Moises Alou, activated from the disabled list Tuesday, was back on the Mets’ bench again tonight after hurting the same left calf that forced him out of action last month.
And prior to the game, no one was sure when he would return, and he was scheduled to undergo an MRI exam tonight.
An obviously upset Alou met with reporters before the Mets faced Arizona with the left fielder in his familiar spot on the bench.
“There’s no words,” Alou said of the frustration he felt from being injured. “Less than 24 hours ago, I told you guys the truth. I was 100 percent. It hasn’t gotten any better and I don’t know when it will.”
But the calf stiffened during the hour-long rain delay in the Mets’ loss and didn’t improve today, leaving Alou out of the lineup and the beleaguered Mets down an outfielder. He couldn’t point to a particular play when he aggravated the injury.
“It just got progressively worse,” Alou said.
Alou, who said he was embarrassed to be sidelined again, lobbied the team to let him back into the lineup last weekend in San Diego, but they wanted to be especially careful with the increasingly brittle 41-year-old.
He wound up playing six innings against the Diamondbacks before the rain delay, and Willie Randolph opted not to bring him back, but added that he hadn’t reinjured the calf.
Today, Alou said that though he hurt the same calf, the injury occurred in a different spot, and said that when he originally suffered the injury in Atlanta on May 21, he could barely walk.
He said that this time it wasn’t as severe, saying his calf felt 50 percent as compared to the 5 percent it felt like last month.
“The thing that worries me is that yesterday I was 100 percent,” said Alou, making $7.5 million this season. “And now I feel like this.”
Alou, who underwent hernia surgery before the season, has played in 15 games after seeing action in 87 a year ago. And the Mets, who entered having lost five straight, could certainly use the veteran, who has been very productive when he has managed to get on the field. After hitting .341 last season, he is batting .347 this year.
None of that means much is he’s unable to suit up.
“I’m embarrassed to walk in here and look at my teammates with what they’re going through right now,” Alou said. “I wish I could stand here talking about getting a game-winning hit instead of, ‘I’m hurt, I’m hurt, I’m hurt.’
“It’s the story of my life. It’s not what I want to talk about, it’s not what the fans want to hear.”
After this latest setback, Alou stayed away from any possible timetable for a possible return.
“Right now, I’m taking it hours at a time, not even days,” Alou said. “I know how important I am to this team.”
Asked if this was the most down he had been in his career, he nodded.
“I’m not out yet,” Alou said. “But I’m pretty down.”