PITTSBURGH — The Mets’ bizarre swine-flu scare appeared to pass uneventfully yesterday when Carlos Beltran was set to return after missing 3½ games with a stomach ailment.
Though they will not know until next week whether SNY producer and Mets traveling-party member Dan Barr has swine flu, they were relieved Beltran was safe and that none of their players, coaches or personnel was in danger.
Beltran was in uniform and in the lineup yesterday before last night’s game with the Pirates was postponed because of rain. The center fielder was at least five pounds lighter but in good spirits.
Beltran said his ailment was never officially diagnosed, but that he and the doctors suspect it was food poisoning. He was treated with antibiotics and several IV packs.
Asked if he had ever felt that bad, Beltran shook his head and said: “No, man. It was pretty awful.”
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As expected, manager Jerry Manuel yesterday moved struggling eighth-inning setup man J.J. Putz to a lesser role until Putz gets his velocity back and shows better command. Impressive rookie Bobby Parnell will now get the majority of the eighth-inning duties for the foreseeable future, with Putz moving to the sixth and seventh innings.
“Hopefully, this is a small, small window for him to get right,” Manuel said. “It’s not something I’m looking to be long-term at all. I would want him to get back to being how we drew it up in spring training.”
Putz, who said he discovered an unspecified but “glaring” problem with his mechanics through film study yesterday, took Manuel’s move in stride.
“It might be easier to take some of the strenuous part out of it by pitching an inning or two in the sixth or seventh inning, just to try to work the mechanical glitches out without having to worry about the stress level,” Putz said.
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Adding to the Mets’ already bloated disabled list, backup infielder Ramon Martinez will miss at least six weeks after undergoing surgery on his dislocated left pinky.
The Mets promoted veteran outfielder Emil Brown from Triple-A Buffalo to take Martinez’s roster spot.
Martinez suffered the injury on an awkward slide at home plate in Tuesday night’s 3-1 loss to the Pirates.
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The Mets’ outfield should start to resemble its Opening Day look this weekend after right fielder Ryan Church played six innings and took three at-bats with no problem in an extended-spring game in Florida.
Church, on the disabled list with a hamstring strain, remains on scheduled to be activated Sunday in Washington.