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In the New York Times, Jack Curry does a great job detailing the work being done by Howard Johnson to help get Jose Reyes back on track.
Since August 14, Reyes is batting .232, during which the Mets are 21–18.
Curry followed Johnson and Reyes through their pre-game work yesterday in the batting cage, which led to a two home-run night for Reyes, including four RBI.
HoJo, as quoted by Curry…
“We’re trying to simplify him. Really just take his body out of it. Let him relax. Let him feel comfortable. Level his swing out. Keep his hands back and through the baseball without too much extra movement. He’s such a big part of our offense. And when he’s not going well, then we’re not going well.”
…now, if hojo could only figure out why reyes is making so many mental mistakes on the bases and in the field, and we’ll be all set…seriously, did you catch how willie stared him down from the dugout last night, after jose nearly got picked off of first…it was such an ice-cold look coming through the television, i thought even i was about to get grounded…
I have been a little surprised no one has really talked about the fact that while the switch from Rick Down to HoJo coincides with Wright catching on fire, it also coincides with Reyes’s production dropping…..
Not that I take too much stock in that…just find it odd that more hasn’t been made of it….
Regardless of who the coach is…Reyes (until last night) just seems to be feeling for the ball instead of driving it. Even when he was hitting for high average in the 1st half, he had a huge dropoff in XBH from last year to this year….Hopefully last night was a sign of good things to come and he can perform like the multi-dimensional talent that he is for the final 5 games and into the postseason (knock knock knock on wood)….
Gotta keep our fingers crossed in that hopefully with Reyes coming out of a slump.. Wright doesnt go into one..
Really did not enjoy Wright grounding into double plays twice last night…
The time is Wright Now with Jose, Jose, Jose..
Lets Go Mets..
He’s been the heart of this team and has been on fire offensively. So he had one game with only 1 hit (which, by the way, was part of the 9th inning rally). I know all we Mets fans are neurotic, with good cause, but don’t expect the worst after 1 game.
I was at the game, couldn’t believe the play zimmerman made to start one of the double plays. that looked like a double off the bat, so let’s not get on wright for that.
zimmerman looked like craig nettles on that play – wow!
DPs are largely bad look in many cases. It just means he was up with 1 out or less, and a man on first, then, in his case, smoked a ball right at an infielder.
2 feet to the left, and it might be a double down the line, and he is a god.
Not like Green and Delgado for a while (and paulie Walnuts) that contiinually rolled over weak little grounders right at the 2B.
this would be perfect timing for jose to get hot, as for wright i feel like last night he was trying to go to RF too much, there were a good amount of pitches middle in that he fouled off with inside out swings instead of driving the ball up the middle or to LF.
I think Jose’s problems on the basepaths and in the field are directly correlated to his slump. He’s been taking his at bats onto the basepaths and onto the field with him. Once he starts hitting with regularity (hopefully last night was the start), everything else wll fall into place.
Agreed. It’s hard to put everything behind you in the span of 90 feet to first base. Last night seeing him get pumped up and smiling during the 9th inning rally reminded me of the 2006 Mets Moxy
i so agree with you. it felt like the first time we had seen reyes’s smile in months. how great would it be if things snapped into place for him? i think he’s just been worn out, and doesn’t have the depth of experience to work through these difficulties. i also believe that he will be a better player in the future because of all this, but who can wait for next year? we want it now!
I just hope that Jose puts the damn ball on the ground – don;t like this recent penchant for loft. The HR are great and all last night, but all the fly ball/pop-up outs of late are real rally killers. Speed does you no good sitting on the bench after an OF closes his mitt on your can of corn. Let’s get back to the brand of baseball Jose’s built for.
To be fair, I believe during Reyes slump he is prone to hitting popups to the opposite field especially from the left hand side of the plate. I do not beleive Reyes gets home run happy as those shots he hit last nite where line drives, and absolute no doubters. I did not see an uppercut as much as both pitches were low in the strike zone. It looked like he stayed pretty level last night which has got to be his main focus right now.
Also, Reyes is just not that good of a bunter. He could stand to learn alot from Castillo in that aspect of the game. Speed never slumps as they say, but Reyes game is not really built around that aspect. When Reyes is on, even his groundball singles are usually hit hard. Reyes uses his speed on the basepaths and on the field. It helps him get on base, but his mental approach is not geared towards that line of thinking I believe.
