MLB

DELGADO, REYES OFFER HOPE, BUT TIME’S SHORT

THE stands were empty. The grounds crew was grooming the field. First pitch was still more than three hours away.

Yet Jerry Manuel was in short right field watching what may be his season, perhaps even his managerial career.

First Carlos Delgado and then Jose Reyes — both clad in dark blue shorts — went through a series of agility drills. They high-stepped, side-stepped and stepped as quickly as possible through a rope ladder lying on the grass. They sweated under a strong morning sun and grabbed at the edges of their shorts between exercises to regain their breath.

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But, most important, both moved rather athletically. Manuel noticed just the hint of a limp in Reyes. One trainer held a stopwatch. That, however, is not the clock being raced. Time already has elapsed on the first half and the Mets are borderline contenders.

Manuel understands the difficult formula necessary for his team to make a September run and, possibly, save his job: The Mets must maintain contact with the lead pack in the NL East and wild-card races in the hope that when they regain something closer to full health they can finish with a flourish.

“That’s the big question: Will we have enough time left?” Manuel said after watching two of his nine players on the disabled list in those agility drills. “When you are losing, you want more time, and when you are winning you want time to run out. We want time.”

The Mets know from their history that there is time. In 1973, the Mets were 10 ½ games out and in last place in the six-team NL East when July ended. Even without the safety net of a wild card, those Mets rallied to win the division at 82-79.

These Mets are 6 ½ games behind Philadelphia and 7 ½ behind wild card-leading San Francisco. Yet, before leaving to participate in the All-Star Game, Francisco Rodriguez said, “We are not out of it at all.” Maybe to update the battle cry for this new version of Mets, K-Rod could have channeled his inner Tug McGraw and said, “Tienen Que Creer [Ya’ Gotta Believe].”

Because right now all the Mets could offer is vague hope. Yes, they finished the first half with consecutive victories over the Reds, including a 9-7 triumph yesterday. But, if anything, the Reds represent a version of the Mets, fake contenders. Both are 42-45, both are holding on to playoff hopes more because the competition is not running away from them than because of anything superlative they are doing.

Except now the Mets are watching the Phillies find another gear and demonstrate it is going to take way more than the 82 wins the Mets produced in 1973 to win the NL East. The wild-card leading Giants, at 10 games over .500, are on a 90-win pace.

Can the Mets put what Manuel termed “the toughest first half I have ever been part of” behind them to make a run? Can they put missing third base, dropping pop ups and enough injuries to make both their roster and medical staff seem semi-pro behind them and play the .640 ball necessary to win 90 games?

Obviously that becomes more plausible if the key injured players begin returning, and Manuel called what he watched yesterday with Reyes and Delgado “refreshing.” But of the DL players, only Reyes seems plausible to be back soon after the All-Star break, and even he is unlikely to play in any of the second half opening, 10-game trip through Atlanta, Washington and Houston.

For now, holding on is up to a lineup that yesterday hit its first homer in 299 at-bats, and a staff that nearly blew a 7-0 lead; a team that will hope to put its best self forward to open the second half by starting, yipes, Oliver Perez.

“We still have our issues,” Manuel said, even after a win.

They also still have time, though the first half is gone. They gotta hold on and gotta get healthy if we are really going to believe.

joel.sherman@nypost.com