"Gary Sheffield was going into second base after watching Daniel Murphy's sixth-inning smash rocket toward right. Sheffield thought he saw Murphy slow up.

"That tells you the ball is out of the park," Sheffield said. "I went around third base and Razor [coach Shines] put the stop sign up so I hesitated a little, just cruising into third. I saw a sign it was a home run so I put a jog on and then he said, 'Go, go, go.' It was a confusing play. By the time I picked up speed, they were already throwing the ball in."

So Sheffield was thrown out at home as the crowd booed another apparent lack of Mets hustle play. But there were several asterisks.

Turns out it was a home run after all. Umps said so upon review. And it turns out Sheffield might be having some soreness in his hamstring. At least manager Jerry Manuel thinks so.

"Sheffield is probably struggling with some leg issues so I don't think it's [non-hustle] at all," Manuel said. "I think he's hurting [and] his hamstring is a little tight. He probably won't tell me, but I can tell he's a little tight."

Sheffield waved off the assertion -- just trying to get his legs back under him, he said. After all, this is hardly the time for another Met to be hurt. The disabled list and infirmary roster rival the population of Scranton. And Sheffield is getting to play every day -- play a position every day -- which beats being a designated hitter, something he sees as one step removed from a retirement condo in Florida.

"It's everything to me," Sheffield said of position playing. "I have too much energy, too much fire in me to just sit around and dwell on my at bats." "