Another Reyes Base Running Error
I was just about to write a post bashing Jose Reyes for another base running error during today’s Yankees-Mets game. While I was looking for more Mets material, I found out that Jeremy Cothran of The Star-Ledger already had this to say about Reyes…
I could waste a ton of column inches on how Jose Reyes is one of the more dynamic shortstops in baseball. And I could also waste a lot of column inches on why he just drives you up a freakin wall.
Case in point, the fifth inning. With two outs, Reyes gets picked off second base (which I predicted would happen to the Ledger’s Lisa Kennelly). Getting picked off is going to happen when you steal bases, but there is absolutely ZERO excuse to get picked off second with two outs. David Wright was at the plate and a base hit would have scored Reyes.
Inexcusable.
I couldn’t agree more. Jose wasn’t stealing, he got picked off with 2 outs with Wright at the plate. On top of that, Pettitte got confused before he even threw to second which delayed the pickoff attempt. This means that Reyes had even more time than normal to get back to second. The Mets were losing 2-1 at the time. These poor base running decisions have become common for Reyes in ‘08. I stopped defending Reyes after he stopped playing for Willie last season. I know that on any given day he can be the best player in baseball, but he has more things that I don’t like than I do like. He quickly became one of my favorite Mets. He lost points for not performing in the ‘06 Playoffs, but I made the excuse that he’s young and will make it up in the future. In ‘07, he was on fire for the first half of the season and disappeared down the stretch when it mattered most…all because Willie benched him for not running out ground balls. In ‘08, he is an average player offensively and defensively. He keeps making these base running errors. His attitude sucks. My love for him has faded, and he needs to finish ‘08 as strong as he began ‘07 for my love for him to come back.
