Mets considering fifth second baseman

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.-- How long is a six-second pause? Try it. Stop reading this for six seconds.

It's not short, is it?

Terry Collins paused for six seconds Saturday while thinking of an answer to a question about the Mets' four-man race for the second-base position. The question was whether Collins is happy with the options he has in camp, especially given that minutes earlier, he had seemed to add Luis Hernandez as a fifth candidate.

Collins stared at the questioner. He banged his foot five times against the metal desk he was sitting on.

One second. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.

Finally, he answered.

"I don't think I've added [Hernandez]," he said. "I just think we forgot that he can play there because he has been unable to play early in camp. We know that he's a guy that because of the way he played last year, we've got to make sure he gets himself in shape, give him a chance to get over there."

Why, starting now, would the Mets need to give Luis Hernandez a chance to play second base when they already have four candidates? Well, days like Saturday could be a reason. Daniel Murphy made a pair of errors and looked shaky throughout in the Mets' 12-0 loss to the Braves at Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.

Murphy is hitting .303 after going 2-for-4, but it's not clear if he can handle his fourth defensive position as a pro. As for the other candidates: Rule 5 draft pick Brad Emaus is hitting .200. Justin Turner is hitting .136. Luis Castillo has been the star of the group, and he's batting .263.

No frontrunner has emerged and the Mets don't appear to be looking for outside help. "I still consider the options here good enough," general manager San- dy Alderson said Friday.

Apparently, Hernandez now is one of those options. The 26-year-old with 265 career at-bats and a .245 major-league average turned some Mets heads last September when he hit a home run one pitch after fouling a ball off his foot and suffering a broken bone. Hernandez's limp around the bases was one of the highlights of the Mets' season.

Hernandez has been slowed in camp by the aftereffects of the injury and has only eight at-bats.

"He played there last year," Collins said. "All of a sudden, he's back out there ready to play again. We need to try to get him some action, see how he does."

Collins characterized Hernandez as "on the outside" of the main second-base competition. "I'm still looking at the primary four guys," Collins said. "I just know we've got another guy who can play there."

As for Murphy, his first error was a clean boot of Jordan Schafer's grounder in the first inning. "That was a legit error there," Murphy said.

The second was an overthrow of first base on a grounder hit by speedy Matt Young in the eighth that was scored a single and an error. Murphy said he slipped on that one and shouldn't have thrown the ball.

Overall, he said, "I think it's going well. I think the coaching staff thinks I'm making strides and it's getting better every day."