Last night, Jose Reyes hit a solo home run.
Following the game, Reyes explained to reporters that Carlos Beltran took him aside before Tuesday’s game and told him to 
be himself, do the hand shakes, have fun, and be Jose Reyes.
Beltran, on his talk with Reyes, as quoted by the New York Post:
“As a teammate, I know, I see when somebody’s not happy and I didn’t think he was happy. I tell him, ‘I want you to be the Reyes that you always have been.’
Since then, Reyes is 6 for 9 with three extra base hits and two runs scored in two games.
Reyes, on his talk with Beltran:
“We talked a lot yesterday. He called me out to the ball park and said, ‘You have to do it the same way it was before, you have to enjoy the game, do your handshakes, because we like you the way you are. So, don’t change it. When you change it, you’re fake. It’s not the real Jose Reyes.’ And I realize that, and I said I’m going to be the old Jose Reyes. So, there’s nothing to worry about and I’m gonna enjoy my game, do the handshakes with every body, and keep everybody smiling in the dugout.”
…thank you, Carlos Beltran…fact is, he’s right…the main reason jose toned it down was so that if he struggles, people cannot blame the dancing…which is a stupid reason…it’s a loser’s mentality…fail…give me a break…instead, it should be: you’re Jose Reyes…win, smile, laugh, etc…don’t even think about failure…and i’m glad jose may once again see the light…he’s unique and should not shy away from that…plus, his success and excitement motivates the team and it motivates the fans and, while some may have been alarmed by the dancing last season, i think we now all realize how important jose’s spirit is to this team…
Following the game, Willie Randolph went in to depth as to why he recently switched up his batting order, hitting Ryan Church second and Luis Castillo eighth, adding:
“I think the key to this whole thing is really Jose. I mean, when he’s on base and swinging the bat, that just fuels everything. So, it’s not so much the moves that I make, it’s basically having a catalyst like Jose getting things started.”
…early in 2006, Julio Franco had a talk with beltran in the dugout encouraging carlos to accept a curtain call, during a time when fans had been booing him…it altered the dynamic between beltran and the fans in a way that can never be overlooked…on Tuesday, beltran talked to reyes, and hopefully it revitalizes reyes in a way that also will not be overlooked…
For more on Reyes and Beltran, read Newsday, the Daily News, Bergen Record and Star-Ledger.
{ 78 comments }
incredible. I think i can see the steam from Hanely’s ears all the way from Florida. haha
Carl Crawford’s too… hey maybe that’s why it’s so humid in Florida…
I think one of the most important things about this conversation is that Beltran may be stepping up and playing ‘leader’ on this team. Sure he’s not hitting the way he can yet this year but the fact that he took it upon himself to counsel Reyes is important.
I’m also glad Reyes said he’s going to do his dances. To heck with the buzzkillers on the other teams; they were always just jealous of our fun-loving, big-swinging attitude anyway.
Yeah b/c he is havin a terrible season. Hanley knows his place, as the second best player in the NL. Don’t be fooled.
YAY! Welcome back, Sparkplug. We missed you! Its very exciting that Beltran is sticking with his new role as leader and helping Reyes get his game back on track. I hated the way Reyes had been acting on the field recently and I liked him so much more when he was dancing and laughing. So glad to see he’s back to being Reyes. Opponents’ feelings be damned.
I hope Beltran remembers that 20 years from now when he’s managing and Franco doesn’t want to come out of the game for a pinch runner…
Hahahahaha, nice.
Jose has looked very different as of late. It’s not just the difference between hits and no hits. It’s the way he’s playing. Very energetic, leaning into the pitches and attacking them. Even I get frustrated with some of Jose’s brain fart like moments when he’s being Jose, but there’s no denying he’s a different player when he’s being himself rather than trying to fulfill this contrived mold of a lead off man. I’ll take a lunging pop up here and there if it means line drives and a homerun here and there.
I never thought the handshake stuff was responsible for anything negative. The Marlins didn’t beat us at the end of last season because of handshakes etc. They beat us because our pitcher had an unbelievably bad day.
