced "happenstance," agreed that familiarity helps breed success. That's one of the reasons he decided not to bat for Duda.

"We've seen enough lefties in the last week [that] I'm not having a huge concern that 'there's something we haven't seen in a while,' " he said. "When you've seen [so much] lefthanded pitching, you're pretty satisfied they can get some hits."

Collins has been preaching to Duda and Nieuwenhuis to "think single" against lefties. "When you're facing lefthanded pitching, which a lot of lefthanded hitters don't hit very much, it's about being able to use the field," he said. "It's about giving up something to get something. Once in a while you've got to give up the power stroke to take a base hit. You look at the two at-bats Lucas had . He just wanted to put a good swing on the ball and he drove in two runs with two singles. That's what we've got to get Kirk to do."