In Brooklyn, Reyes proves ready for Citi

Jose Reyes might have spent 21/2 hours in a sauna and come to the same conclusion of physical readiness accomplished by playing six innings with the minor-league Brooklyn Cyclones on Monday.

Reyes never got any dirt on his uniform, handled only a single ground ball at shortstop, never needed the Roman-candle speed on the bases that has come to define him.

He did rap a double off the centerfield wall -- a blow aided by a strong wind -- so that his numbers in the boxscore were a pleasant-enough 1-for-3 with a run scored. But in humid, 91-degree heat, and through no fault of his own, he did a lot of standing around in what likely was his only rehabilitation game before rejoining the Mets on Tuesday night after two weeks on the disabled list.

"Hot weather," he said. "Everything was perfect. I have to feel happy about it."

Mets manager Terry Collins planned to speak with Reyes as soon as he returned to Citi Field on Monday, but the manager intends to start him Tuesday night against the Cardinals.

"We'll have the discussion when he gets here," said Collins, who noted that the conversation will include general manager Sandy Alderson and trainer Ray Ramirez. "But as of now -- obviously subject to change -- it looks like he'll be ready [Tuesday night]."

Even with Reyes' quick turnaround from Brooklyn to Flushing, Collins will keep a close eye on his shortstop in the days ahead.

"We still got 16 in a row in some hot climates," Collins said. "I'm going to be very cautious of him in Florida. I'll take a good hard look at how he's doing because obviously any time you start to strain muscles, a lot of it is due to dehydration.

"He said he's going to be fine, and we'll do a much better job of monitoring him early to see if he's OK."

The strained left hamstring that brought him the DL assignation had been thoroughly tested before Monday, Reyes said. He had been running "the last five, six days. So far, so good."

So Monday turned into one of those star turns in a setting normally reserved for young big-league hopefuls. A crowd of 8,126 showed up -- more than 1,000 above Brooklyn's average attendance after the team advised on its website to "call in sick from work Monday" to see Reyes' first appearance with the Mets' Class A farm team on Coney Island.

He signed a book for the other Brooklyn players and posed for pictures with them and "a couple of guys" from his native Dominican Republic on the Lowell team before the game, and briefly signed autographs for local fans.

Mostly, Reyes, who lined out to center and grounded out to second in his first two at-bats, was as quiet as his accidental teammates until the sixth inning. That's when he led off with his wind-aided double, ran easily to third on an infield out, loitered just off third base through three teammates' long at-bats before jogging home with Brooklyn's first run on a two-out pop fly that dropped among three Lowell fielders in short left.

He had not contemplated attempting to stretch his hit into a triple -- "I will save that for [Tuesday night with the Mets]," he said -- or trying to steal third, because of Brooklyn's 8-0 deficit at the time.

"I can't do that to these guys," he said. "Even in the big leagues, you're not allowed to do that."

Brooklyn pushed across two more runs in the inning before Reyes was left in the on-deck circle after the third out. Though he then returned to the shortstop position to start the seventh inning, he was recalled by manager Rich Donnelly.

"The manager said, 'That's enough; you're ready,' " Reyes said.

So, overall, being in steamy Brooklyn for a day was fine, but "I'd rather play in Citi Field," he said. "I can't wait, man."

With David Lennon