PHILADELPHIA — David Wright lay flat on his back, on a mat in a hallway outside the Mets’ clubhouse here Monday afternoon, going through a series of stretches, trying to loosen up his back. He looked vulnerable, but as his teammates and coaches stopped and chatted with him, Wright’s familiar cackling laugh echoed throughout the clubhouse.
That was the first sign that he was back in the Mets’ starting lineup Monday, batting cleanup and playing third base after missing four months rehabilitating his back condition, known as spinal stenosis.
The entire team seemed energized by Wright’s arrival, and as if on cue, in his first at-bat, on his first swing, Wright crushed a solo home run into the second deck.