Make no mistake, all the fuss and talk about Reyes pulling himself out of today’s game is all well deserved. However, this time it’s not the Mets that will deal with the consequences if this batting title goes to Ryan Braun.
It’s all Reyes.
And he created it, all of it.
There was no way Terry Collins was going to refuse Jose’s request to come out of the game. Terry is building something a lot bigger than a batting title. I give Terry a lot of credit for what he has done with this team and the relationships he’s built with his players.
So he gets a pass.
This whole fiasco rests on the shoulders of Reyes; if he wins the title, he’ll have to deal with the talk that he never played the last game. He’ll have to answer the questions about ducking out or being selfish or just plain frightened of going 1-3 in the last game of the year.
I’m not saying the Batting Title will be tainted if he wins it, if Braun can’t go 3-4 tonight, Reyes will win it fair and square.
It just won’t have that glamour, that drama, that suspense that everyone seemed to want and what getting a title, any title, should deserve. Perhaps there might have been more excitement if the Mets were playing the same time as the Brewers.
It’s over anyway, what’s done is done.
I am pulling for Reyes tonight, I want him to win, I want the Mets to have their first player to win the Batting Title.
If he doesn’t, it’s something that Reyes will have to deal with for the rest of his career. After all, he created it.
20 comments
SaltyGary
9/28/2011-10:34pm at 10:34 pm (UTC -4)
Going into the last few weeks I didn’t really get into the story because most of the work was done in the first half and his second half was ordinary. But he was able to stay consistent in September and had a great last week, so I started to get the into it. Today was a fiasco and it just adds to the Mets lore.
He made the choice that his resume for his next contract was more important than being a competitor. He chose that the batting title was more important than possibly playing out his final game for the fans that came to the field. They paid to see him today and after ten minutes he felt he didn’t need to put in anymore work. He didn’t even have it in him to come out in the end, he was dragged out by other players that understand what the right thing to do is.
If he wins he will have to look at the trophy and remember he got it by quitting. I am disgusted. Such a crappy typical way to finish what was a encouraging season.
Anonymous
9/29/2011-4:21am at 4:21 am (UTC -4)
I don’t think his desire to win the batting title has anything to do with a contract more than just a career accomplishment.
Its a career defining accolade and I have no problem with him taking himself out to give him the best chance of winning it.
pal88
9/28/2011-10:37pm at 10:37 pm (UTC -4)
While I love Reyes and hope we sign him…this move to give him the advantage for the batting title sucks
Anonymous
9/28/2011-11:07pm at 11:07 pm (UTC -4)
either he is a clueless boob, or he already knows he is at least 99% outa here! for next season. Or both.
MetsFan4Decades
9/29/2011-1:19am at 1:19 am (UTC -4)
Well, I’m clearly in the minority here. I just don’t care. And yes, I don’t care because Reyes is a NY Met and I’m a Met fan.
I just see no difference between this and contending teams resting first stringers, skipping ace starters so they start on Friday and every other jockeying they can think of to give them every advantage in post season.
MetsFan4Decades
9/29/2011-1:21am at 1:21 am (UTC -4)
Maybe some of the reason I just don’t care is b/c of the huge media storm against Jose b/c of this right now.
This from ESPN:
‘Jose Reyes, you are an absolute DISGRACE! You are a chump of the highest
order! I hope with all my heart that Ted Williams digs himself out of
his grave, kicks your $% like a grizzled old man and war veteran knows
how to kick $@%, takes a little batting practice, climbs back into his
grave, and goes back to sleep. I also hope Braun goes 4-4 tonight’
***********************************
Stay classy, ESPN.
It’s just become way to fashionable to pick on the Mets. From Walter Reed Gate to Cap Gate to Reyes Gate.
Winning would certainly go a long way towards shutting some of them up.
Mr North Jersey
9/29/2011-1:58am at 1:58 am (UTC -4)
Yea I am not getting some of the anger by ppl over this.
Anonymous
9/29/2011-2:12am at 2:12 am (UTC -4)
it really doesn’t matter in the big scheme of things.
Anonymous
9/29/2011-4:12am at 4:12 am (UTC -4)
MF4D I totally agree with you. Consider this.
Here is a blog that discusses the issue of whether or not a player should sit or play the final game of the season in an attempt to win the batting title.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=214139
As you can see from the article what Reyes did was not without precedence. In fact consider this from:
http://wso.williams.edu/~jkossuth/cobb/lajoie.htm
“Cobb’s growing domination of the art of hitting angered many in the baseball world, for they hated to see Cobb beat players they admired. This hatred of Cobb came to a head in 1910 when he and Napoleon Lajoie, the player-manager of the Cleveland Naps, squared off in an epic race for the batting title (Cleveland had renamed its team in honor of the wildly popular Lajoie, who had come over from Philadelphia in 1902). The winner of the 1910 batting crown would receive a brand-new Chalmers “30,” to be donated by Hugh Chalmers, baseball devotee and owner of the Chalmers Motor Car Company. In early July, Lajoie had almost a .030 lead on Cobb, but by the beginning of September, Cobb had cut the deficit to .008. Then just before a series in Cleveland, Cobb came down with an inflamed optic nerve and missed the entire series. Many people felt that he was afraid to go head to head with Lajoie. Once the inflammation subsided, he went 5 for 6 in a doubleheader with New York and 4 for 7 over two days in Chicago. Then, with a virtually insurmountable lead, he sat out Detroit’s last two games. Cobb claims, of course, that he wasn’t just sitting out to preserve his lead; it seems that a recurring eye problem began to flare up worse than ever forcing him to sit out those last two games of the season.
