Beltran reportedly approached Mets’ manager Terry Collins on Monday and told him he wanted to talk, and then said he wanted to jumpstart the long-debated move from center field to right field.

“I came today thinking in my heart, ‘I still think I can play center field,’” Beltran said. “But, at the same time, this is not about Carlos. This is about team.”

Angel Pagan, who did a decent job filling in for Beltran when he Beltran missed the first half of last season after arthroscopic knee surgery, was then told he would be starting the season in center field, and that Beltran would be playing right field.

Beltran said that he initiated the moved in order to avoid a last-minute move just as the season begins, and to cut off the possibility of weeks of media speculation about a potential move.

“In order for me to play center field, I need more time,” Beltran said.

“I want to be on the same page with everyone here. I want Terry to have his time and to come to the ballpark ready to play the lineup without thinking where he is going to play Pagan, where he’s going to play me. At the same time I’m thinking about Pagan coming to the ballpark and preparing himself and focused to play baseball. I don’t want to create any distractions here.”

Beltran, 33, is in the final season of a seven-year, $119 million contract. He has started three games in right field in his career, all in 2000 for the Kansas City Royals.

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Kansas City Royals are playing better than earlier this year. Zack Greinke’s return will only help the team.

Kansas City, under manager Trey Hillman is 27-26, after opening 12-23, since Ned Yost took over on May 14. Before getting swept in a three-game series last weekend, the Royals (39-49) had won 10 of 13 to AL Central-leading Chicago. In Sunday’s finale, Kansas City was outscored 28-8, including 15-5.

The Royals ranks first in the majors with a .282 batting average and is led by DeJesus, hitting at .326. The right-hander, Greinke (5-8, 3.71 ERA) was slated to start Sunday and he will be taking the hill on nine days rest. While striking out nine in seven innings of a 3-2 win in Seattle, he has not pitched since allowing an unearned run and two hits on July 6. Against Oakland, in seven career starts, Greinke also is 4-0 with a 2.98 ERA.

In recent weeks, Oakland (43-46) has struggled while their opponents, the Royals have improved. Since to drop well behind first-place Texas, the A’s have lost 22 of 37, although they were 28-24 and atop the AL West on May 31. Including a 5-2 win Sunday, from the Angels, they managed to take two of three.

Oakland’s struggles are due to injuries. Brett Anderson, Dallas Braden and Justin Duchscherer were down and out because of injuries, although Anderson and Braden are expected to return. For 70 games, Oakland was without outfielder Coco Crisp, second baseman Mark Ellis for a month and catcher Kurt Suzuki for three weeks.

In the opener, the A’s will go with the inconsistent Gio Gonzalez. Gonzalez (7-6, 3.79) allowed five runs, eight hits and five walks in four innings, last Wednesday, in a 6-2 loss to the New York Yankees. With a 3.58 ERA, the left-hander is 3-3 in his 10 starts since May 22.

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For the Minnesota Twins, Injuries and illnesses keep piling up. The AL Central-leading Twins open a nine-game home stand Tuesday night against the Royals, back from a sub-.500 trip. Minnesota (33-24) is facing plenty of adversity, despite holding the biggest division lead in the majors at 3 1/2 games. Orlando Hudson and J.J. Hardy are suffering with left wrist injuries, and first baseman Justin Morneau has not started the last two games due to the flu. Right fielder Michael Cuddyer is expected to return as Minnesota looks to improve to 19-9 at new Target Field and extend its season-high four-game home winning streak and MLB odds.

Greinke (1-7, 3.60 ERA) will try to avoid matching his loss total from last year’s AL Cy Young Award-winning season; the Twins will be facing him. In a 10-3 loss in Minnesota on April 16, the right-hander walked a season-high five and has posted a 7.04 ERA while dropping each of his last three starts.

Greinke, who gave up four runs and a season-high 10 hits over six innings of Thursday’s 5-4 loss to the Angels, said, “The last month I haven’t really been myself, I guess, everything looks tougher, like the hitters look better and the strike zone looks smaller. It just seems tougher out there at the moment”.

In the AL, Kansas City’s .279 batting average is among the best, but Greinke is receiving among the league’s lowest run support at 2.64. If the Royals (24-34) gave Greinke more run support, the game will improve to higher standards. With a 2.48 ERA in six road starts, Greinke is 0-4.

AL batting champion Joe Mauer has five RBIs against Kansas City and is batting with .481, this season. Going 5 for 26, Morneau, the 2006 AL MVP has fared worse against Greinke. The Twins will give the ball to Kevin Slowey (6-3, 3.84) as he looks for his third win in five starts, after going 3-4 in Seattle and Oakland. On April 25, the right-hander suffered his first career loss in five starts versus Kansas City. He allowed four runs and hits over 5 1/3 innings of the 4-3 defeat. Against the Mariners, Slowey yielded a run and five hits over seven innings Wednesday.

