Livescore
Carlos Mendoza’s reaction to the relatively positive MRI report on Francisco Lindor’s back injury told you just how worried the Mets were that their star shortstop might be out for the season.
“I think we got the best news,” Mendoza said at his pre-game press conference on Monday. “I was expecting the worst, to be honest with you.”
The manager’s reaction was based on seeing Lindor take himself out of Sunday’s game in Philadelphia after one inning, due to the pain and tightness in his lower back.
“I know how tough this guy is,” Mendoza said.
As such anyone connected to the Mets was relieved to learn that, based on the MRI, Lindor expects to be out “either 2-to-3 days or 3-to-5,” as he put it, depending on how quickly the back responds to ongoing treatment.
At worst Lindor should be back for what looms as a potentially pivotal three-game series in Atlanta with the Braves next week.
Obviously, the Mets need him, as their offense has sputtered over the last couple of weeks. They’ve managed to continue winning games mostly on the strength of strong starting pitching but the lack of offense caught up with them as they lost two straight games in Philadelphia over the weekend.
Lindor has consistently delivered big hits in recent weeks, none bigger than the ninth-inning home run in Toronto last week that broke up Bowden Francis’ no-hitter and tied the game, propelling the Mets to a huge win.
All of that had the Mets and Lindor himself feeling nervous about Monday’s MRI. Lindor’s reaction to coming out of the game Sunday, indicating the injury could be more serious than he first thought, created a fear among some Mets’ people that their MVP candidate could be done for these last two weeks of the regular season and perhaps any post-season games as well.
Lindor indicated he had serious concern, as well.
“I was praying on the way to the MRI that it was going to be something day-to-day,” he said outside of the Mets’ clubhouse Sunday afternoon. “And the good Lord answered my prayers.”
When asked what the medical term for his injury is, Lindor chuckled.
“Back acting up,” he said. “I really couldn’t tell you the medical term. After they said there was no structural damage, I tuned them out.”
Lindor said Mets’ medical people talked to him about an anti-inflammatory injection but decided after the MRI result that it wasn’t needed and put him on oral medication instead.
All of that indicates a short-term injury and should put to rest any fears that Lindor has anything resembling the stenosis that shortened David Wright’s career.
Lindor said he dealt with a lower back injury once before, when he was in the minor leagues a decade or so ago, and nothing since then. He’s not sure what caused the back to flare up but had been dealing with some tightness for a couple of weeks, which he aggravated Friday night with that awkward attempt to go into second base standing up.
Dressed in sweats as he spoke on Monday, Lindor said he didn’t expect to attempt any type of baseball activity until at least Tuesday, hoping treatment would make the back feel better.
In the meantime, Mendoza shifted Jose Iglesias to shortstop for Monday’s game, deciding to play lefty-hitting Eddy Alvarez at second base against Washington Nationals’ right-hander Jake Irvin, though the manager said anticipated playing recent call-up Luisangel Acuna at short most of the time, with Iglesias at second.
“We’ll play the matchups as much as possible,” Mendoza said.
He said it was a credit to the work that Iglesias put in while in the minors this season that the Mets feel comfortable with him at shortstop. One of the reasons he didn’t make the team out of spring training was the team didn’t feel he had the range anymore to handle the position effectively.
“We told him his range had to get better,” Mendoza said. “We told him he needed be in a better position when the ball was pitched, that he couldn’t be flat-footed. He went down and did the work and got better.”
Mostly Lindor will be missed offensively, of course. In particular, the Mets need Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo to get hot, and they’re hoping Mark Vientos breaks out of his 3-for-30 slump that included four strikeouts on Sunday.
With Lindor out of the lineup, Mendoza changed the look of the batting order against Irvin, putting Jesse Winker in the No. 2 spot while dropping Vientos to the No. 6 spot. He said that had more to do with missing Lindor’s switch-hitting presence than Vientos’ current struggles, wanting to alternate lefties and righties as much as possible.
Because Lindor had played every game this season before the back injury, Mendoza admitted the Mets will have to raise their level as a team.
“It will be strange without him but nobody is going to feel sorry for us,” the manager said. “People are going to have to step up. We understand that we’ve got a really good ballclub here, and we feel good knowing Francisco will be a player for us again this season.’’
How soon nobody could say for sure. But Mendoza was clearly thrilled just to be able to say it with some certainty at all.
Read the full article here
