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Matthew Cerrone

News: Church One Step Closer
By Matthew Cerrone - Jun 27, 2008 8:41 am

Mets OF Ryan Church played five innings and went 3 for 3 with a double Thursday in a rehab assignment with Single-A Brooklyn.

Church started in right field, but did not have a ball hit to him.

As he expected, Church experienced mild leg soreness following the game, and is scheduled to play for Brooklyn again tonight.

my hunch is that we’ll see church back with the Mets tomorrow, but that is totally a hunch, and hope

Church, talking to reporters about his style of play, following the game, said:

“I’m going to continue to go all out.  I mean, that’s what got me here…I’m not gonna change a thing.  I’ll probably just be a little smarter, you know, with the slides around the bag and stuff like that, crashing in to walls, but other than than I’m not gonna let down at all because that’s just not me.”

To hear from Church, and watch clips from his game in Brooklyn, courtesy of SNY, click here.

32 Responses to “News: Church One Step Closer”

  1. Dirtysanchez says:

    Cant wait till churchy gets back here..we need his bat in this lineup. Will be interesting to see what spot in the lineup he takes with manuel

    • ravi3 says:

      I feel like he has to be batting 5th…I liked the dynamic of having him bat 2nd, but it really shortens up the lineup. Castillo works in the 2-hole, but anywhere else, his value is even further diminished.

      • Dirtysanchez says:

        I agree completly ravi. The 5th spot i believe would be the best to use church and his ability to drive runs in. It also offers some protection to beltran. At first i liked church in the 2 hole but frankly i cannot stand castillo hitting 8th and with his style of batting not getting anybody home. Id rather him slap the ball and move reyes over. I would really like seeing church in the 5 hole as well

    • zer09 says:

      I think there’s something important in his quote here.

      “I’ll probably just be a little smarter, you know, with the slides around the bag and stuff like that, crashing in to walls”

      Does that mean he’s going to be running around the outfield afraid to make great catches like Cameron was when he came back from that collision injury? Don’t lose your fearless approach in the OF Ryan!!!

  2. mrose says:

    left field? really? interesting

    • RPsJacket says:

      I know, I thought the same thing. With this (mis)organization, I would not look too deep into it though…

      I was hopeful for today, but that was just the selfish fan in me. They need to see how he feels after playing back to back days I would imagine. Every game is big now, but next weekend is huge.

      I don’t think he can bat 2nd in this anemic lineup. It has to be 5th.

      I would not mind seeing castillo 1 and reyes 2 for a few days to see what happens, as someone suggested yesterday. Manuel keeps saying he has to figure out a way to get the most out of what he has.

    • BIG17EASY says:

      No, not really. According to minorleaguebaseball.com, Church played right field. Hopefully Matt will fix the mistake in his post.

  3. John The Mets Fan says:

    Matt – I was at the Cyclones game yesterday, and Church started in RF not left. He didnt have an opportunity to field any balls out there, but he went 3-3 and was seriously hustling around the bags. Good to see….

    • RPsJacket says:

      Well, that settles that.

      It also didn’t appear that he exactly scorched the ball either. I’m not hating, its great to see him actually playing at this point. But maybe we should not expect great production out of the gate. If he can get comfortable by next weekend that would be great.

      • garykeithron says:

        i was thinking that too – i mean church is usually humble, but I think he was pretty honest with how he hit today – got lucky.

        I think Matt is trying to fan the flames of fan fury with the LF statement :)

  4. nomoredelgado says:

    anyone else going to skankee stadium this afternoon? i will be holding my nose and making my way to the upper deck.

    • RPsJacket says:

      Good luck, make some noise. Getting the first one would be sweet.

      I will be at the nightcap though, its gonna be a long day at work….

  5. John The Mets Fan says:

    Also Brad Holt shutout Aberdeen in 5 IP with 6 strikeouts and only 1 walk. Not bad….

  6. KingWright says:

    Who would have thought before this year began we’d be relying on one Ryan Church to reignite this offense.

  7. Knuckles99 says:

    Let down Church! Let down! Your head is soft like brie!

  8. METSaholicTK says:

    Church and Nixon in the same outfield…new ‘Bash Brothers’ from Mighty Ducks

    • RPsJacket says:

      I would like to see it.

      Although, I am not convinced he stays when church is activated.

      I know he hasn’t been hitting, but he hasn’t played much either. I would like to see him play 3 -4 games in a row. I’m not sure he will get that chance, Tatis plays infield and there is still this love affair with anderson.

      • followmelevi says:

        yeah… I’d rather see tatis dfa’d and then sent to the minors. I like that Nixon always seems to give a good at-bat whether he gets a hit or not.

  9. NJMike says:

    Let’s go Churchy….we need you back soon !!!!

  10. StrawberryCoke says:

    Did anyone else see the hits Church picked up last night . with the exception of the liner up 1B- kinda weak hits in my opinion. Maybe his strength is not at 100 % yet. I would like to see him go 1 maybe 2 more games at Brooklyn to regain some confidence.

    • patrick says:

      are we elvaluating the quality of his hits for the Brooklyn Cyclones? Really?

      • StrawberryCoke says:

        I guess what I should have said was that I don’t want him coming back thinking that he needs to be the savior if he is not 100%. Before the injury he was mashing and I would just like to see him come back to the way he was before the injury .Maybe some more AB’s against lower level guys just to get his confidence up . Believe me I want him back in the lineup yesterday ,but I also do not want the MRI Revolving Door in the outfield.

  11. murpheeee says:

    speaking of crashing into walls…..where the hell is Angel Pagan?

    • RPsJacket says:

      or Alou???

      It was a strained calf….and the guy has fallen of the face of the earth…

  12. als102 says:

    So who is getting sent when church is back

  13. hi5wright says:

    Churcheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!! :)