Sunday reading: Jose Reyes, Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia
Jose Reyes returned to action yesterday, and I wrote a column about it. The headline reads, "Fans need to be patient with Reyes, Mets," but as I explicitly wrote in the column - motivated by a recent live-chat back-and-forth with Poppy - the Mets don't deserve their fans' patience, IMO.
It's more a matter of, if you wish you knew how to quit the Mets but can't, you're very likely going to have to be patient. It's just the reality of the situation.
You could tell that Reyes was not quite himself, and that's why, as I wrote in the column, I didn't object to Jerry Manuel's decision to have Alex Cora bunt Reyes over to second base in the ninth inning, rather than asking Reyes to steal second and then bunt him over to third. Perhaps today, such a move would make more sense.
--Oliver Perez's first 2010 start didn't go horribly, at least matched against his 2009 season. Of course, that's setting the bar ridiculously low. The biggest concern right now has to be that Perez didn't throw much harder than 89 mph yesterday. He's simply not intelligent enough to account for that decrease in velocity. He remains a huge concern for the Mets.
--Willie Harris made a great, game-ending catch on Rod Barajas, and David Lennon documents the previous times that Harris burned the Mets. What stood out for me from that play, though, was how much the Mets have upgraded in catchers from last year's group to Barajas and Henry Blanco.
While neither one is going to knock Joe Mauer off his perch, neither guy gets cheated at the plate too often. It's a pleasant change of pace from Brian Schneider and Omir Santos, and their presence on mere one-year deals both gives Josh Thole time to develop at Triple-A Buffalo and assures Thole of big-league playing time next year if he earns it.
--Former Yankees prospect Tyler Clippard pitched tremendously well for the Nationals. The Mets were chasing Clippard's pitches high out of the strike zone.
--For my Sunday Insider, I noted that Cliff Lee could become a trade candidate again, if the Mariners struggle. Seattle GM Jack Zduriencik, while acknowledging he had to contemplate such a possibility when acquiring Lee last December, said he didn't see that happening. While I think Zduriencik is doing great work with the Ms, I do think Seattle will underachieve this year, and that Lee therefore could join his fourth team in two seasons.
The Insider also features a note on John Hogan, a Mets fan who didn't renew his season tickets after 25 years. One note that I didn't have room to include: Hogan said that, while he generally had a good relationship with Mets management, he sometimes questioned their competence.
One example: Hogan had four tickets, and he occasionally didn't find takers for all four seats. If it was a giveaway day, then Hogan would bring all four of his ticket stubs, to get his four gifts and distribute them to friends or family members.
"If you had an extra ticket, and it was a giveaway to everybody, they wouldn’t give you one for the unused ticket," Hogan said. Lame.
--I didn't see a single pitch of CC Sabathia's gem. Interesting that Joe Girardi and Dave Eiland admitted that they were going to pull Sabathia from the game even if the big lefty had kept the no-hitter going by retiring Kelly Shoppach. That would've been the right move.
--This story is a day old, but I'm including it anyway, for it's my favorite Derek Jeter comments, ever. Kudos to the Yankees captain for challenging buffoonish umpire Joe West.
--The Giants lost, which means we have no more undefeated teams and just one more winless team, the Astros.
--Great Q&A here with none other than our very own Bob Tufts. I just wish we could find a way to get Bob to open up a little more, really let loose. ;)
--Self-promotion alert: I'll be on WFAN at 11:25 this morning, with Richard Neer.
