Matz more like it! Lefty feeling good

Things are looking up for Steven Matz. The southpaw threw a successful bullpen session on Tuesday at Citi Field and will fly to Florida to pitch in a simulated game on Thursday, Sandy Alderson said. The hope is for Matz, who has been dealing with tightness behind his right shoulder blade, to throw 90 to 95 pitches, and his spot on the NL division series roster hinges on his health coming out of that outing.

“It went good,” Matz said of his bullpen session. “I feel better.”

Alderson said a decision on whether or not Matz will make the Mets’ first-round roster and what his role would be will be based on how he does in his simulated game.

“Things have improved,” Alderson said. “So certainly today is a step forward, so we were encouraged.”

Matz − a candidate to start in Game 4 against the Dodgers along with Game 1 starter Jacob deGrom and Bartolo Colon − received a shot in his upper back on Friday for an injury Alderson admitted he downplayed initially. When asked if he was comfortable with Matz pitching out of the bullpen in the first round, Alderson said a decision will be made by 10 a.m. Pacific Time on Friday, when the roster must be finalized.

If there are still lingering doubts about whether or not Matz is healthy enough to pitch in any role during the first round, the Mets probably would leave Matz off the roster.

URIBE STILL AILING

One of Alderson’s midseason acquisitions won’t be on the field for the division series as infielder Juan Uribe will be out with a chest injury.

Uribe injured his chest diving for a ground ball on Sept. 20 against the Yankees. He aggravated the injury during an at-bat in Cincinnati on Sept. 25. The Daily News previously reported that Uribe was unlikely to play in the NLDS and that Kirk Nieuwenhuis is his likely replacement.

“I think he’s out for the division series,” Alderson said. “What we’ve decided is to leave him here in New York. He’ll continue to work with therapists here. (We) certainly have not ruled him out for any future series if we’re involved. But I’d say right now that he’s out (for the NLDS.)”

Alderson did not officially name a replacement for Uribe and said he couldn’t say what the final roster will be. He did say the Mets likely will have 14 position players and 11 pitchers for the first round.

YO, YO, YO

Slugger Yoenis Cespedes declared himself to be fully healthy after suffering contusions to his left middle and rings fingers when he was hit by a pitch last week in Philadelphia.

“I am 100% ready to start this battle,” Cespedes said through an interpreter.

Earlier Monday morning, former Met and current SNY broadcaster Keith Hernandez said that although Cespedes is the key hitter for the Mets, less heralded players often come up big in the postseason.

“I think Cespedes has to have a big series,” Hernandez said at an event at Kennedy Airport. “I think that the team pretty much will follow his lead. But a lot of times in the playoffs, it’s never the stars, sometimes, that are the ones that have big series.

“It’s always the nondescript player that comes out of nowhere that has the big series because the pitchers are more focused on getting the big guys out, and you have someone that’s not a star that has a great series. So there’s always a sleeper in the lineup that turns out to be the hero in the playoffs.”

QUIET ON CC

Hernandez said he didn’t have a reaction to the news that Yankees lefty CC Sabathia entered himself into an alcohol rehabilitation center, other than wishing him the best.

“I just hope that he gets himself squared away and nice and healthy going forward because there’s a life after baseball,” Hernandez said.

HEADING HOME

Alderson said the Mets sent five players home: C Johnny Monell, INF Dilson Herrera, RHP Tim Stauffer and LHPs Dario Alvarez and Eric O’Flaherty.