Tag: Ryan Church

Injury Updates: Church And Santana

Ryan Church is out of the lineup again tonight against the San Deigo Padres. It’s the third game in the last four that he hasn’t played. Last night there was an obvious opportunity for him to pinch hit in the ninth. Instead Carlos Delgado got the nod. After the game Church told reporters that he couldn’t play and got annoyed at the line of questioning.

Church has been the most consistent offensive force on the Mets this season. He’s also played a Gold Glove caliber right field. I can see why the Mets are hesitant to put him on the disabled list and lose him for two weeks. It’s not like the Mets have someone in the minors that can come up and rake at the big league level. That’s obvious by the brief callup’s of Raul Casanova and Nick Evans. If it’s a couple of days off that he needs, keep him on the active roster and deal with it.

Last night Johan Santana was hit in the left shoulder by a Randy Wolf pitch. He went down to the ground and stayed there for a minute before recovering and continuing the at-bat. He pitched the bottom of the sixth inning after being hit and told reporters after the game that he didn’t think that it affected his pitching.

Anybody that’s played baseball and been hit by a pitch knows that it’s usually more surprising than it is painful. Unless you take one in the back, knee, or face it’s not a big deal. The only concern here is that it’s his pitching shoulder and might bruise up. I haven’t seen any injury reports on Santana today so I don’t think this will affect his next start.

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Mets Lose Another 2-1 Game To Padres

Johan Santana pitched well but hurt himself with an error in the bottom of the sixth on a throw to third base. He pitched six innings giving up two runs (one earned). But Randy Wolf was better tonight going seven innings and giving up one run. The Mets left the bases loaded in the sixth and seventh innings.

The Mets only run came on a long sacrifice fly to center field by David Wright that scored Santana. The Mets haven’t had any offense in the first two games in San Diego. Ryan Church didn’t play again tonight, missing two of the last three games. Apparently, the concussion must still be bothering him.

The Mets have only scored one run in each of the first two games. They fall to 2-3 on this road trip and back to .500 for the season.

Box score

Video Highlights

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Audio: June 5- Eddie Coleman- Mets Beat Report

Audio from WFAN’s Joe & Evan. Eddie Coleman talks about the San Francisco Giants series, the upcoming San Diego Padres series, the catching platoon situation, Moises Alou’s activation from the disabled list, Pedro Martinez first start back from the DL, and Ryan Church asking to sit out of the final game in SF yesterday.

WFAN Audio

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Church: Late Round Draft Success Story

Ryan Church was the 14th round pick of the Cleveland Indians in 2000 out of the University of Nevada. Today Jerry Crasnick has a good column about at ESPN about late round picks that are active players making an impact.
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This underscores my thought that the Mets are completely correct in staying within Major League Baseball’s slotting system for high round draft choices. You just never know what’s going to happen to young players and whether they will continue to improve enough to play in the big leagues.

If you can sign foreign players at 16 years old as free agents, for far less money, it makes sense to go in that direction. The Mets started their training facility in the Dominican Republic last year for exactly that reason.

There’s no need to spend millions of dollars on players that may never make the big club. Too many young players can dominate the game at a lower level but fail to continue to develop. It’s also difficult to judge which players will still remain “hungry” after their bank account hits seven figures. That’s probably the toughest thing to determine when scouting.

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Santana Does It Again; Mets Over Dodgers 6-1

Johan Santana (7-3) is proving his value to the Mets this season. He put the hammer down on the Los Angeles Dodgers to take three out of four in the series. Santana gave up a run in the first inning, and then cruised through 7.2 innings for the win.

Ryan Church was back in the lineup and doesn’t appear to be feeling any ill effects from his concussion. He was 3 for 4 with two RBI’s a double and a home run in the third inning. Nice comeback!

Carlos Beltran also hit a home run in the five run third inning. It was his second game in a row with a homer, and also another long shot off the scoreboard in right center.

David Wright had a good game going 3 for 4 with 2 RBI’s and a stolen base.

The Mets leave for San Francisco tonight for a three game series.

Box score

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Church May Be In Lineup Tomorrow

Ryan Church could be back on the field for the Mets as early as tomorrow. He’s been on pinch hitting duty only since his concussion last week in Atlanta.

The Mets have been taking some heat for letting Church travel to Colorado and pinch hit but he tells the New York Post:

“They didn’t do anything wrong on their part,” Church said last night after returning from a two-day rest mandated by the team. “They asked me, and I was the final say. I told them I could pinch hit.”

Church’s absence has left a crater in the Mets lineup. He’s carried the team over the first two months of the season. His unexpected production has been the most consistent offense that the Mets have had all season.

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Mets In the News Today: Delgado, Church, And More

Here’s a summary of what’s happening for the Mets in the news today. Joe Torre and the Dodgers come to town for a four game series that has a few interesting story lines.

  • Carlos Delgado– He’s been on the bench for two straight games. I would guess that he’ll start tonight against righty Brad Penny. The way I see it is that the Wilpons told Willie Randolph to start playing his best lineup no matter what. Randolph realized that if he kept up his blind respect for Delgado’s career numbers, he might lose his job. Willie’s always the last one to figure these things out. It’s amazing to me that he can’t see what’s going on with this team. He just pays way too much homage to veterans. As Jim Leyland said “I’ll take talent over experience anytime.” I don’t necessarily like Fox Sports Dayn Perry but read this column about players not earning their pay this season.
  • Ryan Church– He hasn’t been at Shea Stadium for two games in a row because of the concussion that he sustained in Atlanta. There have been plenty of newspaper columns about the Mets handling the situation poorly by flying him to Colorado, pinch hitting him, and then flying back to New York. I come down on the side of the team on this one. I’m sure they went on how Church said that he felt at the time. Read the NY Times article here.
  • Pedro Martinez– He threw well in Port St. Lucie last night. But the question becomes: what roster move do they make next week to get him off the disabled list? There’s plenty of speculation like sending Mike Pelfrey down to get himself together. There’s also speculation that the Mets may keep both Claudio Vargas and Mike Pelfrey on the roster and make one of them a long man. I suspect that would leave Joe Smith as the odd man out in the bullpen with a one way ticket to New Orleans.
  • Marlon Anderson– His leg injury has the Mets considering making a play for Scott Hatteberg to be a lefty off the bench who can play first base. Read Marty Noble’s column for MLB.com. It’s a bad idea in my opinion. Hatteberg complained about coming off the bench and didn’t hit well in that role. I would consider Hatteberg if the Mets were looking to get Delgado off the roster whether via trade or release.
  • Moises Alou– His calf injury is progressing well and it looks like he’ll be off the disabled list on schedule next week. That’ll send Nick Evans back to Binghamton most likely, possibly New Orleans.