PHILADELPHIA — Here’s what you need to know about the Mets’ situation: Their latest bitter loss, a 2-1 tie on Sunday on JT Realmuto’s walk-off single against Edwin Diaz – a brutal end to a season when you feel like you have to win every game – wasn’t even their worst performance of the day.
Francisco Lindor talked his way into the starting lineup, but left the team after one inning because his back was causing him too much trouble, and an MRI was scheduled for Monday.
As it turns out, his back had been bothering him for a few weeks before it hit its worst on Friday. A second early exit in three days — as well as the Mets’ first consecutive losses in over a month — led to a significant shift in sentiment about Lindor, from cautiously optimistic to gloomy and uncertain.
“If the images show something that’s a little bit riskier, then it makes sense to take more than a few days off,” Lindor said. “If it’s something that we think can heal pretty quickly, then maybe a day or two. Right now, I think I’m living day to day.”
The Mets (81-68) have 13 games left in 14 days of the regular season.
Lindor added that he did not know why the back originally became a problem.
“You play with pain here and there,” said Lindor, who played every game this season until he sat out Saturday. “I’ve been playing with it for a while now. As an athlete, you know that you depend on your body and that there are going to be times when your body is not 100 percent and you have to keep going.”
“That’s how I felt the whole time, probably a week and a half, almost two weeks. My body didn’t feel the way I wanted it to, but at the end of the day I understand that’s part of being a professional athlete and relying on your body. You have to find a way to fight through it and hopefully at the end of the day you’re OK.
“And that was it. I was fine. It was just that one play that aggravated it a little too much. And (Saturday) I thought I felt better. (Sunday) when I came in, I felt better too. So I was making progress. Just that one play again. I didn’t even step on base. It was just – if it works, it works.”
The last part was new information. The Mets had previously portrayed Lindor’s injury as if he had stepped on second base during a baserunning mishap in the opener against the Phillies.
Now the situation is more unclear – and possibly more serious.
“When you have a back problem or a back injury, your back basically controls your entire body,” Lindor said. “Anything can make it a little worse. That’s what I’m feeling right now.”
David Peterson said: “I know he’s fought through it. The most important thing is that he gets himself right.”
The Mets delayed making the final roster on Sunday until Lindor had completed an extensive pregame program: treatment, batting practice in the indoor batting cage, light walking on the field. After chatting on the field during batting practice, Lindor, manager Carlos Mendoza and athletic trainer Joe Golia decided Lindor was ready — or at least good enough to be.
That was about a minute into the game. Lindor hit a leadoff single to center, but after his first few steps toward first base, he realized he wasn’t feeling well.
He signaled the Mets to warm up Luisangel Acuna. He made up the diminished lead at first base. He was, in his own words, “a little shy” when he made a high throw from shortstop to first base at the end of the inning.
Acuna replaced him in the second.
“These are the same things he deals with,” Mendoza said.
Peterson (7 2/3 innings, four hits) and Cristopher Sanchez (seven-plus innings, six hits) were efficient equals for most of the afternoon. In the eighth inning, the teams traded runs, the Mets scored on Tyrone Taylor’s home run and the Phillies (90-59) struck back with back-to-back doubles from Weston Wilson and Buddy Kennedy.
With the game still to play, Diaz was 0-and-2 against Realmuto and one pitch away from sending the game into overtime. He placed a 99 mph fastball on the outside edge of the plate, a little deeper than he intended. Realmuto hit it to right-center field and Nick Castellanos (single, steal) from second base scored.
The Mets considered giving Realmuto a walk to bring in likely pinch hitter Brandon Marsh.
“We talked about it, but it’s Edwin Diaz,” Mendoza said.
The Phillies won the series despite leading after four innings in the three games.
The Mets scored five runs in virtually two games without Lindor.
“When he’s not there, you notice it,” said Mendoza. “But we still have a good lineup. We still have good players.”
Diaz said: “We feel bad. We feel bad because we know we need him. But at the same time, we have to go out there and compete. We support him. We stand behind him.”
Tim Healey is the Mets reporter for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of Hometown Hardball, a book about minor league baseball in the Northeast.
