Why Can't Milledge Bat 6th?

With the amount of production that Lastings Milledge is giving the Mets since his call up, it boggles my mind that Willie can’t bat him higher than the eighth hole in the line up. There is no reasoning behind this method.

Shawn Green isn’t a run producer or RBI man anymore and Moises Alou isn’t getting the job done at anymore regularity than Green, so what’s the deal?

Milledge should at least be batting sixth, behind Alou. The lineup should reflect this: Reyes, Castillo, Wright, Delgado, Alou, Milledge, Lo Duca/Castro, Green and then the pitcher.

Batting Milledge eighth is just hurting the Mets offense just as much as batting Green in the seventh spot. If Willie were to switch the two, they would see a drop in Green’s production, but Green hasn’t had much to begin with this year. Then on the other side of the spectrum, Milledge’s production would at least stay the same or even increase as he gets more pitches to hammer. The simple fact is that Milledge needs to bat sixth, end of story.