This was a great win B.H. A lot of fun B.H. Jorge Sosa was again spectacular B.H. Carlos Gomez showed off his speedy young legs, his compact batting stroke and his veteran's eye at the plate B.H. David Wright showed signs that his revival is becoming a renaissance B.H. Carlos Delgado even flashed a little deceptive speed B.H.
B.H., of course, is the abbrevation used to refer to Before Hamstring — before Jose Reyes, the heart, spark, soul and engine of the Big Orange and Blue Machine, came out of the tail end of the game with a “slightly tight” hamstring.
Funny — by which I of course mean “horrifying” — how quickly everything changed. Sosa's win, first place … whatever. Is Reyes OK? Is he 100% OK? Is he 1,000% OK? Can he play tomorrow? Should he play tomorrow? Can he go against the Yankees? Forget the Yankees! Tell me Jose Reyes is OK!
And suddenly all matter of horrible ghosts and goblins came cackling out of the dark closet. Mackey Shilstone. Exile in St. Lucie. That horrible, broken-legged temporary gait. The whispers — now so obviously shameful and unfair — that our phenom was fragile, couldn't handle pain, wouldn't listen. It all came back, along with the crazy thoughts. Why was he still in the game? Why play him when the field's wet? Who let him out of his hyperbaric chamber where virgins rub his hamstrings with nectar and ambrosia heated to within a tenth of degree of body temperature? What was next? Would I wake up to find Emily pinching me, look at the screen and see Art Howe cheering on staring blankly at Kaz Matsui?
I had a whole post planned about how much fun rain-delayed games are when you're at home and your schedule's flexible. When the game finally does arrive, whether it's after Mets Classics or Perfect Strangers or whatever, it always has the loose feel of some neighborhood pickup game. I know we were supposed to play three hours ago, but the Carloses had to help their dad in the garage. Anyway, let's go. And watch left field cause it's like a big puddle.
Maybe tomorrow it will feel that way again. Maybe I'll look at this post and laugh at my up-too-late panic. Maybe I'll feel silly. I would love to feel silly. Please let me feel silly.
Came back from dinner and checked the box score:
Gotay “ran for Reyes in the 8th”
Huh? why would anyone ever pinch run for Reyes?
“Mets All-Star Jose Reyes left the game after an eighth inning single with slight tightness in his left hamstring. The team said he was day-to-day. ”
Hanging on the word “slight.”
I'll be day-to-day until I hear he's OK.
I won't go as far as to say you're silly, but Kevin Burkhardt reported near game's end and Willie insisted a few minutes later that it was a little tight. A little tight is all. A little tight.
Keep him out of the lineup later today. Keep him out of the ballpark. Get some ice or some heat or something or other on that thing.
He'll be OK. He must be OK.
Jorge Sosa kicks ass, not incidentally.
Jo-se, Jo-se Jo-se Jo-se, o-k, o-k?
i didn't know i could sleep without exhaling. until i hear otherwise, i'm still holding my breath waiting for a good word from joseworld. that'd be me with my face turned mets blue.
I didn't even hear about Jose until I finally made it to my car in the White Plains parking lot. Wow. Hope he is fine.
My kids, the bicycledad and I did sit through the fun. I have to hand it to my kids who were better behaved than many of the other fans in the mezz. We hung around because they have off from school today. They considered it an adventure. First time they've seen the grounds crew show.
They were more than happy with the 4 innings we eventually stayed for. And now we have $12 worth of Dunkin' Donuts cards so they can eat MORE JUNK FOOD (WOOHOO!).
Any blog whose first word is “Faith” must be populated by folks who believe in the power of prayer. So everyone, right now, as you read this, please lean over and rub your left hamstring (that's the back of your thigh, extending from the bottom of the buttocks to the knee joint – thank you, WebMd).
