ATLANTA — Torii Hunter may be moving to right field in Anaheim, but don’t expect Carlos Beltran to head to a corner outfield position anytime soon.
“I think there will be a time in his career when that might be an issue,” manager Jerry Manuel said before the Mets closed out their series against the Braves at Turner Field with an 8-3 loss. “Do I think that time is now? No. Not in August.”
Nevertheless, the manager said he wanted to see some improvement in Beltran’s play in center, where he hasn’t covered as much ground as he did before offseason knee surgery.
Manuel said he thought it would be more likely that a change would happen in spring training.
“Will we look at this and say, ‘Will we be better going into spring training? Possibly,” Manuel said. “That would be the place.”
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Manuel had hoped to save Hisanori Takahashi, temporarily back in the bullpen, for the upcoming Phillies’ series, but that became impossible when Mike Pelfrey was knocked out in the fifth last night.
Takahashi (two unearned runs in 1 1/3 innings) pitched well despite the team’s defensive collapse — he said through a translator he didn’t remember having three errors behind him in one inning — and Manuel said he wouldn’t rule out putting him back in the rotation.
“He’s been impressive for a long time,” Manuel said. “He’s a guy we have to think more than once about with these things we’re going through; gotta put his name in play.”
Takahashi also said that when he walked off the mound toward second base after Ike Davis’ error, it was “to calm myself.”
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Oliver Perez said he feels fine physically and also insists he doesn’t expect to be this bad the rest of the season.
“I can come back,” Perez said. “I’m trying to get better, but it’s hard when you don’t have the velocity you used to have. Right now, I’m trying to become a pitcher instead of just using my power. That’s difficult to do.”
It’s not going well, to say the least, but he reiterated yesterday that he won’t accept a demotion to the minors.
“I know I belong here, with this team,” said Perez, adding that he was “fine” physically.
“And I know I can get my power back. It’s just hard when you’re coming back from surgery.”