Mets' Jose Reyes taking injury to left side day by day

NEW YORK -- Mets third baseman Jose Reyes hopes his absence is limited to a few days after suffering a Grade 1 strain of an intercostal muscle on his left side.

Reyes initially felt the muscle act up in his second-to-last plate appearance in the opening game of Tuesday's doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Wilmer Flores will handle the bulk of the third-base duty during Reyes' absence, although manager Terry Collins can foresee using Flores at shortstop and Kelly Johnson at third base for one game if Asdrubal Cabrera needs a day off.

Reyes received an anti-inflammatory injection Tuesday night. Collins said that he cannot foresee Reyes returning to the lineup until Friday at the earliest.

"We're going to take it day by day and see what happens," Reyes said Wednesday afternoon. "Today is going to be a treatment day -- put a lot of ice on it and see how I feel tomorrow and try to go from there."

Reyes suffered a fractured rib in the same area during the opening week of last season while playing with the Toronto Blue Jays. He initially was concerned the same bone may have been broken.

"Thank god my rib is fine," Reyes said. "It's just the muscle."

Describing how the injury occurred, Reyes said: "When I hit the ground ball to the pitcher, I felt something wasn't right there. I didn't even pay attention to it. Then my last AB I did a couple of swings and I felt something. When I came in, I told the trainer that I felt something. We went to do an MRI."

Flores has thrived against left-handed pitching (.333/.385/.683), but has struggled against right-handers this season (.230/.293/.373). That is what has resulted in him mostly serving as a part-time player.

The Mets face a southpaw, Tyler Anderson, in Thursday's series opener against the Colorado Rockies. They also see a left-hander,Jorge De La Rosa, on Saturday. So the upcoming schedule is favorable for the Mets to plug Flores in at third base for the short term.