Lineup Chaos: New York Mets

Here is the Mets lineup from yesterday's game against the Braves:

J Reyes SS

L Castillo 2B

C Beltran CF

G Sheffield LF

D Wright 3B

F Tatis 1B

R Castro C

R Church RF

J Niese P

When I saw this lineup, a few things surprised me. I knew the lineup would be different without Carlos Delgado, but Mets Manager Jerry Manuel made a couple of interesting decisions.

Decision No. 1: Ryan Church batting eighth

There is no denying it—Ryan Church has been awful in May. He is hitting only .154 this month with no extra base hits and only one walk. But on the other hand, Church is a very good offensive player when he is on, far superior to Ramon Castro, who hit above him yesterday. True, Castro has been very good as of late, but I never expected to see him hitting above Church.

I can think of a few justifications for this move:

1. Play the hot hand

Castro is obviously playing better than Church right now so he should be hitting higher in the order

2. Lack of confidence in Church

Instead of giving Church ample opportunities to right himself, Manuel has relegated him to the bottom of the order. Considering that Church is currently platooning with Gary Sheffield, it does not look like the Mets are as high on Church as I initially thought.

3. Speed

Ramon Castro is one of the slowest players in baseball and having him bat eighth is counter-productive. Castro cannot score on a single to the outfield from second base, which takes away the effectiveness of the sacrifice bunt from the pitcher.

Decision No. 2: Gary Sheffield batting fourth

Manuel obviously has a lot of confidence in Sheffield, but entering yesterday's game, Sheffield was only hitting .178 with one home run. There is little justification for hitting Sheffield above David Wright, who has struck out far too many times this season and does not look 100 percent comfortable at the plate. Simply put, Wright is a much better hitter than Sheffield right now, even when he's struggling.

These are the only justifications I can think of:

1. Manuel has a load of confidence in Sheffield

2. Manuel wants to limit pressure on Wright until he comes out of his funk

3. Manuel wants to see what Sheffield can do in the middle of the order

Sheffield actually played very well yesterday, going 2-6 with a home run. So maybe Jerry Manuel knows something I don't.