NEXT GAME 5/23

Ramon Martinez remains at shortstop Saturday night at Fenway Park, while Ryan Church is out of the lineup.

Carlos Beltran is still up in the air as far as center field. If he can play the field, David Wright will DH and Fernando Tatis will play third. If Beltran needs to DH, Jeremy Reed plays center field.

Murphy, 1b
Pagan, rf
Beltran, cf/dh
Sheffield, lf
Wright, dh/3b
Tatis, 3b or Reed, cf
Santos, c
Martinez, ss
Castillo, 2b

PROBABLE PITCHERS

Josh Beckett

#19 RHP

(4-2) 5.85 ERA 46 SO

PREVIEW

How grateful Mike Pelfrey is that his turn in the rotation has arrived once again.

It's not that he had been harping on his last start, in which he balked three times and admitted to a case of "the yips." After speaking with a sports psychologist, he swears he's gotten over the mental problems that plagued him last Saturday.

Instead, his distress these past few days has come from an entirely difference source.

"You think these guys in here would let anything go?" Pelfrey said, scanning the visitors' clubhouse at Fenway Park.

It was a rhetorical question. Knowing Pelfrey's improved state of mind, and conscious of his sense of humor regarding one of the most embarrassing moments of his career, the Mets spent the past five days endlessly ribbing him.

But they also know how important he will be.

"To his credit, he kind of admits it, and that's the way you try to solve things," manager Jerry Manuel said. "If he said, 'I don't have an issue' and continued to do that, then we've got a problem."

As Pelfrey noted after his start last weekend, the mental block that gripped him in San Francisco is nothing new. He battled the same problem during a game in Miami last season -- though he was better able to handle it that day. And he jokes about setting the school record for balks at Wichita State -- he balked seven times as a freshman in 2003, and 11 times in total over a three-year college career.

But for Pelfrey to defeat the Red Sox on Saturday afternoon, he'll need to prove that he's overcome the mental block that prevented him from coming to the set position every time a runner reached base last weekend. Boasting a far more potent offense than the Giants, the Red Sox are therefore far more likely to make him pay for any mistakes.

Knowing that, he spoke on the phone this week with a sports psychologist he had used in the past. The lesson?

"The mind is pretty powerful, and it controls all your muscles and all those things," Pelfrey said, explaining his balks. "So if it happens, then I'll be able to -- in my own little way -- I'll be able to tell my mind what I want to do, and hopefully, all the muscles and everything follow that."

Complicating matters is the fact that Pelfrey's counterpart on Saturday, Josh Beckett, ranks among the best pitchers in the game. Despite Beckett's struggles so far this season, he has proven to be a menace to the Mets throughout his career -- David Wright, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran are a combined 4-for-40 lifetime against him.

Reyes, unlikely to play because of tendinitis in his right calf, is one of multiple injured Mets at the moment. Beltran was forced to start at designated hitter on Friday after feeling soreness in his right knee, Carlos Delgado is recovering from hip surgery, Brian Schneider remains on the disabled list with a strained back and Ryan Church left Friday's game in the fourth inning with a sore right hamstring.


GO BIG PELF SIGN

Jose Reyes doesn't plan to run Saturday, but his right calf feels good enough to take batting practice and ground balls.

"I feel way better today," Reyes said.

As for Ryan Church, he expects to return to the lineup Sunday. Hamstring difficulty had caused his legs to be different lengths, he said, and resulted in his discomfort. He believes chiropractic work has corrected it.