NEW YORK -- Barely 12 hours after going off at the plate at Citi Field with four hits, including a pair of homers, Giancarlo Stanton sat at his locker, squeezing a surgical scars on his right knee as if it was a giant pimple. Stanton was trying to loosen the scar tissue underneath but, otherwise, said his knee felt perfectly fine.
He's also perfectly fine with Ozzie Guillen's decision to sit him out of today's game as a precautionary measure.
"You got to do it," Stanton said. "It's just the smarter thing to do."
While the temptation to keep Stanton in the lineup is probably great, especially after last night's performance, Guillen made it clear he is thinking long-term with Stanton and wants to ensure he'll be 100 percent healthy next season.
Stanton, who came off the DL on Tuesday, said he might require occasional rest for the first couple of weeks.
"Don't want it get repeated," Stanton said.
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Don't look now, but John Buck is showing some life at the plate. By hitting safely in six of his past seven games, Buck has his average up to .179. Six of his seven hits during in August have been doubles.
"It's not easy hitting one-whatever in the show, that's for sure," Buck said.
Buck is hoping to avoid finishing with the worst average by a regular catcher (min. 300 plate appearances) since Tony Pena hit .181 with Boston in 1993. But Buck said even if he is able to raise his average to .200, it won't make him feel any better about the season.
"I don't know if I'll ever feel good about this year," Buck said. "I've kind of come to the point where I can literally say I don't look up there (to see his average on the scoreboard). If it gets there, great. If it doesn't, I don't know if my view of the season will change much. Whatever comes at the end of the year, I don't know if it'll make me feel that much better about the season."
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Jose Reyes takes a 26-game hitting streak into this afternoon's game. Only two other players since 1933 -- the first year of the All-Star Game -- hit safely in their first 26 games after the break: Cleveland's Hal Trosky in 1936 and the Cardinals' Albert Pujols in 2003. Trosky's streak ended at 26 games. Pujols made it to 29 straight before coming up empty.
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Marlins: 1. Petersen, lf; 2. Cousins, rf; 3. Reyes, ss; 4. Lee, 1b; 5. Ruggiano, cf; 6. Dobbs, 3b; 7. Green, 2b; 8. Hayes, c; 9. Johnson, p.
Mets: 1. Tejada, ss; 2. Baxter, rf ;3. Murphy, 2b; 4. Wright, 3b; 5. Davis, 1b; 6. Valdespin, lf; 7. Torres, cf; 8. Thole, c; 9. Dickey, p.