This season, Minnesota is 4-2 against Kansas City.

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The Angels send struggling Scott Kazmir to the mound Wednesday night when they continue their four-game series with the Royals in Kansas City, after letting a chance to return to .500 go by the boards.
To escape a season-long rut, three-time reigning West champion Los Angeles (26-28) is struggling. When they suffered the second loss of a season-high seven-game skid, the Angels have had a losing record since May. They had a chance to win a fourth straight game and climb back to .500 on Tuesday, after winning Monday’s series opener 7-1.

To take a lead they would never relinquish thanks to 3 2/3 perfect innings from the bullpen in a 6-3 victory, instead the Royals plated four runs off starter Joel Pineiro in the fifth inning. Kansas City reliever Robinson Tejeda got Juan Rivera to fly out and struck out Mike Napoli to end Los Angeles’ final threat of the night, after the Angels put runners on second and third in the sixth. Over Tejeda’s last 18 1/3 innings, he has given up one earned run.

Kazmir (3-5, 6.34 ERA) is failing to live up to expectations much to the baseball betting world’s disapointment. In Los Angeles, in his first full season and has given up four runs or more in five of nine starts and is 1-4 with a 6.91 ERA over his last five outings. Kazmir surrendered eight hits in 5 1/3 innings and six runs too in Friday’s 8-3 loss to Seattle.

Recently, Kansas City (22-31) has performed in a curious pattern. Since May 19, the team has had alternating three-game winning streaks with three-game losing skids. They need to be consistent. Against Los Angeles last season, Kyle Davies made two starts, scattered five hits and six walks over five innings and limited the Angels to one run each time and earning a 6-3 home win. He gave up five runs in five innings and was mostly ineffective on Friday at Boston.

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Colorado Rockies need a greater sense of urgency in their lineup although, the game in which Ubaldo Jimenez starts, and Rockies do not need much production at the plate in games. Against the Kansas City Royals, the Rockies look to give Hammel some support as they open interleague play. With a 4-0 win over Houston on Thursday night, ended a three-game losing streak.

Lowering his major league-leading ERA to 0.99, Jimenez pitched seven innings. For a Rockies team that scored three runs or fewer in each of its previous four contests, Jimenez’s effort was a big boost for a Rockies team. Hammel, due to a strained right groin has been limited to five starts. Rockies versus the Royals (17-25), posting a 4.32 ERA, Hammel has not received a decision in one start and three relief appearances.

With Brian Bannister, Kansas City will try to counter the Rockies. Including a win in his last outing, he has -1 with a 3.70 ERA in four starts at home. On Sunday, over Chicago, the right-hander yielded three runs in six innings of a 5-3 victory. Against the Rockies, Bannister is 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in two starts.

In winning six of their last eight, the Royals have a 3.24 ERA. Scoring 17 runs over its last two games, Kansas City has been hitting well and reaching double figures in hits each of the past five contests. In 26 interleague games, Callaspo, is batting .200 with one homer. Last year, going 11-4, The Rockies were the NL’s best team in interleague.

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The Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals are the bottom two teams in the division again in 2010. Fausto Carmona of Indians will try to send Kansas City again to a seven straight losing streak.

In 2009, each club lost 97 games and this year it is no better. Kansas City’s woes only seem to be getting worse whereas with two back to back wins, the Indians have come out of the five-game losing streak. To lose more than 600 games since the start of 2004, the Royals (11-22) are the only team in the majors. With a 5.21 ERA, the Royals rank last in the AL. The problem that the Royals are facing is that they are making too many errors in their game play.

This has been Kyle Davies (2-1, 5.45 ERA) worst start of the year. In his first five outings, the right-hander had posted four quality starts. On Thursday when Royals lost to Texas in 13-12, he gave up nine runs in four-plus innings. Using three double plays to work around seven hits and four walks, Carmona (3-1, 3.86) had a more encouraging outing last week. He also held Toronto to two runs in 6 1/3 innings last Wednesday. The last three times Carmona has faced Kansas City, he has run into major problems. Walking 11 in 17 1/3 innings, he has 0-2 with a 7.79 ERA in that stretch.

On Tuesday, Indians struck out 10 times and this achievement was repeated seventh times in their last eight games. Austin Kearns had two hits and scored three runs whereas Russell Branyan had hit two home runs. This season due to back problems, Branyan has been limited to 40 at-bats. The homers from Branyan on Tuesday were his first two of the season.

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