Before yesterday’s game, Terry Collins asserted that he did not feel David Wright needed to be eased back into the lineup, but that Carlos Beltran would still be hitting third in tonight’s game.

That seems to put Wright batting cleanup against right-hander Chris Volstad.

I don’t want to go too crazy over this because a lot of work has been done to show that batting orders don’t mean all that much. But I wonder if a case could be made for Wright hitting second, stacking the Mets’ best hitters at the top of their lineup.

Of course, before I go on I should note that a lot of this depends on who’s playing first and second base. Daniel Murphy should play every day. We’ll see how Collins handles it, but with Lucas Duda still around and hitting well of late, it seems like Murphy should play second against right-handers with Duda at first. Justin Turner can play second against lefties with Murphy sliding to first, effectively platooning Turner and Duda*.

Does that sound right? It would mean regularly moving Murph around the right side of the infield — which sounds a bit scary, but he’s already been shuttled around the diamond most of the season and has generally handled it well. I suppose Turner could enter late in games for defense, or pick up some starts with groundball-heavy guys like Jon Niese and R.A. Dickey on the mound.

Anyway, I guess the way I’m thinking is this:

Against righties:                              Against lefties:
Reyes — 6                                        Reyes — 6
Wright — 5                                        Wright — 5
Beltran — 9                                        Beltran — 9
Murphy — 4                                       Murphy — 3
Pagan — 8                                         Pagan — 8
Duda — 3                                          “Jason Bay” — 7
“Bay” — 7                                           Paulino — 2
Thole — 2                                          Turner — 4
Wait, hold on. This is a ridiculous exercise. First of all, Wright and Murphy could easily be swapped and then no one would freak out about a non-traditional No. 2 hitter batting behind Reyes. Since Beltran, Reyes and Pagan all hit switch, it wouldn’t even ruin the very Jerry Manuel lefty-righty thing I’ve got going on in the lineup against righties.

But more importantly, am I operating in the real world or fantasyland here? The Mets aren’t going to bat David Wright second, right? So if I’m taking it that far, why am I still operating with Bay in the lineup against pitchers of both hands? Why’s the pitcher batting ninth?

Seriously, just ignore me. None of this matters. We’ll find out the lineup in like an hour.

*- Unless Jason Bay’s hamstring or general ineffectiveness opens up more time for Duda in left field.