What is Going On?

Today, the Mets placed Carlos Beltran on the DL -- joining Maine, Perez, Putz, Pagan, Reyes, Delgado and others. They also demoted Ken Takahashi and Wilson Valdez. Filling those 3 spots, the Mets called up Fernando Martinez, Elmer Dessens (yes, Elmer Dessens... the latest in the "Where Are They Now?" series of Mets), and LHP Pat Misch. (By the way, 3 other candidates for "Where Are They Now?" Mets were recently released from Buffalo: Javier Valentin, Bobby Kielty, and Wily Mo Pena........ none of which make sense to me) (Also, did you happen to hear that Jose Reyes -- already disabled -- was in a car accident today on the Triboro Bridge along with trainer Ray Ramirez [just what we need: even our medical staff isn't safe from injury -- though the terrible team doctors being replaced probably would help this team...] A fire truck rear-ended their car)

It was also announced that Bobby Parnell and Pedro Feliciano were unavailable for tonight's opener against the Cardinals. Tim Redding, still looking for his first win as a Met, was slotted to start, and counted on to go deep into the game.

All of that news combined seemed to spell doom for the Mets. And yet, they won -- leaving all of us in a state of giving up forever on trying to understand this team. Along the way, highlights included:

• Tim Redding pitched into the 8th inning, allowing 4 runs (one of the runs was a homer leading off the 8th, which was his last batter).
• Jon Switzer struck out the first hitter he faced in relief of Redding. His next hitter got on, and Switzer was replaced by Brian Stokes.
• Brian Stokes came into a game!!! And in a pressure spot, which Jerry Manuel has said all along he doesn't trust Stokes in. Why he doesn't trust him, Mets fans don't know. It's the same irrational dislike he has for Ryan Church. And yet, due to all the insanity of the Mets roster for tonight's game, here was Brian Stokes coming into the game in the 8th inning leading by one, with the tying run on first. And who was coming to bat as the potential go-ahead run? None other than the best hitter in the league, Albert Pujols. Jerry Manuel must have been peeing his pants. Stokes fell behind Pujols on a series of sliders, then battled back and finally induced a weak grounder right back to himself, and turned the 1-6-3 double play to end the inning. Jerry Manuel must have immediately entered into a state of shock that may or may not have required Sandy Alomar to manage the rest of the game; we don't know. But who knows, could this actually make Jerry Manuel realize that Mets fans and analysts are right and begin trusting Stokes again like last year when he became the go-to guy at the end of the year until he was burned out? Probably not; nothing Church has done has convinced Manuel about him. But maybe.... After all, desperate times call for desperate measures -- even trusting people you wouldn't at any other time. And could things be more desperate for the Mets right now?...
• Daniel Murphy homered, giving the full Mets lineup for tonight's game a total of 17 home runs on the season. Fourteen players around the league have at least that many as individuals.

Why is Ryan Church not playing?

Marty Noble of mlb.com was asked in his most recent Mets Inbox why Ryan Church has seen his playing time continually decrease while players such as Gary Sheffield have seen plenty of playing time with worse numbers. He wrote:

"You hardly are alone in your wonder. My sense of it, and that of others, including men in uniform, is that Church has been shortchanged -- in words, plans and, since the season began, playing time. It began early in Spring Training. The comments manager Jerry Manuel made about him then seemed unnecessarily uncomplimentary. Then Church made most of the trips and played as much as anyone other than Daniel Murphy in exhibition games. He was exhausted by mid-March. Since Opening Day, he has become the player most affected by the batting-order imbalance -- too many left-handed hitters.

"Church is a fine outfielder, the best defensive right fielder the Mets franchise has had, and he ought to be in right as often as possible in Citi Field. He plays hard; no one can quarrel with that. And he was hitting early on. I suspect Manuel didn't want to sit Murphy when he was having so much trouble in left field and have Murphy begin to doubt himself."

Now here's my take on it: Omar Minaya has had the reputation since his days with Montreal that he favors mediocre minority (specifically hispanic) players to even good white players. His seeming preference all through the offseason to stick with Ollie Perez instead of Wolf or Lowe looked like further evidence of that. Could he be pulling the strings against Ryan Church? Or could Jerry Manuel have the same preference? Sheff has hit nothing at all (other than his 500th homerun), Tatis can get at-bats at other positions (and has done so, with Delgado's health issues). And look how long it took for Jeremy Reed (who is also white) to finally get a start. He only just got his first one this past week, over 20 games into the season. And while Daniel Murphy was favored by Jerry Manuel in his statements during Spring Training, Murphy has also seen his starts decrease in favor of Tatis and Sheffield. So while one white outfielder was favored over another, they both take backseats to the minorities. I'm curious what will happen when Brian Schneider comes back from his injury (whenever that may wind up being). Is Minaya going to try long and hard to deal him away in order to keep Ramon Castro and Omir Santos?

Now suppose an organization was intentionally playing very mediocre white players over much better and more productive black or hispanic players simply due to race. That organization would be subject to lawsuits and be branded as racist by fans. Should the Mets not be viewed the same way? Racism against whites is still racism.