Jose Reyes: You're Blowing the Season, Why Is that Funny?
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Labels:
Jose Reyes,
New York Mets
Is this Amusing to You?Ready for a rant? I'm sick of Jose Reyes. I'm sick of his laughing, giddy, I'm-a-12-year-old-and-baseball-is-soooo-fun demeanor. I'm sick of his perma-grin in the infield and his shenanigans in the dugout. I'm sick of his laughing during critical points in the game (or when his team is getting embarrassed) and his oh-no-woe-is-me look every time he pops the ball up, as if everything in the world is happening to him and he's powerless to do anything about it.
Is this a bit of missplaced anger on account of the swoon the Mets have taken over the past month or so? Perhaps. Did I love his "youthful exuberance" when things were going well? I'd be lying if I said I didn't. That said, I'm not feeling that hypocritical for one reason: this is a pennant race.
Jose needs to start to realize this fact. Since the All-Star break, he's been extremely mediocre. Sure, he's continued to steal a bunch of bases but, frankly, he can do that in his sleep. And despite last night's home run, he's been anything but clutch. Check out his stats from the last 30 days. A .219 batting average. Caught stealing nearly half the time and only Eckstein and Felipe Lopez have more errors during that span. All of this doesn't take into account his baserunning blunders and mental errors in the field including failing to remember when to cover bases and the like.
All in all, Jose Reyes doesn't have a whole lot of reasons to smile. And beyond his own lackluster play, and much more importantly, his team is stumbling (to put in nicely) to the finish line. Meanwhile, Mr. Reyes seems oblivious to it all. Hamming it up with his teammates and generally acting like he couldn't give a flying you-know-what.
You want to be recognized as the game-changing, MVP-caliber phenom? Start acting like one. In your performance and your demeanor. You get paid millions of dollars to produce on a team that is built to not just make the playoffs, but advance deep into the postseason. This is your fifth season in the bigs, you're not a wet-behind-the-ears 20-year old. The novelty should have worn off by now. Not to be the no-fun police but this league is about winning and the Mets aren't. And you're not helping. And it's not a laughing matter.
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