PHOENIX – Standing in front of his locker, surrounded by reporters, Cliff Floyd surveyed the scene.
“It’s definitely good to be back,” he said.
The Mets feel the same way. After more than a month without their starting leftfielder, the team welcomed Floyd back to the lineup last night. He was hitting in the three-hole, and the Mets certainly missed his slugging bat.
Floyd suffered a strained right quad in Puerto Rico on April 11, and he has been rehabbing in St. Lucie ever since. He admits the quad is still not 100 percent, but he feels well enough to play.
“If you try to wait for this thing to completely heal,” he said, “you’re talking about June or July.”
Floyd was particularly encouraged when he scored from first base on a double in Tuesday’s rehab game at St. Lucie. Said Floyd, “I wasn’t doing that when I was healthy.”
“I’m going to run as hard as I can,” he said. “I’m running with a lot of confidence. I’m running under control.”
With the Mets struggling, there has been some belief Floyd may be perceived as a savior. But while the Mets cannot reasonably expect Floyd to save their season and while Shane Spencer, Karim Garcia and Eric Valent all played well in his absence, Floyd’s return really couldn’t have come at a better time. Not with Roy Oswalt, Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens on the immediate pitching horizon.
“I don’t mind the pressure of being the guy who’s counted on,” Floyd said. “Without putting pressure on [fellow injured Met Jose] Reyes, he’s bigger for the lineup because he’s at the top of the order. We need him to jump-start the offense.”
Funny that he brought it up, because for the first time in two weeks, there was an encouraging development with Reyes. After bypassing well-known specialists like Mackie Shilstone and Ming Chew, the Mets have finally brought in someone to help mend their 20-year-old phenom.
Mark Lindsay, a specialist who has an impressive background training top runners, including former 100-meter gold medalist Donovan Bailey, has been brought in to work with the ailing phenom. Reyes has been out since March 14 with a strained right hamstring and has suffered five leg injuries in the last 17 months.
“I’m not sure if you call [Lindsay] a hamstring specialist, but he’s someone who works with world-class runners,” Peter Greenberg, Reyes’ agent, said.
Reyes did not want to fly to see a specialist and miss valuable rehab time in St. Lucie, so the Mets flew the Toronto-based Lindsay to St. Lucie to treat Reyes instead. Greenberg is optimistic Reyes can heal faster with Lindsay in tow (“I think he should advance more quickly this way”), and Floyd was raving about Reyes’ progress since Lindsay arrived.
Asked when he thought Reyes might be back, Floyd said, “Depends on how long you keep Mark Lindsay around. The kid needs special attention. That hamstring needs work.”
When Floyd left St. Lucie, Reyes told him, “I’ll see you soon.”
“There’s a difference, man,” Floyd said, referring to how Reyes is doing now. “There’s a difference in how he felt [on April 29 when] he came out of the [rehab] game.”
