Sheffield is starting over Church on Wednesday. It was coming eventually, but the timing of his start is a little suspect. First, Manuel will be benching our hottest hitter at the moment, which runs contrary to his supposed "play the hot hand" philosophy. This start also comes after two botched outfield plays, the most noticeable from the Mets' early leader in UZR, have caused Manuel to re-emphasize defensive fundamentals.

Sorry if I'm repeating myself, but Gary Sheffield had a -27 UZR in rightfield, four years ago, before he got fat, old, and content DHing. How bad is -27? In just 130 games, Sheffield would completely cancel out K-Rod's Frankie's contributions to the team.

Thirdly, Oliver Perez is starting that game. Lennon said it best:

Yikes. Good luck to Oliver Perez with that one.