Rub it and pray. Rub it and pray. For those of you who are Catholic, rub it and pray nine times, and call it a Hammy Novena. Send all those healing hamstring vibes from where you're sitting, or standing, and rubbing, directly to Jose Reyes' upper left thigh. If your own hamstring begins to cramp up, don't worry. This means your prayer is working. So you limp around the office this afternoon. After all, what's more important, your mobility and speed, or Jose's?
Breathe easy, everyone.
Heard the news this morning that Jose expects to play this afternoon. Even if Willie keeps him out of the lineup, it's a relief to hear that Jose feels ok.
Too many nightmares of his first two seasons when he was so brittle.
Reyes has no business playing today's game, if only to err on the side of caution as we recover from our hyperventilating episodes.
Point of order, though, I don't recall Art Howe ever cheering on Kaz Matsui — or anyone else. He'd just stare out at the field blankly with a grimace that read, “It never felt like this in Oakland. Or Houston. Or on my fishing skiff…” Please don't take me back to those days.
When I slip this mortal coil and meet the Big Guy, in whose image we were made, two things I am going to ask him:
Sinuses and hamstrings — What were you thinking?
Hamstring pulls have screwed up more high-quality position players than any other injury I can think of (and a few pitchers too, though the ol' rotator cuff seems to be their main Achilles' heel).
Even your humble poster, flabby middle-aged desk jockey that he is, has found himself bedeviled by his too-tight hams more than once, and a doctor has told him in all seriousness that his lower back trouble would be a lot less bad if he'd only be more diligent about stretching 'em.
If I owned the Mets, I think I'd keep a trainer on staff just to work on hamstrings.
But I cling to this thought: Sitting around at Shea for three hours on a damp night waiting for a game to start is bound to make anybody a little stiff, so maybe all Jose needed was a hot soak and a bottle of Red Stripe to be right as rain again.
One more thing…..
We've all been growsing at the Yankees owning the back page of the News but has anyone noticed that the Post has done right by us?
Now, I'm not a big fan of the Post but I have to give them some love here. The game ended after midnight and they still gave us the back page. I think we've gotten the last 3 by my count.
Love the Rain Delays, bring em on!! As a person who resides in the region controlled by the Giants and Athletics, my access to SNY is blacked out during all Mets games. The exception to that rule is that I am allowed to watch the postgame show, which means I often get to see the last few innings of the games. Last night, as I went to check to see if this was the case, I was delighted to see that the Classic Game I was watching was to be followed shortly by actual Mets baseball. I got to enjoy the insightful Ron Darling (at least about pitching) and the chortling Keith Hernandez (something struck him funny about Darlings limp-wristed curveball). Was great fun, as was the win.
Jose needs to take the day off, get some treatment and have a snack this afternoon. No need to push in May with the heat of summer right around the corner.
Joel
ron and keith and gary put on a really enjoyable show, don't they? nonfans who have watched some innings with me have noted how easy and fun they make the game, even if you're not totally tuned in to it.
i shudder to think of being saddled with the likes of, say, those calling the games in the bronx…
Oh my goodness gracious!
Plenty of Met bashing to go around in Newsday.
While we're on the subject, ask the Big Guy why we put food in the same opening we breathe through.
Done. Nine times even — I'm a temporary Catholic where Jose's holy hammy is concerned. And willing to entertain any and all other faith-based specifics.
Fixed.
Thank Jebus I'm not the only one who did it.
Not in the starting lineup, but he's got company:
Endy
Gotay
Green
Delgado
Franco
Newhan
Castro
Gomez
Vargas
[woofing]
Gonna suck for the Cubs to get beat by that nine.
[/woofing]
Awesome.
Looks like Lou picked the wrong week to give up sniffing glue.
With the Mets trailing 5-1 in the ninth this afternoon, the bottom of the inning went like this: Single, lineout, single, stolen base, walk, walk, single, single, single, Mets walk off with a 6-5 victory.
Thank you, Cubs bullpen, for that object lesson in why you should never ever leave a home game early.
In fairness to the Cubbies, it should be noted that Beltran and Wright both pinch-hit in the ninth and Delgado had the winning hit. So they weren't beaten entirely by the Mets bench. But close.