George Vecsey on Jose Reyes, from 7/12/07 (Hint--it's not about Beltran)

On July 12, 2007 George Vecsey (NY Times) wrote about Jose Reyes by way of encouragement:

• "Last week the Mets sailed into the dangerous Giambi Straits or Pérez Shoals, where rallies are shipwrecked on the mental rocks.
• (Jose) Reyes, a solid citizen who almost always hustles, neglected to run out a dribbler that he assumed was staying foul. To his embarrassment, the third baseman could have walked the fair ball to first base. Manager Willie Randolph then gave Reyes the rest of the game off, to think about it."

But nonchalance needs to be nipped in the bud, the way Gil Hodges did in 1969 when he trudged out to left field to remove Cleon Jones, who had seemed a trifle sluggish chasing a base hit. Jones and his mates did not want the muscular Mr. Hodges mad at them — and they won the World Series two months later.

• Other Mets teams went down with insouciance, like the boys of the late ’80s, who won exactly one championship. In the 2000 Series, Timo Pérez believed he saw Todd Zeile’s drive go over the left-field fence. By shifting into a joyous slower gear, Pérez was thrown out at home — costing a run and, who knows, maybe the Series.

(concluding about Jose Reyes, and rooting for him, Mr. Vecsey):...Just keep running, or else those dance steps blend into all the foolish homemade videos, in which everybody is a superstar in his own head.

• Just keep running, right into late October."

"Up and Down Mets Might Have to Face the Music," 7/12/07 by George Vecsey, NY Times

• P.S. Willie Randolph is the answer to any problem the Mets might have, but the Mets front office (led by the hideous Jeff Wilpon) spend 24/7 trying to undermine Randolph, making a successful clubhouse impossible. The media rarely mention this, preferring to burnish their own chances for access and career enhancement. This includes, disgracefully, Mike and Chris on WFAN.

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