MLB

DELGADO AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

Carlos Delgado — out since May 11 with an injured right hip — fielded ground balls for the first time since then yesterday. And after he’d conservatively estimated a mid-August return, now manager Jerry Manuel and Sandy Alomar Sr. both told the Post that Delgado could be back weeks earlier, by Aug. 1.

“Very, very encouraging. That’s a part of the progression. He’s right on schedule, if not ahead of schedule,” Manuel said before the Mets defeated the Dodgers, 5-4. “I’m not certain of mid-August, I’m thinking as long as there are no setbacks, and we’re progressing, I’m thinking better than that.”

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Manuel was thinking more like Aug. 1, which is two weeks earlier than the first baseman himself had estimated just a day before. Delgado and his 473 homers cannot get back soon enough for this injury-riddled lineup.

“I feel good. I feel better. It’s on a schedule; everything that we’re going to do, we have some sort of plan. We adjust according to how I feel,” said Delgado. “I go week by week. [If I didn’t] I’d be unfair to myself, because if things don’t go the way I want, I’ll be kind of frustrated. Everything’s been very positive so far, so no need to try and change that.”

Delgado aggravated the hip with a slide into home on April 26 vs. Washington, and underwent surgery May 19 for a bone spur and a torn labrum.

After soft-tossing in the cage last week, he moved up to taking grounders yesterday, something he’ll do two-days-on, one-day-off. The next step? Live batting practice, and maybe running by next week.

“It was good. I didn’t have any problem. I took about 25 ground balls right at me, not a whole lot of movement, by design. It was good, no pain,” said Delgado, who worked before last night’s game with Alomar Sr.

“That’s a good step for us: That means he’s getting ready. He seems to be way ahead, so hopefully he can come back strong and he can help us,” Alomar said. “He said that he is feeling good. There’s a procedure, so it’s going to take time. He has to get in playing shape, and hopefully he can do that in a couple of weeks and he can come back by August.

“In my mind, the way that he’s worked, I’d say [he can play by Aug. 1]. If he continues with the type of progress that he is showing, I’m pretty sure he should be back by August. … That would be a great boost for all of us.”

Clearly. The Mets came into last night having lost four straight, including back-to-back shutouts, and they’d averaged just 2.1 runs in going 3-9 over their previous dozen. Delgado is a free agent at season’s end, but they desperately need a late-season surge like he had in 2008.

“I’m running in the pool. I think by next week, I’m going to run outside. It’s a progression, you do it in order,” said Delgado, adding that batting practice comes before running in that progression.

“At some point, I’m going to run outside,” Delgado said. “I have to change directions, slide, run the bases. Little by little [I’ll] see how it goes.”

brian.lewis@nypost.com