Mets" D. J. Carrasco Is in the Discussion, for the Wrong Reasons It was through dubious circumstances that the right-hander D. J. Carrasco, a rather forgotten man this year, re-entered the conversation at Citi Field. Carrasco was ejected from the Mets" game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night after hitting Ryan Braun on the arm with a pitch. Manager Terry Collins then removed two of his best players from the blowout loss in an effort to protect them from retaliation. One of them, David Wright, openly expressed his displeasure of the move in the dugout. Talk of the incident continued Wednesday, with the Mets denying there was any residual friction and Collins backing Carrasco, who maintained he did not intentionally hit Braun. "I am certainly going to believe him; I have no reason not to," Collins said of Carrasco. If he did it on purpose, he put us in a bad situation, and I told him so. But I trust what he says, I trust the way he told it, and we're putting it behind us. Carrasco's defense has focused on the idea that he, a reliever returning from injury and starved of work, would be foolish to be thrown out of a game. Carrasco sprained his ankle in spring training, and his appearance Tuesday was just his third for the Mets this season. "I need to be out there throwing, and last night I lost a good opportunity to do that," Carrasco said. That's what was upsetting to me. Carrasco, 35, has struggled mightily in his brief Mets tenure. Before last season, Carrasco signed a two-year contract worth $2.4 million. The contract was one of just two multiyear deals that General Manager Sandy Alderson has given over two off-seasons with the Mets. That distinction became more difficult to swallow after Carrasco proceeded to have the worst season of his career, finishing with a 6.02 earned run average and having opposing players bat .337 against him. "Last year, it was just hit after hit after hit," said Carrasco, who is with his fifth team in eight major league seasons. It was tough. Collins stretched Wednesday afternoon to find positives from Carrasco's time with the team, ultimately complimenting his performance in spot starts. Collins said it was his responsibility as a manager to get Carrasco regular work. He chose not to speculate about Carrasco's future, saying that circumstances on the team could change rapidly. "He's been put in a tough situation in the bullpen because he's really never had a declared role down there," Collins said of Carrasco. Carrasco said Wednesday that his struggles last year were partly because he relied too much on his cut fastball and did not have a pitch to offset it. He said that he had success in the past - in 2010, he had a 3.68 E.R.A. - simply changing locations, but that he could replicate those results last year. "If it's the same pitch every time, unless you're Mariano Rivera, they can hit it, man," Carrasco said. His struggles became so bad last season that he tried throwing sidearm in the final month of the season in what he called a "last ditch" effort to contribute to the team. He has since gone back to his normal, overhand motion. Over the winter, he added a pitch he called a split-changeup, primarily to throw to left-handed hitters. The Mets rebuilt their bullpen last off-season, bringing in three pitchers and moving Carrasco further down the depth chart. He said it had been difficult for him to sit out the early part of the season and acknowledged that he had a long way to go to prove his ability. "People have their roles, and I'm the new guy right now, so I have to work my way up, show that I can do it," Carrasco said. Hopefully, I get more responsibility. The right-hander Jenrry Mejia, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, will start Saturday for Class AA Binghamton. Terry Collins implied that Mejia's role this season for the Mets, though still undefined, could be as a reliever. ... Josh Thole, who sustained a concussion last week, was cleared to begin nonbaseball exercise.