New York Mets first baseman Lucas Duda hopes to start Friday after missing the last three games with a back injury, according to MLB.com. The Mets said when Duda was scratched Tuesday that they were not worried about the ailment, but manager Terry Collins said Thursday that if Duda can not play Friday the team would need to start thinking about placing him on the disabled list. "We hope with the medicine [he was given Wednesday] he's much better [Friday]," Collins told New York Newsday. "But I just talked to him a little bit ago. I said 'Listen, today we'll give you another day. I need you for this weekend.' If tomorrow it's not much better, we got to start thinking how we are going to make sure we stay healthy as a whole team because to play [undermanned] is sort of tough to do it when you're fighting for the pennant."