Francisco Lindor gained some time.

For about 18 seconds, he paused, formulating his thoughts and considering how to respond to what certainly looked like another personal slight.

After a regular season and postseason in which Lindor did just about everything for the Mets, the end-of-season hardware isn't piling up. Maybe he'll win a Silver Slugger or maybe the Commissioner's Trophy, awarded to the team that wins the World Series.

And that would be completely fine with him.

After a rejection in the All-Star Game, Lindor was not one of the three finalists for the NL Gold Glove at shortstop.

“I had a good defensive year, but I think there are other players who had a better defensive year than me,” Lindor replied tactfully. “At the end of the day, I’m trying to win a World Series. I'm trying to make it to the World Series and then win it.

“And I think hopefully next year I’ll get a chance at (a Gold Glove) again.”

Lindor has set his sights on the bigger awards in a season where the smaller ones won't be available.

Since being traded to the Mets prior to the 2021 season, Lindor has become the fourth most valuable player in baseball according to FanGraphs WAR.

He has yet to make an All-Star team in that span.

Some of the blame can be attributed to slow starts and fast finishes that aren't rewarded with a mid-summer award, and perhaps some can be attributed to Lindor simply losing the popular vote.

Fans voted for the Phillies' Trea Turner (who had missed a long period of time due to injury) over Lindor this year. Mookie Betts was selected and injured, leading to the players selecting Elly De La Cruz of the Reds.

MLB selected CJ Abrams as the Nationals' lone representative.

Gold Glove voting is weighted 75 percent by manager and coach votes: All 30 captains vote and up to six coaches from each team make their selections.

The other 25 percent is determined by the SABR Defensive Index, an all-inclusive metric for advanced defense.

The most recent update to the metric on August 11 showed Masyn Winn of the Cardinals, Dansby Swanson of the Cubs and Ezequiel Tovar of the Rockies ahead of fourth-place Lindor.

Winn, Swanson and Tovar are the three finalists.

“He's an elite defender,” manager Carlos Mendoza said during Tuesday's practice day at Citi Field, where the Mets will host Game 3 of the NLCS against the Dodgers on Wednesday. “I was shocked he wasn’t even in the final.”

Most publicly available advanced stats show Lindor should be in the running.

Outs Above Average show that Lindor is the second strongest shortstop in the majors behind Swanson.

Thanks to FanGraphs' above-average defensive performances, Lindor trails only Swanson in the National League.

Lindor has won two Gold Gloves in his career, in 2016 and 2019, both with Cleveland.

Mike Sarbaugh, now the Mets' third base coach and then the Cleveland's infield coach, has watched Lindor more than anyone and doesn't think his defense has waned.

“My first thought was, I just felt like he should be a finalist,” Sarbaugh said. “I just think he should have at least been a finalist based on his numbers and his performances this season.”

Lindor has always emphasized that every move this season has been toward a World Series, not an individual honor.

He probably won't win the National League MVP award that Shohei Ohtani won.

His jaw-dropping home runs — like the one that punched the Mets' ticket in Atlanta and the grand slam against the Phillies that sent his club to the NLCS — were pretty packed for a player aiming for more than just winning a playoff series robotic runs around the bases or individual honors.

Sarbaugh believed that Lindor would likely experience some disappointment, but that it would be put aside as a bigger goal was at stake.

“If you ask him, he will tell you that he is not here to win personal awards,” Mendoza said correctly. “He’s here to win the whole thing, the World Series.”