Before Tuesday night’s rainout, Daniel Murphy was penciled into the lineup for a second straight game at second base over the struggling Brad Emaus.

“We’ve got to create some offense,” Collins said. “I thought Murph played very well (Monday) night so I wanted to get him back in there. I thought his energy that he brings is infectious so I’d like to get him back out there. I thought he earned the right.”

But Collins said he has not settled into a platoon at second base just yet.

– New York Daily News.

It’s way too soon to give up on Emaus, but it doesn’t seem like there’s much harm in giving Murphy some starts against right-handers either.

We had questions about both players’ defense entering the season, but both have looked pretty good at second base in their few chances there. Murphy, notably, made a play on Monday night that there’s almost no chance Luis Castillo would have gotten to. Not that being better than Luis Castillo at second base is a huge accomplishment, of course.

Murphy seems a better bet to produce offensively against right-handers, so until he proves he actually can’t handle the position defensively he should see more time there — especially when Chris Capuano and Chris Young are on the mound, since neither yields a ton of ground balls.

Obviously Emaus’ struggles have come over only 28 plate appearances, so he deserves a little more time to prove himself in the Majors. But Murph is still proving himself in the Majors too, and given the way the Mets’ reserves have hit so far this season there should be plenty of at-bats available for both young players.