Just how long can Mets stay afloat?

With the Mets on the periphery of the National League wild-card race, Carlos Beltran was asked before Sunday night's game if they can stay afloat long enough for Ike Davis and David Wright to return.

That's at least five weeks away, and with Jason Bay at risk of being dropped behind the pitcher in the near future, it's not as though Beltran has much help in the power department. Still, he thought for a moment, then looked up. "I don't know, man," he said. "Honestly, it's much different right now."

Little did Beltran realize that three hours later, he would be limping off the field after fouling a ball off the side of his right shin. Of course, he already wears a plastic guard for just that reason, but somehow the ball cracked it and bruised him badly. Only the Mets.

The team described it as a "right leg contusion" and said X-rays were negative. But too often with this team, the initial diagnosis is only the tip of the iceberg. For now, the Mets have no plans for further exams -- only treatment -- with the hope that he will play Tuesday in Milwaukee. We'll see about that.

Any injury to Beltran dramatically changes the Mets' prognosis. They're pretty much done if he winds up on the shelf for a prolonged period.

After Sunday night's 6-4 win over the Braves, the Mets are seven games behind the Phillies in the division and five games back in the wild-card race, but with eight teams in front of them. Whether they can stay in contention is impossible to know for certain in the first week of June, but the clock is ticking on any shot the Mets have of convincing Sandy Alderson to keep the team intact for the second half.

Alderson has plenty of work to do in fixing this dysfunctional organization, starting with Monday's amateur draft, and there's no doubt he's already sized up his trade chips. But can Alderson afford to deal away the likes of Reyes and Beltran if the Mets are still showing a pulse, however faint, for a playoff spot?

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You can bet Terry Collins doesn't want the team dismantled in the middle of the season. For all the time and energy spent trying to prop up this ragtag roster, that task becomes impossible as soon as Alderson waves the white flag by trading the Mets' top talent.

"The players' job is to beat the other team, not to convince anybody else that they should stay or they should be traded," Collins said. "You might have some guys in [the clubhouse] that want out of here, I don't know, I have no idea. But our job is to go play as good as we can, because that can become a distraction, like we've got to convince Sandy that we have a good team."

Collins might not want to admit it, but that's the reality. Alderson has some difficult decisions to make, but trading players becomes a no-brainer as soon as the Mets go belly-up.

In talking about that scenario, Collins made the same misstep as his predecessor in saying that they just have to tread water until the reinforcements arrive.

"Hopefully, hang in there enough to win and get our lineup back intact," he said. "Maybe bring the lefthander [Johan Santana] in and finish strong."

That was a favorite crutch for Jerry Manuel, who realized too late that there would be no orange-and-blue cavalry riding to his rescue. Instead, DL stints doubled in length and key players were lost to surgery.

Maybe Beltran will survive this latest scare. Let's see how he feels Tuesday. But it served as a reminder that any significant injury to him would be a double-whammy. The Mets then wouldn't have the benefit of playing him -- or trading him.

"I try not to complicate it," he said Sunday. "As far as trades, if something is going to happen, it's going to happen. Only the front office knows. We just need to take the field, try to win and whatever decision they're going to make, they'll make anyway."