I just thought the handshakes were kind of lame in general :p
Excellent. Come on back Jose…
YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! Welcome JOSE and the 2006 METS !!!
Lets have fun and enjoy the game and the winning will come as easy as it did in 2006. Like the final against the Phillies, its that excitement and happiness that the fans want to see again. The dances, hand shakes and high fives!!! When the team has fun we have fun, we feed off of each other. Welcome home cheers and screams and good bye to the boo birds !!! LETS GO METS !!!
This is so freakin’ awesome. Two good things happened here. Not only do we get the old and better Jose back, but Beltran steps up big time in a leadership role.
I love the old Jose. I don’t care if it steams other teams off either. Go for it, Jose. Be yourself 100 times over.
Wow look at that … Beltran being a leader. Excellent. I heard that for Jose’s first handshake in 08, he has incorporated the middle finger. He’s planning on flipping it off in front of Hanley Ramirez and the gang.
LOL, Reyes would never do something like that.
But if he did, I wouldn’t mind.
haha … it’s a pretty funny mental image though.
I feel it’s not a question of “stepping up”… it’s more that now Beltran feels comfortable taking on the leadership role – that he’s established himself as someone the other players will respect as a leader by leading the club in RBIs each of the last two seasons.
It’s something David Wright has said as well – leadership can’t be forced, it’s gotta be natural for both the leader and the led, or it won’t be effective.
“Hey Little Jose, do you like the fact that the Old Jose is coming back”
::Hits Bobblehead to make him Nod::
“Yes!”
i love the leadership from beltran
oh yeah! that’s what I am talking about!
It’s go time!
LET’S GO METS
And the journalists be damned. Some of them said the celebrating gave the Marlins extra incentive last year and helped cause the collapse. They were the ones who put the guilt trip on Jose.
If the Mets had simply pitched better down the stretch the Mets wouldn’t have collapsed. To put the burden on Jose was not fair.
they’re not journalists. they’re gossip columnists. since there is not a nightly story…they make one up usually slamming whoever they perceive doesn’t give them enough interview time or gives bland answers.
very happy to have reyes back. he’s the reason the mets are fun to watch. he gets me excited. his actions are zero ego and 100% excitement for the game.
I have to say even the beat guys covering the mets are disappointing me. Maybe I’m reading too much into things, but other than one or two guys, you have no one asking Randolph questions to the extent that he has to volunteer quotes about how good Joe Smith looked. It was the same thing on opening day when the first line of questions was about whether or not Luis Castillo was hustling. Those covering the Mets right now are just out to blood and they’re literally rendered speechless when they team god forbid has a good game. Makes me sick to be honest. No wonder the fans are over the edge.
nice points Costnza, i’d say the only guys doing their job well are Rubin and Lennon, guys like Delcos annoy the crap out of me sometimes, they’re subtle in the way they do it, but Delcos never misses an opportunity to say something negative.
Great to see Beltran taking this leadership role in the clubhouse. He was absolutely the right person to say something to Reyes,and probably the one person Reyes would really listen to on something like this.
I feel like D Wright has started to take some leadership on the field with his offense, and if Beltran keeps taking leadership in the clubhouse this team might turn into something special. Who knows where all this will lead, but maybe it will help give the team the spark it really needs to get on a role. LETS GO METS!
When Jose does well, the Mets win…period. Putting the blame on Jose last year was easy, and Willie did nothing to quash that belief. Jose’s “downfall” began last year when Willie benched him for not running a ball out. Jose is Jose, not Andrew Jones.
Another quote from that article…gives you goosebumps:
“I have to enjoy my game and be the way I am,” Reyes said. “I can’t worry about the other team getting mad . . . I don’t care about that. I just care about this team.”
Exactly. This isn’t little league where you’re looking for pansy sportsmanship awards.
Any time the media mentions to the Mets how X player doesn’t like the dancing or the celebrating or whatever, they should just respond “Guess X should’ve played better and won the game then.”
