Lucas Duda has Tight Hamstring

You may have wondered why Lucas Duda did not play Wednesday against a lefty starter while Ike Davis did. It turns out a tight hamstring forced Duda out of the lineup.

The New York Post reports Terry Collins considered starting Vinny Rottino at first place instead of Davis, but that plan was scuttled when Duda came up lame.

“When it’s 99 degrees I don’t want him to get dehydrated and have that thing cramp up,” Collins said. “He’s able to play. I said with (Thursday) off let’s be smart about this thing, I want him for the weekend.I just want to make sure he gets treatment and he’s good enough to play if needed.”

Rottino took Duda’s place in right field and Davis was in his usual spot at first.

“It just kind of happened overnight,” Duda said. “It’s not a big deal at all.”

Duda leads the Mets with 11 home runs and 42 RBIs. It’s interesting — that projects to 25 home runs and 97 RBIs for the full season, which would be tremendous numbers that would please everyone. But Duda doesn’t appear to be having that kind of a year.

Certainly Duda has come up clutch several times this season, but he seems to blending into the woodwork rather than standing out, which he should be with his numbers. Maybe it is just because of his quiet demeanor or because he is only hitting .268 with 67 strikeouts (which projects to 155 on the season), but Duda appears to be the forgotten man in the lineup.

But hey, if being in the background helps him put up bigger numbers, who is going to complain?