Matthews Jr. named Mets' Opening Day centerfielder

Earlier in the spring, opinions seemed to differ between Mets manager Jerry Manuel and GM Omar Minaya as to whether prospect Fernando Martinez could become the Mets' Opening Day centerfielder.

In either case, F-Mart was sent down to Buffalo last week despite his .383 batting average this spring.

Therefore, in the battle to be Carlos Beltran's injury replacement to start the season, Gary Matthews Jr. beat out Angel Pagan, per Andy McCullough of the Newark Star-Ledger.

Matthews, who hit .250 with four home runs in 350 at bats for the Angels last season, will bat seventh in the order when the Mets face the Marlins tomorrow.

Johan Santana - done for the year?

The Mets are 16.5 games out of first in the N.L. East and 14 games behind in the N.L. wildcard race.

Mets ace Johan Santana, who's being scratched from his Tuesday start, has elbow soreness.

Just as two plus two adds up to four, those two factors add up to making it time to shut down Santana for the year as Tim Smith of the NY Daily News argues.

"I'm terribly concerned, no question about it," [Mets manager] Jerry Manuel said Monday. "He's been pitching probably since the break (with soreness), but not to the level of discomfort he has now."

In Santana's place, the Mets will start Nelson Figueroa Tuesday.

"I know that he's a gamer and he wants to be out there with his teammates and fight through all the adversity that this team has had to go through," said [Mets reliever] Billy Wagner (who just returned from Tommy John surgery). "But I think if he tries to push it, and possibly injures himself worse, he's talking about his career. He's not talking about just one season."

On the season, Santana is 13-9 with an ERA of 3.13 and 146 strikeouts.

David Wright heading to 15-day DL, may be done for year

After getting hit in the head by a 93-mph fastball from Giants pitcher Matt Cain in yesterday's game, Mets third baseman David Wright, who spent the night in the hospital, had a CT scan, which was negative, according to Roger Rubin of the NY Daily News.

Wright, who suffered a concussion, has since been released from the hospital.

The Mets have placed Wright on the 15-day disabled list and it's possible that he could miss the remainder of the season. "It's going to depend on the tests," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. "If there's any question, it's a possibility."

“David wanted to take a chance to go out and play, but we decided to take it away from him and DL him based on the recommendation of our doctors who consulted with a specialist,” [general manager Omar] Minaya said, per the Associated Press.

With Wright being placed on the DL, the Mets have called up Andy Green from Triple-A Buffalo.

On the season, Wright was hitting .324 with eight home runs and 55 runs batted in. He also had 24 stolen bases.

Manuel "could have strangled" Ryan Church

New York Mets manager Jerry Manuel said he "could have strangled" outfielder Ryan Church, according to Brian Costa of the Newark Star-Ledger.

In another effort to beat themselves, Church failed to step on third base in the 11th inning of their 3-2 loss on Monday.

As Costa points out, it's perceived that Manuel is harder on Church than any other Met even though he claims he does "not have a doghouse."

"I don't know why people think I got a deal with Ryan Church, I really don't," Manuel said. "I don't have a problem with Ryan. Not at all. I like to egg him on and mess with him a little bit like I do with everybody, but I love to see Ryan every day. He comes to the park every day early. I love to see Ryan Church. I don't have a problem with Ryan Church."

Whether or not he really has a "problem" with Church, more times than not perception is reality.

In 37 games, Church is batting .275 and has one home run and eight RBIs.

Mets place Delgado on DL

The New York Mets have placed first baseman Carlos Delgado on the disabled list, according to Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post.

In turn, the Mets have called up outfielder Angel Pagan from Triple-A Buffalo to take Delgado's roster spot.

While a decision hasn't been made about hip surgery yet, manager Jerry Manuel doesn't expect Delgado to be back any time soon.

"He tried a number of things to get ready and get some comfort, but he could never find it. So I don't anticipate this being [just] a 15-day thing, in my opinion. I could be wrong, though, and hopefully I am wrong."

The move is retroactive to May 11th.

The Mets will use a three-man rotation to fill Delgado's spot at first with Fernando Tatis, Jeremy Reed and Daniel Murphy.

"We'll continue to play everybody," Manuel said of the three backups. "I think that's important that everybody play. It gives us a lot of flexibility. Whoever's hot and whoever's playing well, that's who we'll go with."

In the past seven games, Delgado was batting .423 (11-for-26).

Oliver Perez struggles again

In the off-season, the New York Mets gave pitcher Oliver Perez $36 million.

Perez, who had a breakout season in 2004 with Pittsburgh (2.98 ERA and 239 K's in 196 IP), has pitched horribly in three of his four starts.

And it's drawing frustration from manager Jerry Manuel, who is "really, really concerned."

Per Joel Sherman of the New York Post, Manuel is hoping to send a message to Perez by threatening his job.

"No stuff and no command is a recipe for disaster. ... I have to figure out how long [to be patient] and what is patience," Manuel said.

On the season, Perez is now 1-2 with an ERA of 9.31 and he's lasted more than four innings in only one of his four starts.