Mets 6, Tigers 1 (34-34, 2.5 GB)

Sunday, June 20, 2004

I don't want to make too big a deal out of this, and I don't want to get everyone too excited, and I don't want to exaggerate, but Jose Reyes is the GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED. Seriously. The facts back me up on this. You may remember how well the Mets played last year when he was in the lineup, before he got hurt, and now this year, the Mets are undefeated with Reyes in the lineup, and he has scored a run in every game in which he has played.

OK, OK. It's only been two games. And I didn't even get to watch them. But they've definitely been the most exciting of the season so far. This is the lineup we've been waiting to see. And the bonus is the Mets won the last two games they played before Reyes came back, so now it's a 4-game winning streak, they're back to .500, and they're just two and a half games out of first. (The Phillies and the Marlins are tied atop the NL East, with Philadelphia ahead by percentage points.) Reyes is hitting just .125 after an 0-for-3 yesterday, but he needs some time to get his act together. He's making stuff happen without even hitting - imagine when he starts to get some hits!

I also forgot to mention that the Marlins pretty much handed over the NL East to the Mets in a widely under-reported move last week, by trading for Billy Koch. There is no way this guy is going to make your team better. The reason I remembered to write this today is because this morning Billy Koch is 0-1 as a National Leaguer, with an ERA of 9.00, after taking the loss for Florida yesterday. I just wish I had remembered to mention how bad Billy Koch is last week after the trade had happened, instead of after he already started pitching poorly for Florida. Oh well. Talk about a couple of headcases in Florida - Koch and Benitez. Who's going to bail the other out when one of them loses their mind? That's a tall order. Now if we could just find a headcase for the Phillies to get...wonder where John Rocker is these days?

Mike Cameron is officially out of his slump. From here on out we ignore the batting average and just look at his production. Now we have to worry about Jason Phillips. Let it be noted that Ty Wigginton is now up to .270 in the batting average department - proof that if Phillips gets hot for a few weeks he can pull his BA up too.

WRIGHT WATCH: Catching you up on David Wright's weekend with the Triple-A Norfolk Tides - on Friday and Saturday, Wright went a combined 0-8, striking out three times. And just when you start to think, hmm...maybe they've figured out how to pitch to him, he breaks out a 2-4 performance Sunday against the Pawtucket Red Sox, with a homer, double, and 2 RBI. Wright's hitting .346. Now, it must be noted that the homer came off former Yankee Ramiro Mendoza, who has struggled since the Red Sox acquired him before last year. And as Dave Shaw said, "I can homer off Ramiro Mendoza." If you don't know who Dave Shaw is, that just proves the point.
I didn't realize until this morning that the Tides are in Pawtucket, R.I. today and tomorrow. I wish I had known sooner, having already made plans. But there's an outside chance I will change them to get an in-person look at David Wright and the rest of the Triple-Aers.

Also, FYI, Aaron Heilman finally got a win yesterday for the Tides - his first minor league win in over a year. His last win (in the minors) was May 26, 2003, also against Pawtucket. Anyway, Heilman is now 1-7. Not good.