"I kind of have an idea of what I have to do," Pagan said.

For the Mets, that's a good thing, because while Alou keeps inching closer to active duty, manager Willie Randolph keeps insisting that once Alou returns, he -- not Pagan -- will start in left field. No questions asked, no doubt about it.

Though Pagan has certainly had a fine run, entering Monday's play with a .311 average attained primarily as a starter, he was out of the lineup for the second straight game on Monday. Fellow backup Endy Chavez earned his second start in as many days.

And that wasn't the only situation affecting Pagan. Alou, too, remained idle down in Florida, eyeing another rehabilitation game with Class A St. Lucie on Tuesday.

Mets assistant general manager John Ricco said that this weekend might be too soon to expect Alou's return, pointing instead to early next week. When he does return, Pagan and Chavez will need to divvy up at-bats behind Alou and Ryan Church in the corner outfield spots, with Carlos Beltran set to play nearly every day in center field.

For Pagan, who's become accustomed to starting, that will have to be good enough.

"What it's all about is just being ready," Pagan said. "You might be the biggest at-bat in the game, so you've got to really be ready for that."

He's saying all the right things, diverting talk away from himself and toward Alou, who on Monday he called "one of the best players on the team." Yet he's also well aware that his time in the starting lineup is growing thin -- and with Chavez earning more and more at-bats right now, Pagan has already earned a taste of what his new role might entail.

For now, that hasn't hurt his confidence -- much less his conviction.

"When I started playing good, they saw that I could be the guy who could back up Moises," Pagan said. "They picked me as their guy, and they gave me the opportunity. There were a lot of guys who were trying to do the job, too, but they picked me."