Relief corps limited after heavy usage

ANAHEIM -- Mets manager Terry Collins sat in his office Saturday afternoon ticking off his list of unavailable or limited relievers.

Jeurys Familia was unavailable after throwing 51 pitches in Friday's 11-inning loss to the Angels. Kyle Farnsworth, who told Collins he was shot after facing two batters Friday, was a question mark after appearing in three of the Mets' previous four games. Carlos Torres was good for an inning, maybe.

That left the Mets in the tricky spot of needing Jon Niese to last deep enough into the game that Scott Rice, Gonzalez Germen and Jose Valverde could pitch the remainder.

"Obviously," Collins said, "we're going to be a little short."

Considering they began the year by giving up 14 runs in four games, Mets relievers had been remarkably successful until Friday night, stringing together a run of 20 1/3 scoreless innings before Familia hit a batter with the bases loaded. Yet the team leaned on that bunch for 11 2/3 innings from Wednesday through Friday, and all that work came at a cost.