Things change with Alou in picture

Sadly, Gustavo Molina has officially been optioned to Triple-A New Orleans to make room for Moises Alou. Brian Schneider took batting practice, and pronounced himself fit to serve in a backup capacity. Willie Randolph doesn’t expect Schneider to start this weekend. Randolph said he’d look for opportunities to insert Angel Pagan or Endy Chavez for Alou late in games, especially since Alou hasn’t played since last Thursday in Port St. Lucie, when his right ankle began to swell. The manager added that Alou wouldn’t play every day, though there wouldn’t be a pattern of sitting, such as night games after day games or every fifth day. *** Billy Wagner was unapologetic about his outspoken remarks about Oliver Perez. He met with Willie Randolph, who asked him to keep such matters in-house. Randolph said he actually conveyed Wagner-type sentiments to Perez about his disappointing Wednesday performance. The difference: The manager did his chat in private. ***  ... [link]