Francoeur to Strawberry: You're welcome any time

With lingering concern over this week's "misunderstanding," a few of the Mets reached out Wednesday to Darryl Strawberry in an effort to smooth over any hurt feelings.

Jeff Francoeur said he was among the group of players that left a voice-mail message for Strawberry to assure him that no one had any issues with his visit to the clubhouse last week in Washington. Word apparently got back to the Mets that Strawberry vowed not to set foot in the clubhouse again after hearing that players reportedly were upset by his pep talk.

"To hear Strawberry say I don't want to go back in there, that's not good," Francoeur said. "I'm sure he's still a little hurt, even though I'm sure he understands now we weren't saying that. But we want him to know he's welcome in here any time."

On Tuesday, Francoeur and Jason Bay denied the Mets were angry with Strawberry. They believed it was more important to tell Strawberry directly.

"So he knows where we stand," Francoeur said. "I could care less what anybody thinks. I just want Darryl to know where we stand."

Barajas hurting

When Jerry Manuel and trainer Ray Ramirez went to the mound in the seventh inning, it wasn't to check on Jenrry Mejia - it was to examine the right wrist of Rod Barajas, who jammed it trying to corral a wild pitch. Barajas stayed in the game, but already is playing with a bone bruise in his left index finger and had the wrist wrapped in ice after the Mets' 5-0 win. X-rays of the wrist were negative.

Dickey on mend

R.A. Dickey pitched the last five of his innings Tuesday in pain after Ryan Howard drilled him on the left elbow with a line drive. The elbow had improved yesterday, but he's not quite 100 percent. "It's still pretty swollen but it's OK," Dickey said. "I have some more mobility . . . it feels a lot better than last night."With Jim Baumbach