Angel Pagan To Return To Mets’ Lineup On Friday

New York Mets center fielder Angel Pagan tweaked his oblique on April 21st, a recurrence of an injury he first suffered last season. He initially described the pain as mild as compared to the earlier injury, and he expected to be day-to-day. But as everyone in baseball realizes by now, oblique pulls aren't just a pain in a player's side, they're a pain in the organization's butt. Pagan has been out for more than a month, but there's good news on the horizon. From Adam Rubin of ESPN New York:

While Buffalo Thursday sounds like an awesome roots-rock band looking for a bass player, Rubin was referring to triple-A Buffalo, where Pagan has been on a rehab assignment. In his absence, the Mets have been using Jason Pridie, who started off hot but has really cooled down lately.