NEW YORK -- As unusual as the New York Mets rotation appears to be this week, manager Terry Collins did not devise it by throwing a bunch of names into a hat. But perhaps Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly will do that with his lineup as he tries to generate some offense for his sputtering club.A pair of National League wild card contenders will meet Monday night, when the Mets host the Miami Marlins in the opener of a pivotal four-game series at Citi Field.The Marlins (67-63) and Mets (66-64) are chasing the St. Louis Cardinals, who currently occupy the second wild card spot. The Cardinals (68-61) lead the Pittsburgh Pirates (67-61) by a half-game, with the Marlins (1 1/2 games back) and the Mets (2 1/2 games back) running third and fourth.Both the Mets and Marlins missed opportunities to gain on the Cardinals on Sunday, when New York lost to the Philadelphia Phillies 5-1 while Miami fell 3-1 to the San Diego Padres.The Marlins scored just one run in losing the final two games of a three-game series to the Padres. Miami scored only 19 runs in the last eight games, a span in which it has scored more than three runs once.Following Sundays loss, Mattingly, tongue presumably planted firmly in cheek, said he might follow in the footsteps of his former manager, the late Billy Martin, and get creative in hopes of snapping the Marlins out of their slump.We could throw (names) in a hat and spin it around and hope magic pops out, Mattingly said.Collins is hoping for some magic as well with a piecemeal starting rotation. With usually sturdy right-hander Jacob deGrom being skipped due to his recent struggles -- he has allowed 13 runs over 9 2/3 innings in his last two starts -- the Mets will promote right-hander Rafael Montero from Double-A Binghamton for Mondays opener against Marlins ace right-hander Jose Fernandez.Montero, who has made nine big league starts but has not started for the Mets since April 28, 2015, is expected to be followed in the rotation Tuesday by rookie right-hander Seth Lugo, who will be making his third big league start. The Mets losing pitcher Sunday was rookie right-hander Robert Gsellman, who made his first career start.I always look at it as a learning process, and if these guys are going to pitch at the major league level, theres no better learning area than to pitch in a pennant race and learn how to deal with the pressures and the stress of what youve got to do to go out and do your job, Collins said.The strength of the Mets was supposed to be their quartet of young fireballers -- right-handers deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Matt Harvey and left-hander Steven Matz -- but Harvey is out for the season after undergoing surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome and Matz is on the disabled list with a sore left shoulder, though he is expected to return and start Thursdays series finale.Yeah, this is the first time Ive had three rookies -- basically, three rookies -- in a row pitching, said Collins, who has managed 1,818 major league games. But its what weve got. Cheap Nike Air Max 90 Shoes China .Y. - Free agent outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, fresh off winning the World Series with Boston, reached agreement with the rival New York Yankees on a seven-year contract worth about $153 million, a person familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday night. Air Max 90 Wholesale . Brandon Morrow allowed five runs on six hits over three innings. He struck out two, walked one and hit a batter. Edwin Encarnacion had a two-out, bases loaded two-RBI double in the third inning. http://www.airmax90wholesale.com/ . Jason Zucker and Matt Cooke also scored for Minnesota, which has won five of six. Kuemper made five saves in the first, nine in the second, and nine in the third. The rookies best save came with 2:17 left in the third period when he denied former Wild forward Matt Cullen from just outside of the crease on the right side. Nike Air Max 90 China . Meanwhile, there were huge victories for Sunderland and West Ham over fellow relegation rivals, leaving the battle to avoid the drop up for grabs with the bottom 11 teams separated by just six points. Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres scored second-half goals to seal a fourth straight victory for Chelsea, which climbed above Arsenal and Manchester City in the standings ahead of their games on Monday and Sunday respectively. Air Max 90 Cheap Wholesale . The veteran safety was a starter for the Bengals from 2008-2012. He totaled 41 tackles and three interceptions while starting all but four of the 13 games he played last season. The Bill Mooney Award for courage in the face of adversity will be presented by the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters Association when the members gather during Breeders Cup week. This years honoree is Rene Douglas, the Belmont Stakes-winning jockey who was paralyzed from the waist down in an accident at Arlington Park in 2009.Last years winner was Bill Mooney.Even Mooney thought that was a little odd, receiving an award that already