It’s true…
If you don’t want to see Jose doing handshakes, don’t give up bombs.
Simple, isn’t it? :)
great point, and I’d give $100 to hear someone say it. I think we’d crash metsblog with comments if it did.
*if they did
Good for Beltran he is completely right. On another note, it was an another embarrassing display by the fans last night. When a man gets hit by a pitch and possibly injured fans should not cheer.
Agree 100%. I don’t know who these yahoos are who go to Mets games, but it’s really embarrassing.
Unless it’s Jimmy Rollins.
Seriously injured is one thing, but bruises or broken bones? Just like I don’t want Jose Reyes to care what the other team thinks, I don’t care how the other team feels. Sure, I’d rather Smoltz goes down because he’s just tired and worn out and not because he pulled his hamstring, but i’ll take either with a smile.
It’s one thing to say “hey, if [Player X from division rival] goes on the DL, I’ll take it.” It’s another thing for fans at a game to cheer when a player gets hurt. One is being inwardly satisfied because your chances just got better. The other is outwardly celebrating because someone is hurt. I could care less what the other team thinks about Jose’s handshakes, but I’d never cheer an injury. It’s completely bush league behavior.
There is no such thing as ‘bush league’ It’s a made up concept by sore losers.
You’ve got it mixed up. I inwardly feel bad that someone is hurt, i’m outwardly cheering because my team’s chances just got better.
THANK YOU Carlos. I have been so sick of the media-and-Randolph-fueled stupidity that was turning this team into a bland, morose crew instead of the fun bunch it used to be. We watch sports to be entertained. There’s a happy medium between showing the other team up like Terrell Owens or Chad Johnson, and being Kevin McReynolds. I thought the furor over Milledge last year was absurd (gosh! A player who tried to develop a positive rapport with fans! For shame!) and to try to put a damper on Reyes — who’s beloved by the fans both for what he does and how he does it — is equally absurd. I’m thrilled that it was Beltran who said this, and if Willie doesn’t like it he can take his Torre-esque demeanor back to the Bronx where it belongs.
Willie said last night that he really knows his guys. I guess he takes credit for Beltran being the one to tell Jose the right thing.
If you think it was Randolph fueled you haven’t been paying attention.
The reason I’m hypothesizing that it’s Randolph-fueled is because he was fairly vocal about the Milledge-hand-slapping thing last year and is generally a pretty low-key guy, and I think he prefers that his players be that way. For what it’s worth, Ruben Gotay was one of the more demonstrative players on the team (he and Reyes had particularly elaborate handshakes, and seemed to get along really well) and Willie never liked him for no good reason. That said, if he wants Jose to be Jose, more power to him.
Other than the fact that he had never hit before then and could not play defense, Willie had no good reason not to like him. LOL
Come on this isn’t the third grade, this is a business. Willie doesn’t sit people because he doesn’t like them. If he thought Player X could help the team win even 1 more game, he would be in there.
Theres millions of dollars at stake here, for the mets and for Willie (if he gets fired). This whole idea that he doesn’t like players is ridiculous, he puts the players he thinks will help them win in the game. You may not have the same view as him, but it doesn’t mean he dislikes the player.
What Willie does not have a secret mission to get rid of all younger players because he is old?
It could not be that as a 2nd baseman himself he understands the importance of defense at 2nd base. Being able to make the simple play, turn the DP with out getting your SS killed and all the little things? You mean that he does not fall for every flash in the pan as the next great even though their minor league numbers are garbage? What an interesting idea.
LOL
I posted that Reyes should be Reyes a few days ago and was called names for it.
Thank You Mr. Beltran.
Touching story, really — however, let’s get back to reality and chalk this up to……making adjustments: to the lineup by Willie, to the approach at the plate by Jose, and in Beltran’s case — from being Mr. Quiet, to maybe stepping up and becoming a more vocal leader in the clubhouse.
That’s what I like about all of this.
