Memories of Jos� Reyes

[Edgy MD]

Too many memories to keep track of, obviously. The last two, unfortunately, are him pulling himself out his final game in the first inning for personal glory, and him taking his pants off for money.

[metirish]

yeah there's that, his smile and joy at playing his first few years, he did seem to lose that a little the last few,probably the criticism and such.

[Edgy MD]

I think his joy and his pouting were two sides of the same coin. He's a sensitive dude.

[Edgy MD]

Perhaps relatedly, in my mind, he was a better player during the day.

The splits kinda back that up, but they're probably pretty typical.

Day: .303 / .358 / .450 // .808
Night: .287 / .333 / .437 // .770

[Gwreck]

I think my favorite is the leadoff homer (against Chris Carpenter) in the first inning of game 6 of the NLCS at Shea in 2006.

[TransMonk]

[metirish]

That seems such a long time ago, it's been some fall.

[Edgy MD]

Transparent plastic locker room curtains brought to you by Bud Light. Bud Light --- for those exciting times when you're soaked with booze, want to keep your stuff dry, but still need to see it.

[HahnSolo]

2006 game vs. Dodgers at Shea. Jose sparks the win with an inside the park home run. The division lead was wide, and nothing but good things lay ahead.

[willpie]

It's going to be a while before I forget how he left.

[G-Fafif]

HahnSolo wrote: 2006 game vs. Dodgers at Shea. Jose sparks the win with an inside the park home run. The division lead was wide, and nothing but good things lay ahead.

My favorite Reyes moment right there. I swear he could have gotten up and run to first and had a five-base hit.

Of all the "Memories of..." threads, this is the one whose existence is toughest to take to date.

[metsmarathon]

the handshakes, the clapping, the celebrating, the sliding, the everything.

[nymr83]

I remember the worst everyday player in the National League for a year or two there at the beginning, but he got so much better and he was always EXCITING!

I can't root for him anymore though, and I hope the Marlins regret the deal as soon as this season!

[Guest themetfairy]

The smile -



That last bunt hit -






And the fact that he wasn't always the most sanitary Met....




Adios Jose - you always made things interesting!

[ashie62]

Selfish ubertalented knucklehead.

[Chad ochoseis]

That catfight he had with Jerry early in - I think - the 08 season. Jerry yanked him for loafing, and then referred to him as "she" in the press. I think that was when I stopped caring that much if either of them stayed Metly.

Had a godawful September 2007 at bat and in the field. It's usually referred to as a team collapse, but mostly it was the pitching and Reyes. Beltran and Wright were spectacular, Alou had his 30 game hitting streak, and the other position players played as expected.

I still enjoyed watching him play, and I don't hold it against him for going with the highest bidder.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, that's an interesting memory.

Went an Ord��ezian .205 / .279 / .333 // .612 down the stretch that year.

[Fman99]

My eternal memory of Reyes will be him lacing a ball into the gap, knowing that he was going to get to third, and still watching him at the edge of my seat to see him slide in, clap his hands, brush the dirt off his jersey, and grin that grin.

Fucking hell, I'm depressed.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I don't think I've ever enjoyed any "Hey! Look what the f*ck I did!" look from an athlete more than I did Jose's, post-triple. I doubt I ever will.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Jose brought excitement to the game. It seemed like a rally was about to ignite whenever he got on base. Alas, his leaving the Mets as a free agent comes as no surprise to me, so I'm not really upset by the news. I had come to accept his leaving as a virtual inevitability since the season ended.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

The game I think about when I think about Reyes was this one. I "saw" it on the radio, nice day. Sunday afternoon.

Mets were down at home to the Braves but rallied for 5 runs in the 7th, the last 3 on a Shea-rocking bases-loaded triple. Being the 2007 Mets they went and gave that lead right back and, I dunno, Reyes wasn't the ever same again until 2011 (and even then...). I know that's not entirely accurate but that's how I remember it.

[Edgy MD]

Burgos and Schoeneweis --- there're two guys whose lives didn't turn out as expected.

[G-Fafif]

[youtube:3rio1qq3]PDJ_Mz8ftqI[/youtube:3rio1qq3]

Did plenty over nine years, but what I liked most was the anticipation of what he was going to do next.

[Edgy MD]

Had everything going but his power stroke this season. And then I saw him take his show to Pittsburgh and suddenly, there was the power stroke.

He seemed pretty confident he could get his bat on anything this year. And his strikeouts certainly divebombed. That's reason for the Fish to be confident.

The other side of that coin is the funny periods where he didn't seem to have a clue what a strike was, and he seemed to come fresh from a tongue lashing from his batting coach when he would show his wilingness to take a pitch by occasionally picking a random pitch and deciding not to swing before it was delivered. He's keep his bat on his shoulder whether the count was advantageous or disadvantageous, follow the pitch to catcher's glove and turn inquisitively to the ump, waiting for the call. When the ump would signal strike or ball, Jose would seemingly make a mental note like, "Really? Is that what one of them looks like? I had no idea."

[bmfc1]

Every Mets game in DC (when Jose was not on the DL). I'm sitting at Nationals Park on the 3B side, all the warm-ups have ended and nobody is on the field--the umps haven't even met yet--and I look over at the Mets dugout and Jose is in the on-deck circle looking at the field while taking swings. He couldn't wait to get out there.

[metirish]

Was Ceetar signed away with Reyes?

[Benjamin Grimm]

He's probably huddled away somewhere trying to muster up some optimism.

I was wondering if he'd be predicting a division title for the Mets again this year.

[Vic Sage]

absolutely!

Don't you realize that Pagan is curt flood reborn? He's just a leadoff man waiting to happen. And with Tejada obviously ready for 600 plate appearance backing him up atop our lineup, proven sluggers like Murphy and Davis should each have 130 RBIs by July. Certainly, the new OF dimensions will bring Wright and Bay back to their career peaks, and Duda is the homegrown monster masher we've been waiting for since Strawberry. Thole has shown every indication of being a perennial .300 line drive machine, adding pop to the bottom of our lineup. Clearly, this offensive machine is going to be a juggernaut.

and pitching? don't even get me started!

[Guest attgig]

his smile, his energy, the way he played the game. I loved him when he was as emotional and flamboyant as he wanted to to be no matter what anyone else said. baseball's supposed to be fun, and Reyes was the epitome of fun.


there's also those GQ pictures with DWright that i wish i didn't have any memories of....

[Edgy MD]

Jos� taught me that I don't particularly like reggaet�n music.