The 10-day disabled list remains a possibility for Travis d'Arnaud and Yoenis Cespedes if they do not feel better after Monday's off day, Mets manager Terry Collins said.
Although Cespedes (hamstring) told Collins he felt significantly better than he did the previous two days _ days when he was asked to pinch hit but could not loosen the muscle _ d'Arnaud does not appear to be showing much improvement with his injured right wrist. He originally was in the lineup last night before Collins was forced to replace him with Kevin Plawecki.
"He came in, he told me he didn't think he could play," Collins said. "I said, 'Look, you've got to go give it a shot. I need you in the lineup.' He went out and threw and said it hurts to throw. I'm not going to put a guy in a situation where he's going to get embarrassed if he can't throw the ball to second at all."
Either way, the injury woes have handicapped a team that was in somewhat of a tailspin before the series finale against the Nationals. Lucas Duda (elbow) and Wilmer Flores (knee) are on the disabled list, and Asdrubal Cabrera (hamstring) is playing despite being in significant pain.
"Do I think he's 100 percent? Not by any stretch," Collins said of Cabrera, who hit second and played shortstop. "But I think he's OK. If I was really worried about him, I wouldn't play him."
Michael Conforto took over Cespedes' place in left and Jose Reyes, who was given a "mental health day" Saturday before pinch hitting in the sixth, was back in the lineup, batting sixth. He was hitting .095 and mired in a 2-for-23 slump. Collins originally planned to give Reyes another day, but it's slim pickings in Metsland these days, and the team needed the switch hitter against Max Scherzer.
"Yeah, I could have played T.J. (Rivera) tonight," he said. "This guy (Scherzer) is really, really tough on right-hand hitters. So I said, you know what, I've got to play my best guys, and even though he's struggling the way he's struggling, I think he gives us a legitimate guy and a legitimate chance against Scherzer tonight. I called him when the game was over and told him he wasn't going to play. Before the game, I said, 'Look, I've reconsidered this, rethought this out, and I need you in the lineup.' "
