PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Two days after spraining his right knee and ankle, Mets center fielder Brandon Nimmo was relieved that his injuries were not serious. In fact, he is still hoping that he will be in the Opening Day lineup on March 30 against the Marlins.

“I was relieved that it wasn’t more serious,” Nimmo said before Sunday’s game against the Cardinals at Clover Park. “We [are not looking at] structural damage; just kind of sprains in there. To me, that was the best news we could have [received]. Just how awkward the play was, catching that cleat, a lot of things could have gone wrong. I’m fortunate we dodged a bullet.”

In the fourth inning on Friday, with the bases loaded against the Marlins, nobody out and the Mets already leading by what ended up being the final score, 6-1, Danny Mendick hit what looked like a double-play ball. Nimmo slid into second base with his spike getting caught in the dirt, hurting his right leg. However, Marlins catcher Jacob Stallings was called for catcher’s interference.

Nimmo was on the ground for a few minutes in what appeared to be serious pain, but he walked off the field soon after with a limp. Nimmo acknowledged that his ankle was throbbing in pain, but as the night went on, his knee gave him problems.

“Right now, we are taking it day by day. I feel a lot better today than I did yesterday,” Nimmo said. “Once we get all that inflammation out of there, I [will] feel a whole lot better with it. I’m not ruling anything out right now. In my heart of hearts, I do think [I will make Opening Day]. Obviously, we have to see how it goes.”

Nimmo, 29, is one of the best leadoff hitters in baseball. He finished 2022 with 102 runs scored and a .367 on-base percentage in a career-high 151 games. He plans to play in that many in 2023.

“[I am] going to be in a position where I’m going to try and be available for every game possible this season. We are definitely going to take care of that,” Nimmo said. “... I feel the body is going to be there.”

One good, the other not so good
Mets left-hander David Peterson and right-hander Tylor Megill are fighting for the fifth spot in the rotation. They both pitched in the 8-7 loss to the Cardinals on Sunday afternoon at Clover Park.

Peterson threw four shutout innings and allowed one hit, but he wasn’t pleased that he walked four batters, two in the top of the second inning. In fact, after the inning ended, Peterson was seen slamming his glove because of the walks. He ended up throwing 66 pitches.

“I had mixed feelings about [the outing] -- good and bad,” Peterson said. “I have stuff to clean up. Stuff I thought I did well. But overall, I got my pitches in. I felt good about where we are headed.”

Megill threw 78 pitches and allowed six runs -- three earned -- in 3 2/3  innings. He also walked five. It didn’t help that the defense played poorly behind him. In fact, manager Buck Showalter thought Megill pitched better than the stat line indicated. 

“He was pretty good today,” Showalter said. “We just couldn’t catch the ball. His stuff was fine. We gave him a bunch of extra outs. … I think Tylor is in a good place. I think he will be fine.” 

Megill, on the other hand,  was hard on himself. He went so far as to say, “It wasn’t my best day, to say the least.” 

“I really couldn’t locate a slider today, so that was a big problem,” Megill said. “I had a good curveball today. I threw some good fastballs -- top of the zone. But [I had] more walks than necessary.”    

Vientos’ defense
Showalter said Mark Vientos’ footwork has improved around third base. The skipper credited third-base coach Joey Cora and Minor League infield coordinator Miguel Cairo for Vientos’ improvement.        

Showalter even noticed that Vientos’ arm is stronger because his feet are in better position to field ground balls. For example, in the bottom of the first inning against the Astros on Saturday, Vientos made a nice backhanded stop of a hard ground ball by José Abreu and easily threw him out at first base.

“He made a couple of plays last night. I’m not sure he would have made those last year. He is trusting his feet,” Showalter said. 

Worth noting
Showalter said shortstop Francisco Lindor, third baseman Eduardo Escobar and catcher Omar Narváez will be back in the lineup against the Nationals on Monday.  All three played in the World Baseball Classic.