Mets C Travis d'Arnaud is 27 years old, he's missed more than 50 percent of the last three seasons and he's now losing playing time to his backup, Rene Rivera.
Rivera started Tuesday night. However, he also started the next afternoon. Typically like most managers, Terry Collins swaps catchers when playing a day game after a night game. But with d'Arnaud hitting just .238 during the last week, and Rivera going 3-for-8 the previous two days, the rules clearly changed.
"You play the hot hand," Collins said, when asked why Rivera started Wednesday over d'Arnaud.