WASHINGTON – Guillermo Mota insists that it doesn’t affect him while pitching, but the reliever recently has been experiencing discomfort in his groin area.
Mota said yesterday that initially it was thought he had a hernia, but it turns out he doesn’t. Still, he told The Post the discomfort has been there for two weeks and he’s going to see a doctor when the team returns from its road trip.
Mota has had a terrible season, though again to his credit, he said the discomfort hasn’t affected him on the mound, so he isn’t making excuses.
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One day after leaving the game with a tight left quad, Moises Alou was in the lineup last night and continued his hot hitting.
Alou went 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI and two runs. He now has a career-high-tying 23-game hitting streak and is batting .344.
“That’s Moises,” Willie Randolph said. “He’s a gamer. He wants to play.”
Alou said he would have rested if it weren’t a pennant race, though he did say before the game that the quad was improved. After the game, he said, “I felt good.”
Alou, who didn’t have any medical tests on the quad, also had a good line, referring to the Mets’ blowing early leads lately.
“I was kind of glad we didn’t score four runs in the first inning tonight,” he said.
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Paul Lo Duca was hit on his right hand in the eighth inning and came out of the game before the bottom of the inning.
“It’s sore,” he said. “I was scared a little bit, but I got X-rays on it and it’s not broken.”
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Randolph said that Carlos Delgado (strained right hip flexor) took live batting practice on Tuesday and was fine. The first baseman missed his 13th straight game last night but again took live batting practice.
“It was a good day today,” he said.