….and at least Jeremy Reed had the integrity to blame himself.  But in the wake of the Mets’ 3-2, 11 inning loss to Los Angeles last night, the only critique more pointed than Jerry Manuel’s blast of Church had to be Carlos Beltran’s comments regarding just-promoted LF Angel Pagan.  From Newsday’s Ken Davidoff :

The five errors were the most by the Mets since they committed six against the Phillies on Sept. 16, 2007. The team record is seven. But these were not just errors. They were spectacular flubs, none more so than Pagan flying into Beltran’s airspace in the 11th inning.

After Mark Loretta’s leadoff walk, Xavier Paul launched a long fly ball into the left-center gap. Both Pagan and Beltran gave chase, and by the time Pagan pulled back, it was too late. Beltran appeared to graze the ball with his glove and got stuck with an error as the ball fell between them and rolled toward the wall.

Afterward, Beltran – who had a scary, career-threatening collision with Mike Cameron in 2005 – sounded angry at Pagan.

“That play in centerfield was basically the whole game,” Beltran said. “I called for the ball like six times. That particular play right there, I have the priority. He’s a good leftfielder and he’s been in centerfield before. When a centerfielder calls for the ball, everybody has to get out of the way.”

With the not-unexpected news 1B Carlos Delgado will be out of action until at least the All-Star break, Always Amazin‘s Matthew Artus warns “the Mets shouldn’t overreact to Delgado’s DL trip with a knee-jerk trade”, though conversely adding, “if the Indians are dead on July 1st, their All-Star catcher-slash-first baseman Victor Martinez might become available.”

That’s two interesting positions for the Mets to fill, especially when you consider Carlos Delgado, Brian Schneider, and Ramon Castro come off the books at season’s end. Martinez won’t come cheap and he’s no Spring chicken. But he’s welcome in Queens.