NEW YORK (AP) -Tests on Mets closer Billy Wagner’s left shoulder showed he has muscle spasms around the joint, and his availability for New York’s first-place matchup with the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night will likely be a midgame decision.
Wagner was examined Monday and had the MRI on Tuesday morning at the Hospital for Special Surgery after he felt tightness in his shoulder while warming up before the 10th inning Sunday in Cincinnati. He was visited on the mound by manager Jerry Manuel and a trainer before striking out the side for his 24th save.
The left-hander hasn’t picked up a ball since then, and while Wagner said he is “expecting to pitch,” because of the nature of the injury he will test it in the bullpen before the Mets-Phillies play.
“He’ll throw a little bit before the game just to see how he feels,” Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. “Then at some point during the course of the game (coach) Dan (Warthen) will call down and let me know what his status is. At that point we’ll make a decision, one way or another.”
Wagner, who turns 37 Friday and hasn’t been on the DL since 2004 when he was with Philadelphia, wasn’t sure if he ever had an injury like this before.
“They have so many different words for it I don’t know,” he said as reliever Scott Schoeneweis held up a hand-written sign reading “OLD” behind him.
Manuel expected Wagner to be able to pitch, and said if the closer was an option he would not protect him by holding him out of a three-run game.
Should Wagner be unavailable for the first game of the three-game series against their NL East rivals, Manuel said one of several pitchers could fill that role, but Duaner Sanchez, Wagner’s main setup man, might be the first choice out of the pen.
“It depends on how we get through the eighth inning. We’ll make that decision at that time,” Manuel said. “I feel very good about Duaner. Duaner is a guy that had tremendous makeup for that particular role so I have no hesitation about that, but Duaner is also coming off a big injury. That concerns me more than anything.”
Sanchez separated his throwing shoulder in a July 2006 taxi accident and missed the rest of the season and all of 2007. Manuel said Sanchez has lost about 5 mph from the velocity of his fastball, and he “has reservations about using him in all situations.”
Wagner’s news was a bright spot in a growing list of injured Mets.
Pedro Martinez tested the groin injury that forced him out of his last start on July 12 after four innings, throwing 56 pitches in the bullpen Tuesday. Martinez had a cortisone shot Thursday and was skipped in the rotation to give his groin time to heal.
He said he feels, “Real, real good,” and that he will likely pitch Saturday or Sunday.
Right-hander Orlando Hernandez, who is trying to come back from foot surgery last Oct. 18, was working out with Class-A Brooklyn. He is awaiting a specially designed shoe before he continues his rehab.
But it’s in the outfield that the Mets are hurting the most.
Ryan Church, out with a concussion, was at Shea Stadium Tuesday to exercise but he was being kept from baseball activities for several days.
Church said he was told to “Lay low. “It’s tough to do … but it’s something that’s going to help me get back quicker.”
Church is on the disabled list for the second time this season because he has been unable to recover from two concussions. He went back on the DL July 6, six days after he missed most of June following a May 20 concussion, his second in less than three months.
Doctors had told Church his latest symptoms could be related to the migraine headaches he has had since he was a teenager.
“There is no problem,” Church said. “It’s just one of those things they wanted me to take a couple of extra days. I feel good.”
Church thinks his next doctor’s appointment is Thursday, when he could be cleared to resume baseball activities.
Church is batting .307 with 10 home runs and 36 RBIs. He was acquired by the Mets last offseason in a trade with Washington.
Making the absence of Church more pressing is injuries to Moises Alou, Angel Pagan and Trot Nixon.
Alou had successful season-ending surgery to repair a torn left hamstring sustained while he was rehabbing a strained left calf at Double-A Binghamton. The 42-year-old Alou only played in one game since May 22 because of the calf injury.
Pagan is headed to California to get a second opinion on his left shoulder from Dr. Lewis Yocum, the Angels’ team medical director. Surgery has been recommended to repair the labrum he tore on May 7.
The Mets acquired Nixon on June 13 in a trade with Arizona but he went on the DL June 29 after getting only 35 at-bats.
Also, second baseman Louis Castillo, on the DL July 3 with a strained left hip, has begun baseball activities in St. Lucie. His return date has not been set.
With all the injuries, Mets general manager Omar Minaya likely will be looking for an outfielder to help the resurgent Mets make a playoff push. But he won’t be rash.
“It has to make sense,” Minaya said, “and it has to be better than the guys we have.”
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