bore his name. The veteran journalist didnt complain, however. As he stood before his colleagues a year ago in Lexington, Ky., Mooney knew it was a longshot hed be around to find out if there would be a second Bill Mooney Award.Saturday will be the two-year anniversary of being diagnosed, Mooney said from his home in Lexington. I was given six months.In his ongoing battle with an aggressively metastasizing cancer that has hopscotched through his vital organs, Mooney most recently entered the hospital Aug. 18 with a tumor in his lower back that was pushing against his spine. While Mooney was there, it was discovered that a bacterial infection had gone to his heart. As a result, he spent two months hospitalized before returning home this week.I didnt do much but read e-mails and regular mail from friends, and that helped, Mooney said. But for the large part of the time, I was just knocked out. Your mind kind of goes dead.Mooneys illness has put the brakes on one of the most prolific turf-writing careers the game has known. He has won two Eclipse Awards, the Tony Ryan Book Award, and the Walter Haight Award for career excellence from his colleagues at the NTWBA.Mooney, 69, is from the school of writers who go to the story, bear witness, and bring back the tale. If they tell it well, their readers are transported, convinced they were right there shooting the rapids, fighting the fire, or standing at the side of the grave, as Mooney did in his 2007 Eclipse Award-winning feature.He died on a beautiful early-autumn day -- sunny, breezy, warm, Mooney wrote. The leaves on the pair of oak trees that flanked his grave site were just beginning to change their colors. Nine people were present, including Michael Blowen, the founder and president of Old Friends, and Dr. Holly S. Aldinger, a veterinarian with the Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington.Mooney was one of the nine present at the death of Precisionist, the Hall of Famer and Eclipse Award champion, in September 2007. The gallant old horse was suffering horribly from the effects of inoperable malignant tumors impairing his nasal passages and soft palate. Euthanasia was the only merciful option.Within sseconds, Precisionist let out a heavy gasp, slowly knelt down, and rolled over on his left side, Mooney wrote.dddddddddddd Already, he was brain dead, although he continued to reflexively breathe, and there was also some reflex action in his legs. As Blowen cradled Precisionists head in his arms, Aldinger administered a second barbiturate-laden syringe to the horses neck. Three minutes later, all reflexive movement had ceased. Precisionist was gone.In a career spanning more than four decades, Mooney has recorded every high and low the racing game could provide. It is strange, though, when the writer becomes his own subject.If you do believe in miracles, what has happened with me is a miracle, Mooney said. Of course, its bad luck to get cancer, especially cancer of this kind. But not once have I ever said anything like, Why is this happening to me? Its a waste of time.So, forget about the award being named for me, he said. This is an award for courage, and Rene Douglas absolutely deserves it.Douglas has forged a life after his injury that includes a bloodstock business and appearances on behalf of the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.I would love to be there to present him the award, Mooney said. Unfortunately, right now Im not well enough to take a bus ride to Cincinnati. But I would like to write something for him.So, he did.I think Renes situation and the one Im dealing with are somewhat analogous in this regard, Mooneys tribute began. In a brief period, our worlds got turned upside down, inside out, every direction you could imagine.People -- assuredly, well-intended people -- kept wanting to give me hope. But hope doesnt do it. You have to seize the thing and battle it with all the strength you have in you, from a physical standpoint and an emotional standpoint.Thats what Rene has done, and thats why hes such an extraordinary person. One needs to reach that turning point where you no longer focus on the affliction -- in my case, the disease, in his case, the paralysis -- but to continue on living as productive a life as you can. It took me about seven months. Some people never can reach that turning point, but Rene has.When Mooney entered the hospital in August, he thought his time had come.Im a tough old bird and obviously hard to kill, but I thought at least on two occasions I was dying, he said. And they did give me last rites of the church.Im told those are good for the next time, Mooney added. I just hope the next time doesnt come around for a while. Cheap NFL Gear Cheap Jerseys Store Cheap Jerseys Online Cheap Stitched Jerseys NFL Jerseys From China China NFL Hoodies Youth NFL Jerseys Wholesale Cheap NFL Womens Jerseys Camo China NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys 2019 Stitched Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China Wholesale Jerseys 2020 Wholesale Authentic Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Outlet ' ' '