Anyone see that ball Delgado hit for a home run foul? If he is not pulling out on that ball with his front right leg that ball is gone. I really don’t know what to think of Delgado mechanically anymore. He is too much of a veteran with his lil notebook to not notice that. I believe something is hampering him like it has been all season and that is causing him to pull off to get the bat through the zone.
Agree on all points…Jose doesn’t get cheated on his hits…few bleeders. Just voicing that I don’t like to see (consistently) balls in the air from our leadoff hitter.
Delgado roped that ball foul. I hope he spends some time in the offseason working on hitting liners and ground balls to left. I realize that there’s only so many tricks you can teach on old dog, and a career pull hitter (though admittedly with some power to left center) is what he is. How many times has he ripped a ball that the short right fielder…I mean, second baseman…has plucked 40 feet deep in the hole? I don’t have the numbers….but over the course of the season, the shift has got to have taken away 30-50 points on the batting average vs. what would have resulted with a non-shifted alignment. A lot of that has to do with how he’s pitched too…but in the 9th yesterday he had a pitch or two on the outside half . I ask out of ignorance, but does anyone have a handle on how long (how many seasons) defenses have been consistenly shifting against him? My impression is that it has been a relatively reason (2 or so season) phenomenon.
I’m more concerned with his laughing and smiling when the team is down. Oh, also his lack of focus and bonehead mistakes. Oh and speaking about himself in the first person.
How about showing some respect for the men in leadership–i’m alluding to his apparent attitude towards willie.
And if you think willie is the problem, this is not an issue that automatically goes away with a player. Who’s to say this won’t happen with someone else?
Anyone else notice that Reyes (since last year) has not been the 24/7, all out ballplayer he was supposed to be since he signed his contract? I have…
Yeah. I was watching the Nats broadcast on MASN last night, and when they panned through the Mets dugout right before the bottom of the ninth, there were grim looks all around. All except for Jose who was laughing and joking. I’m normally a big fan of his just-go-out-and-have-fun style (especially when it’s working), but in that particular situation, it sure didn’t sit right.
Yea, and i’m not saying i don’t love his enthusiasm, BUT i don’t want a cheerleader….I want a ballplayer, the Jose Reyes of 2006
You think his contract has something to do with his play? Take a look at his stats month by month . . . not a chance. You can say that Rick Down’s firing might be related, although I don’t buy it. You can say that Willie’s benching him might be related, but I don’t buy that either. All in all, he hasn’t been all that terrible; it’s just that we haven’t seen since early June that incredibly gifted, energetic, clutch performer that had seen all through 2006 and early in 2007. but one thing for sure – - this isn’t a player sitting on his millions and not giving it his all.
c’mon, I hate to say it, but Reyes is cocky, he’s got all the talent in the world, and sometimes it comes rushing out, however, this is baseball and talent alone doesn’t get it done for 162 games. Every player will have slumps and periods of sub-par play, but its the ability to focus and grind day in and day out that separates some from others and shortens those periods of bad play. Is this a knock on Reyes? Not necessarily. He’s 24, its hard to expect him to be a seasoned veteran who knows how to get it done for 162 games. For some players it take a bit longer to figure that kind of stuff out. As for right now, Reyes apparently hasn’t. I still love him, his joy, his passion, his play, but he still has much to learn about this game.
Reyes’ play during the last month is really not much different than Wright’s play in April. We could all overanalyze things right now but I think Reyes main problem right now is that he’s in a slump. Of course, too many fans can’t accept that, so something else must be wrong. Thus, instead of being in a slump, Reyes is either (a) too power happy, (b) regressing, (c) too cocky, or (d) having personal problems which are affecting his play.
Amen. Finally a voice of reason.
It’s a difficult game, folks.
Did anyone else notice that on the SNY encore presentation of the game this afternoon, they completely cut out the whole section of the game where Randolph gives the cold stare to Reyes. Just Tivo’d it back and forth a few times. They start the bottom of the seventh with the pitching change, Reyes and Castillo are on second and first, respectively, Wright at bat. I think they left it in when they replayed it in the ninth, but this part was just cut out. Glitch on the part of my Tivo, or part of a conspiracy? Has anyone ever noticed something like this before?