ST. LOUIS -- Michael Cuddyer's balky left knee forced him to depart Sunday's series finale against the St. Louis Cardinals in the eighth inning.
Manager Terry Collins said New York Mets trainers will try one last treatment with Cuddyer on Monday in an effort to keep the outfielder off the disabled list. Cuddyer has a severe bone bruise below the kneecap. The discomfort intensifies as the game progresses and the knee is swollen afterward.
Cuddyer believes the last-ditch treatment involves "some kind of medicine." He added that he would not be lost for the season if he ultimately landed on the DL.
"I think we'll try it tomorrow, whatever that is," Cuddyer said after Sunday's 3-1 victory in 18 innings. "... I think that will be our last effort to try. Hopefully that works and I continue to battle. The last couple of days, as the game wears on, it gets tougher and tougher to battle through it."
Cuddyer has started only six games this month.
"It's much of the same, really," Cuddyer said. "It's concerning. We're trying different things to be able to get through it and get relief. To start the game, it's OK. And then as the game progresses, it gets tougher and tougher. When I took [second base in the eighth on] that passed ball, that ball in the dirt, it got pretty bad."
Cuddyer said he does not need to see team doctors again.
"There's nothing else the doctors can say," he said. "It is what it is. You try to do the best you can to deal with it and play through it. The last couple of days it's been tough."
