MET NOTES

PHILADELPHIA – It wasn’t a day off for Edgardo Alfonzo and Todd Zeile, Bobby Valentine insisted.

“It’s a day on for the other guys,” Valentine said before the Mets’ 3-2 loss to Philly.

The “other guys” were Mark Johnson and Desi Relaford, and they pulled their load. Relaford (3-for-5) reached base four times, scoring the first Met run in the fifth after leading off with a ground-rule double over the fence in center.

Johnson (1-for-5) drove in Relaford with a sharp single to right, then unwittingly helped the Mets take a 2-0 lead on the same play. He was caught in a rundown as Mike Piazza streaked home from third, and Piazza slid past Bobby Estrada’s tag to give the Mets a 2-0 lead that would not hold up.

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Valentine wanted to prevent Alfonzo from playing a third straight game on artificial turf because of a season-long back injury. Alfonzo was 1-for-5 Saturday and did not enter yesterday’s game until coming in as a pinch-runner for Piazza in the ninth.

“He had some treatment after the game [Saturday],” Valentine said.

Alfonzo could’ve started if necessary and said the back injury hasn’t gotten worse.

“This is the regular treatment I’ve been doing,” Alfonzo said.

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Rick Reed did his side work yesterday and said his bruised left wrist won’t hamper him from making his start Wednesday in Florida . . . Tsuyoshi Shinjo said his sixth-inning robbery of Travis Lee, which provoked memories of Willie Mays’ World Series catch on Vic Wertz, wasn’t his best.

“One time I climbed the fence,” said Shinjo, who said he has never seen the Mays catch.