How long will the Mets keep up this charade of having three catchers? The only barely cognitive reason for having three is so the backup catcher can hit. Flying in the face of logic, the Mets have pinch-hit the third catcher, Robinson Cancel, leaving either Brian Schneider or Ramon Castro as the emergency catcher. That was bizarre enough, but now Cancel is getting occasional starts? No, this has got to stop.

When Cancel started his first game of the season, his first start since 1999, he contributed an 0-for-5 night at the plate, leaving four men on base. He helped that game along to an unnecessary 14 innings when it should have been wrapped up sooner.

In his second start of the season, on Sunday, he avoided going hitless. But he canceled out the goodwill of that lone hit by absurdly getting thrown out at third base with two outs and David Wright at the plate. He finished 1-for-4 with two strikeouts and three men left on base, lowering his season average to .211. He also struck out with the bases loaded, one of two such instances for the Mets on Sunday.

There are some public-relations reasons why Cancel got the start. Castro suffered a nasty collision in a play at the plate in Saturday’s game, plus it was the day game after a night game. But there’s no reason why Schneider should not have gotten the start on Sunday. He barely played in Saturday’s game, coming in the bottom of the ninth inning and catching less than two innings.

Yes, the Mets were facing lefty Randy Wolf and Schneider is a lefty, while Cancel is a righty. Is that really enough reason to start a third catcher over Schneider? Schneider’s batting just .190 against lefties, but Cancel only had four at-bats versus them before Sunday’s start. That small sample size doesn’t put a man barely on the roster above Schneider. Besides, if Jerry Manuel looked to blindly follow the match-ups, why did Castro start on Saturday night against RHP Roy Oswalt? Manuel looked to have a good bat against Oswalt’s arm, but Castro starting on Saturday sets up a decision between Schneider or Cancel. So, in other words, Manuel, who has said he has looked to get Cancel a few starts here and there, mapped out Cancel’s start on Sunday. Scary planning.

Boy, Cancel should really never start again. Some might argue that it’s nitpicking, but it’s these idiotic decisions that cost ballgames.