Why does everything have to be about a “side-story” with teams in New York? Friggin’ media’s ridiculous, and everyone seems to eat it straight from their hands, good or bad.
People seem to think that the issue is strictly about Jose Reyes: The Windup Toy — “Pull the string, and watch Jose sing, dance, and do 16 unique signature handshakes…..Bobblehead doll not included!”
Reyes still struggled, while “being allowed to have fun” (insert eyeroll here: _____) all down the stretch last season. The handshakes were there, the A.D.D. in the dugout was, too.
That’s not the issue….what is?
Nothing is as much fun on the field when you’re not hitting…..as we’ve seen, outright with Reyes. And if you’ve ever played, then you know how slumps can affect every facet of your day — if you easily take things that happen on the field out with you into everyday life. (Reyes is another guy who wears his heart on his sleeve — and change in him can be outwardly obvious.)
Hitting brings back a smile to anyone’s face — and is contagious to the rest of the lineup, especially when it’s coming from the guy who holds the key to the offensive engine.
It’s great to see Jose back, and of course someone’s going to be more comfortable when he’s swingin’ the stick well.
Making the adjustment at the plate, coupled with some of this:
“Moving Ryan Church up in the lineup, to the No. 2 spot, adds an element of power that the Mets did not have when Luis Castillo batted second, and it allows Church AND REYES TO GET BETTER PITCHES TO HIT.
“I’ve been getting good pitches to do something with,” said Church, who smoked a first-inning homer off the left-hander Matt Chico. Both his home runs have come against left-handed pitchers. “Even yesterday, I moved guys over for guys who get paid lots of money to drive them in.”
I think you have your answer as to why Jose’s smiling a bit more the past 2 nights. Let’s hope Willie’s found a winning formula with Mr. Church in the 2-hole.
Well i was having a good day, but you put a damper on that Mr. Rain on Everyone’s Parade.
*Reality-Check*
Baseball is about adjustments. Reyes has made some at the plate.
Everything else is so the media continues to receive paychecks.
Very true. I love Reyes but everyone was saying oh we just want Reyes to be Reyes and have fun. Then the other night he hits a double and comes up smiling and being the old Reyes. Why? because he finally got a hit. Reyes is still a bit imature, when things are going bad, he hangs his head and the problems get worse. When he is hitting well he is happy and it shows. It’s nothing more. How dumb would it look to see Reyes hopping up and down, laughing and smilling after a popup?
That obviously helps. It’s why Reyes was 4/5 rather than 2/5 or 3/5. Still, you can’t discount it. Reyes _did_ make comments about toning it down, basically was letting the media get in his head. But it seems like he basically realized ’screw the media, and everyone else, this is my game’
I agree with the side-story thing. It pisses me off, though at least it’s not as bad as the yankees..yet, The same deal with the booing. The media is painting us fans in a bad light to the players, who believe all the crap too.
Thank you, Ceetar. You get it.
yea, it is adjustments, but one of the adjustments was Reyes saying to himself “screw it, I’m gonna have fun playing baseball again.” And now he is, and when he has fun and hits, the Mets win. It’s as simple as that. He’s more important to the Mets than just about any other player in baseball is to their team (with the possible exception of Pujols.) As Reyes goes, so go the Mets.
I don’t disagree with the “Jose goes…we go!” mentality — however, all I know is that the 2nd half of last year when he was still dancing around like a jackarse, he was in the middle of the worst slump of his career.
Reyes “getting rid of the handshakes” has nothing to do with his play on the field. In Spring Training, he got rid of them and seemed to play well from what I gather.
Maybe bringing them back loosened him up a bit — but other than that it had nothing to do with his play on the field.
Additionally, all Reyes said in ST was that he wanted to put more focus on baseball. I don’t see anything wrong with that……it shouldn’t stop because he wants to make up a new handshake. Keep doing it, but keep learning as a player too.
It will only benefit The New York Mets.
I still don’t see that. Like I said the other big hit that he had he was smilling and being the old Reyes. I don’t think he can help himself when he does well. The big issue is that his personality is condusive to big slumps because when he does poorly he hangs his head, like he does not have confidence in himself to get out of it.
