On the Mets beat

As soon as a few of his teammates noticed that Endy Chavez was in tonight's lineup, they broke out in song.

"En-dy Cha-vez ... I hope you play today," Jose Reyes chimed. "En-dy Cha-vez ... I hope you play today."

The singing continued as the Mets headed out for batting practice, and if Chavez felt a little embarrassed by all the attention, it was worth it all to finally be back after spending nearly three months on the disabled list with a strained left hamstring.

Now that Shawn Green already has lost the rightfielder's job, and Lastings Milledge has looked vulnerable lately, it will be interesting to see how manager Willie Randolph uses Chavez. Randolph insists that he will be part of an outfield rotation at the corner positions, maybe even give Carlos Beltran a breather. But if Chavez gets off to a fast start, there will be a temptation to stick with him over Green and Milledge.

In other news, the Mets are unsure of where Pedro Martinez will make his next start. They refuse to completely rule out Saturday in Atlanta, but that would be a stunning upset. The more likely possibilities are either St. Lucie or Brooklyn, with Double-A Binghamton a more distant third.

Also, Ambiorix Burgos had Tommy John surgery earlier today. Looking back, I guess I was wrong about that trade. After raving about Burgos and his 100-mph fastball during spring training, it appears that GM Omar Minaya whiffed in sending Brian Bannister to the Royals for Burgos. Bannister, who starts tonight against the Tigers, is 10-7 with a 3.28 ERA for the lowly Royals. My bad.

Almost forgot. Brian Lawrence was optioned to Triple-A New Orleans. No surprise there.