A Winning Streak? What is this?

So, the Mets have now won 3 in a row against legitimate baseball teams (the Astros and Rockies). And tonight they played very good fundamental baseball, including a successful sacrifice bunt by Daniel Murphy (Unbelievable!). It was all capped off by a pinch-hit grandslam by Fernando Tatis in the 8th. I'll admit, I was furious when Jerry sent Tatis out there in place of Corey Sullivan (who already had an RBI sac fly earlier in the game). To be fair, Tatis has given no reason for fans to be confident in him in that spot -- grounding into a double play in one out of every 10 at bats this year. But he came through. And the Mets are on a winning streak. And Tony Bernazard was finally fired today. All positive stuff.

If only Omar didn't blow the day by creating more bad press for the Mets... At least the consensus seems to be that the end is coming for Minaya, as well. After all, his two big hires since gaining full autonomy (Bernazard and Willie Randolph) are both gone now. No more scapegoats left, unless he buys a bit more time for himself by firing Manuel (who probably should be terminated anyway).

Officially giving up

The Mets desperately have needed to make a trade for the past several weeks. Today, they made one. They sent Ryan Church to the Braves for Jeff "Strike Three" Francoeur. Yes, the Mets made a trade with the BRAVES! WTF!!!! Another right-handed hitter who strikes out constantly and hasn't put up good numbers in a couple years. And we give up our best fielder and one of our few legitimate hitters. And we do it in a trade that will help a rival that's only half a game ahead of us in the standings. Here's the rest of my expert commentary:

#$)&#)$#&)$#@)#@&#@&() V&*@ Minaya &*()RE#*()$#&)$#@#^)#^*@*^&#) Jerry Manuel &*()#$&)$#&)#( Shake Shack )(*&#$&#(&$(&(*&*(&*( strikeouts. If Jeff Francoeur doesn't hit 25 homers the rest of the year, I want Minaya and Jerry Manuel not only fired, but also tarred and feathered. Let's hear Jerry Manuel try to claim he didn't have a personal hatred of Ryan Church all along now. What was the reason for it? The quickest explanation may not hold much weight (Church is white) since Francouer is too. But I'm certainly not abandoning that theory; after all, why did Daniel Murphy not play last night after a big night on Wednesday? Manuel said he wants to get Tatis in a rhythm. How f*cking long are we gonna wait for that? What happened to "if you produce, you'll stay in the lineup"? Murphy was producing, and he was benched in favor of the Hispanic player who's leading the world in GIDP's per at-bat. Church was productive on the last road-trip, and now he's gone. When Francouer strikes out in each of his first 15 at-bats, he'll be benched in favor of whoever the next Emil Brown is to come to town. Can't wait to see who..... And sticking with the theory: who did we remove from the rotation to make room for the returning Ollie Perez? Not journeyman Fernando Nieve, but rather veteran expensive starter Tim Redding. Please explain.

I'd love to believe the Mets can still win the division, but don't believe it. I can't root against Ryan Church even in Atlanta; I'm a fan of players. But I officially give up on Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya. I just want them gone.

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.