No Love Lost Betweeen Manuel and Church

I do not know one Mets fan that does not like Ryan Church.  He's a solid gap-to-gap doubles hitter, has a very good arm, tracks down flyballs in right field with relative ease, and plays with guts and hustle.

For some reason, Mets Manager Jerry Manuel doesn't see things that way.

There have been rumors for months that Manuel was not a fan of Church.  As much as myself and the rest of my fellow Mets fans have tried to deny it, last night it became very clear that the Mets right fielder is so far in the Mets doghouse that he might as well take out a mortgage on it.

In the top of the 11th inning in last night's game, with two outs and Church on first, Angel Pagan hit a drive into the gap that ended up bouncing against the wall.  Church, showing speed that Mets fans also know him for, appeared to easily score from first with the go-ahead run.  And with K-Rod looming in the bullpen, it looked like a Mets win.

However, "hawkeye" Joe Torre noticed from the moment it happened that Church missed 3rd base and immediately called for the appeal.  The appeal proved to be successful and Church was called out, ending the inning.

Manuel responded by not arguing the call, turning his back to Church when he returned to the dugout, then threw him under the bus in the post-game press conference.

When asked about the rest of the plays last night, which included a horrible move by Fernando Tatis in the first that allowed the first run, two errors by fill in shortstop Ramon Martinez, an inexcusable mental error by Carlos Beltran (or Angel Pagan) that helped lead to the Mets loss, and the throwing error by Jeremy Reed that ended the game last night, Manuel ignored those and called Church's move "inexcusable."

Manuel refused to acknowledge Church by his name (calling him "that guy"), said that missing the base was "unbelievable," and that the reason he didn't argue the call was due to the fact that 3rd base coach Razor Shines told him that Church missed the base.

A couple of questions for you Jerry:

What makes missing a base unbelievable but the five errors committed in the field acceptable?

How could Shines have told you that Church was out when he was across the field, still standing in the 3rd base coaches box?

Oh right, you want to vomit at the sight of number 19, that's why.

How has it come to this?  Church, in an unselfish move to help the team last season when they needed it, played while still suffering from post-concussion syndrome.  His reward this season has been being threatened with his job in spring training, being benched when he was on a hot streak in April, and an overall mis-handling of his platoon with Gary Sheffield in right field.

One more thing...

Another twist in this story is that there is another interesting scenario that has presented himself now; Delgado appears to be out until at least the end of July after having surgery today.  The Mets may have to go out and look for a first baseman to fill the void and with an overcrowded outfield, Church may be a very nice trade piece.

Unless Jerry Manuel ruins his value due to his stubborn ego getting in the way.