Carlos Beltran also told him that his offensive skils will be the difference in getting a $6 Million per year deal and a $15 Million per year deal…
/sarc
As long as he also told him out to hit 8 home runs in the NLCS also!
I do have one concern with bringing the handshakes back. Without having them in spring training, will Jose have time to come up with ones for Church and Pagan? If they don’t come up with one that makes me happy, I will boo
Not to worry.
I’ve been to St. Lucie.
You can only go bowling or go to the Olive Garden so many times. I’m sure there were secret handshake meetings held at least three or four times a week.
Unfortunately, we may never see some of these handshakes.
What happens in the secret handshake meetings stays in the secret handshake meetings.
Anyone going to the game tonight, do Jose – and all of Metsdom – a favor and give Jose a big long cheer for his first at-bat today. Let it be known that you support him and his expressions of joy (assuming you do). He seems to thrive on positive energy, and the guy deserves some support after the tough love he got earlier.
If he then goes 0-5, you can go back to booing :)
Deal! ha ha ha
I really hope this turns into the moment we all look back to as the turning point of the 2008 season. When Reyes decided to just have fun playing baseball and turned back into the 2006-July of 2007 MVP-caliber player for the best team in the National League.
its obvious jose let it get in his head, so he should do what feels natural..but he wasn’t toning it down last september! so i dont see how bringing the handshakes back is gonna really effect his performance..
^ Bing.
ok, here’s the way I see it. Last year he didn’t run out that groundball, so Willie benched him. It affected his attitude the rest of the season. Yea, he was still doing the handshakes and stuff, but if you watched him in August and September, it was obvious that he wasn’t the same jubilant kid he had been since 2003. He wasn’t smiling in the field, he looked miserable all the time. He let his slump get to him. Then he hears everyone blaming the handshakes and all that nonsense. He decides going into spring training he’s gonna cut out the handshakes, but he also cut out being the smiling, happy Reyes we all loved. The slump continued during the first few weeks of the season. Finally, Beltran told him to loosen up and snapped him out of it.
It’s not the choreographed handshakes that make Reyes a great player, but those go along with him having fun and smiling on the field, and when he has fun, he hits.
He was not the same Reyes at that end of the year because he was in the slump. He smiles when he is doing well. Why would he be out there doing handshakes and beaming when he is in a slump? Fact remains that he does not have the confidence yet to keep him from going into long slumps. He hangs his head when he does poorly. I still love him though and think that will all change with time. He’s not even in his prime yet.
One could argue that, while he was still dancing last September, the negative thoughts were clearly in his head at that point. And now he feels the freedom to dance remorse-free. I’m not big on the “intangibles” of team performance, but I think we all would prefer the “eff the world” attitude of the 2006 team over the seemingly insecure, tentative approach of the 2007 team. Let’s hope this is what brings back the old swagger.
I’m a fan of Footloose, myself — but this isn’t about dancing. It’s about this:
“Over the past two days, Reyes has gone on a six-hit binge, raising his average to .292. But it’s not just the newly found freedom that’s inspired him. Reyes has also been working in the batting cage to slow down his movements. A bundle of energy as it is, Reyes’ biggest flaws at the plate comes when he shoots out in front of pitches. But hitting coach Howard Johnson has been feeding Reyes nothing but slow curveballs off a machine, forcing the shortstop to not commit so early.”
Baseball is what got Reyes to the bigs — not handshakes. And in order to have sustained success, it’ll always be about making the adjustment at the plate.
Yes, baseball got him there, but HIS style of baseball. And HIS style is to have more fun out there than anyone else. Not a pressured, under-the-microscope baseball. Not the stoic Yankee baseball. He was a big kid out there…he is how alot of us would play if we had his talent. He is what we wish we saw in more players. He is the Brett Favre of the MLB. Just a kid who loves to play. Sure he’ll break your heart with some bone head plays, but he is so carefree that he will make up for it 3-fold with plays that you couldn’t dream up.
