Link NEW YORK -- The closer the Mets get to the postseason, the more unsettling the injury to Carlos Beltran becomes. The center fielder, who hasn't played since the NL East Division-clinching game on Monday night because of a right quad strain suffered Sunday in Pittsburgh, said on Saturday that he will ask for whatever steps are necessary "to get me back." Before the Mets played the Nationals on Saturday, Beltran announced his intent to play Sunday. After watching nine more innings, he added this proviso -- "if I can." The pain -- two inches below his waist and to the left of the center of his body -- has not diminished nearly as much as Beltran had hoped, or as much as he had been told that it probably would. "They told me it should hurt less everyday," Beltran said. "But it's the same. "I need to play. I need to face pitchers. I need to play my game. ... We need to do something about it, make the pain go away. I can recuperate and heal after the season." Beltran said most of the treatment he's received in the last four days has been ice. He has not had a cortisone injection, and he wasn't sure one would be beneficial. "But we have to do something so I can play," said Beltran, who hopes to play each game, beginning Sunday. "I can't play just two games and be ready," Beltran said. "I have to be able to catch every single fly ball out there." But the injury restricts him when he runs. "I can swing," Beltran said. "But I have to run."