"The door to Jerry Manuel's office remained shut for 40 minutes Monday. Inside, the Mets manager had what he called a "private conversation" with outfielder Gary Sheffield.

Manuel said they reminisced about their shared time on the 1997 Marlins, talked about gospel music and, oh yes, that other thing: why the Mets were keeping Sheffield out of the lineup despite the fact that he declared himself "ready to go."

Sheffield said his balky right hamstring, which has kept him out since Wednesday, would not prevent him from playing in Monday's series opener against the Diamondbacks. But Manuel said he wanted to rest Sheffield at least one more day. Whether Sheffield plays Tuesday will depend on how he feels after Monday's pre-game workout.

"We want to be sure that he's healthy enough where it doesn't reoccur, where he has to come out of the game," Manuel said. "I want to make sure we get a good read on it so we don't have that situation where you play a game and lose a whole other week or so."

The Mets have been criticized for not being conservative enough with injured players this year. But with the 40-year-old Sheffield, they have erred on the side of caution -- more so than Sheffield would prefer.

On July 25, when the team was in Houston, Sheffield declared himself ready to play. The Mets put him on the disabled list. On Monday, he said he was ready to play. Manuel decided otherwise.

"That's where it kind of gets a little frustrating, because I'm ready to go," Sheffield said. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm not risking anything by going out there. I feel like I can go out there and be productive."

Sheffield said there was no way to be sure he would not re-injure himself.

"Am I going to walk off the field? I don't know," he said. When he had to leave Wednesday's game against the Cardinals after hurting himself, he said, "I didn't do anything strenuous. It was just a double, take your normal route and that was it. So I have to be really careful with it.""