Injuries mounting, but Mets persevering

For minor league ballplayers in the Mets' system, opportunity knocks.

That's accentuating the positive. As the team's key roster players continue to trudge off to the disabled list, the emergency calls to the Buffalo farm team continue. Manager Terry Collins still didn't know how serious Mike Pelfrey's elbow injury was late Wednesday; all he knew was that he had to find a starting pitcher for tomorrow night's game in Denver.

Officially, the Mets announced that TBA would be on the mound then, because this is no time to feel certain about anybody's health.

"Well, I mean, we've got Chris Schwinden lined up," Collins said of the 25-year-old righthander, who is 2-2 with a 2.05 ERA for Buffalo. "He's the most logical guy at the moment. But we don't know. Again, we could announce him today and have him wake up with a stiff neck or something.

"Believe me, anything can happen. We'll wait till Friday to see who shows up."

Infielders Zach Lutz and Jordany Valdespin had just come through the Buffalo/Citi Field turnstile while the Mets waited on a second doctor's analysis of an MRI to determine the extent of Pelfrey's problem.

"You're talking about a big, strong man," Collins said. "And I know a lot of guys who pitched with tears in different places that weren't big enough to need to get them repaired.

"So I just hope the results come back . Regardless, we're still going to be missing him for two starts."

Plus, outfielder Jason Bay, with a cracked rib, also has been put on the shelf for 15 days, so that rookie Kirk Nieuwenhuis, called up to fill in for injured Andres Torres, could be moved to Bay's leftfield position should Torres return this week. Or, it was suggested, perhaps second-year man Lucas Duda could play a little leftfield.

"Could," Collins said. "But, again, two weeks and back to rightfield again? We're trying to get Lucas to feel really comfortable in rightfield. I don't feel comfortable bouncing him to left, then go play some first and tomorrow play right, then go back to first, then go back to left. He's got enough on his plate trying to do the things offensively. I don't feel I should bounce him around."

The real answer, Collins said, is that "the likes of Mike Baxter [who had a two-run pinch-hit single in the eighth] and Scott Hairston have got to step up; they have to pick up the slack. On the pitching front, Chris Schwinden -- or whoever it may be who goes out there -- we've got to get some innings out of him.

"That's his job, to keep us in the game. That's how you succeed in this game. You pick each other up. We did it last year, the younger players last year kept us in the hunt as long as they did. You got to find the guys to rise up and do it again."