Believe me, I’m not telling Reyes to conform for the sake of conforming — but that’s never really been the issue for me.
The issue is that things are completely and totally overblown by the media — causing one-track minded fans to start thinking that the rationale they’re presenting is “the cause” of what’s going on.
And the horse is beat — ad nausea — on and on, until it disappears into the night when things are righted.
Reyes slumped majorly — the Mets tanked — and no one had reason to sing, dance, do cartwheels into the dugout down the stretch…….struggling to hit .200 during a month will do that to a player.
I said that I liked what Beltran’s done here, and think it might have been a bit of a mental “pick-me-up” for Reyes — but bottom line: Beltran’s not taking Reyes’ at-bats for him. He’s made the adjustment, and has worked with HoJo on not flying out in front…and we’re now seeing him stay level and driving pitches he was popping up.
Getting a thumbs up from one of the best players in the National League, getting a real bat to hit behind him in the order, taking a few days off to clear his mind and rest his tight hammy — no coincidence, here.
Reyes should feel good about the turn of events. Good for him — it really has very little to do with Mets-Yankees philosophy.
Nutz15 I am glad you mentioned that about the curveball and slowing down. You could really tell that Hojo had been working with him because he actually looked late a couple of times against Chico’s 82 mph fastball in the begining last night. Maybe that was him adjusting. If so that is great for Hojo because it shows that Reyes is listening.
Again, the media likes to focus on the “big story” of Reyes’ handshakes again — and how he’s allowed to have fun again….instead of really looking at what’s been going on.
This will be the new mantra for “knowledgeable Shea fans” to hang their hats on anytime there’s a struggle….maybe he’s not smiling enough?
(The same dummies who boo Johan Santana in his 1st home start.)
Real baseball fans know otherwise….
Kudos to Howard Johnson — it’s evident he’s been working hard with Reyes over the past few weeks…and very likely, all throughout.
If other teams don’t like the new, Old Jose, too BAD! We love him. If the manager doesn’t like because thats not the way it was done in the Bronx, too bad. We need to find out what works for this bunch of guys. And its pretty obvious that stoic Reyes was not producing and as we’ve all heard….he’s the catalyst to start us up.
I absolutely love this! This is so awesome. Good for Beltran and GREAT for Jose. I’m so glad he is back. Screw the other morons who look down on Jose for all that dancing and whatnot. He is what he is and I love it! Bottom line is, watch out NL East!
When he goes 0-4 today all you fickle fans will be slamming him again. Met fans are hilarious.
That’s what i’m afraid of, but in reality, how ridiculous was it that people were THAT concerned about Jose earlier on and all of a sudden now, everything is fine and dandy? I mean, i’m very glad he’s back to being his old self, it excites the whole team, but he’s a very talented kid, he was going to start hitting.
How true
It dont mater if we win or loose today, because, we have allready won. . Its the way you play the game that counts. The team has not been “itself” since the end of 2007 and its nice to see them getting back into shape again. Acting like a team and picking each other up. When the Nats scored and went ahead we tied it, they went ahead we tied then Beltran put us ahead for good. When Maine had trouble, Smith pulled him out of the fire and of course, Wags saved it. Thats team work and that wins games. This is the attitude that we fans have been waiting to see and it has nothing to do with Willie. He should have known this and tried to get it going again? LETS GO METS !!!!!
FREAKIN AWESOME
thats right Beltran….who cares if we piss off other teams with reyes handshakes, dances, celebrations, etc. etc…..did anyone feel bad for us when we collapsed?? no … so F’EM all….LET GO METS!!
For those of you fortunate enough to be going to the game, how about an enormous “JOSE, JOSE, JOSE, JOSE” chant in bottom 1?
Get real. They all do something like that. Even Yankee players such as Joba Chamberlain.
Leave Reyes alone. I don’t care if he sambas all around the bases on his next home run. I know he won’t because he never did that anyway, but my point is, let him be who he is.
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