Lajoie needed to have a perfect last few games to beat Cobb. With the Naps in St. Louis to wrap up the season, the Browns’ manager, Jack O’Connor, decided to go the extra mile to help Lajoie win the batting title. He had his rookie third baseman, Red Corriden, play near the outfield grass so that Lajoie could lay down bunts all day and beat them out. O’Connor told Corriden that he didn’t want him to get hurt by a sharp line drive. Lajoie’s first time up, he tripled. But in seven other times at bat, he laid down bunts to Corriden, beating them out for 6 hits and a fielder’s choice. He also bunted successfully to shortstop, for an 8 for 9 performance. He supposedly later received a telegram congratulating him on his accomplishments from several Detroit Tigers.”
The myth concerning the integrity of baseball believed by the delusional few is just that a myth. Any pretense at this myth was dispelled by the steroid era when baseball records fell by the wayside. And please the stupidity of invoking Ted Williams quest for .400 as a point of comparison to Reyes accomplishments calls attention to the absurdity and stupidity of some of these so called journalists and bloggers that have a collective IQ in the single digit range. Ted Williams is one of the best, if not the best, pure hitter in the history of baseball. One would never mistake Reyes for being in that category. Also I doubt if Reyes’ free agency is significantly enhanced, if at all, by winning the batting title. Please enough with this Reyes nonsense and congratulations to Jose for winning the batting title, the first Met to do so, and he will be missed.
MetsFan4Decades
9/29/2011-4:36am at 4:36 am (UTC -4)
wow – interesting gategem. So it’s not like he’s the first – and won’t be the last.
Anonymous
9/29/2011-4:06am at 4:06 am (UTC -4)
I’m with you completely. He won a batting title on a team that mattered little. Had he played the whole game, great. Had he only had 1 AB, big frickin woop de do.
Anonymous
9/29/2011-2:20am at 2:20 am (UTC -4)
Well, in the overall scheme of things this is, once again, much ado about nothing. This has happened lots of times in sports and will again.
Would it have been a gutsy, put-the-fans-first thing for Jose to do to play 9 innings? Absolutely.
Is it bad for him to want a batting title? Absolutely not.
Were this not his last game as a Met most likely, would this be less of a big deal? Absolutely.
Is the ESPN/media bashing a bunch of high horse drivel and just more media bashing of the Mets which they do at every opportunity? Absolutely.
In a few years, will virtually anyone other than a few thousand people who might have attended the game to see Jose remember this, think about it, or care? Absolutely not.
Will it taint the title? Not a chance.
More media drivel.
Anonymous
9/29/2011-2:39am at 2:39 am (UTC -4)
maybe I am looking at this backwards, but if this was his last game, people should care LESS about it!
If he was an icon that might be retiring, then yes, let the fans have him for 1 more game.
But, this is a guy that may bolt his “family” for more $$. and if he does, then forget about him and move on. Why would you want to see more of a guy that is about to essentially abandon his fans?
And if he comes back, then it really doesn’t matter!
But bottom line, it is a nice little title to have, but means absolutely nothing to any team in MLB, or competitive balance.
Anonymous
9/29/2011-4:23am at 4:23 am (UTC -4)
exactly. noone is going to talk about the Yankees essentially handing the Rays two wins in a row…
Anonymous
9/29/2011-4:37am at 4:37 am (UTC -4)
Both the Braves and RedSox eliminated in the very last game with gut wrenching defeats. Both teams wasted countless offensive opportunities and had runners thrown out at the plate.
BTW after the Mets 2007 meltdown I researched teams that suffered similar meltdowns to determine if they bounced back in subsequent seasons. In almost all cases the teams went into a nose dive and required rebuilding. The Mets actually almost went against history here with their 2008 season but alas the bullpen took care of that.
Anonymous
9/29/2011-5:20am at 5:20 am (UTC -4)
The same baseball tradition BS they invoke in the Reyes situation also says that a team that either has clinched a post season berth or has been eliminated play their best lineup against other teams vying for a post season position yet as you point out the Yankees played essentially chopped liver in their games against the Rays. I doubt if you will hear or read anything about it in the media. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Fat Mike gives his beloved Yankees a pass but is all over Reyes. I won’t know since I don’t listen to that pompous jackass.
MetsFan4Decades
9/29/2011-4:39am at 4:39 am (UTC -4)
Well, I’m willing to bet all this hoopla about Reyes fades pretty quickly because:
Rays Win! Red Sox lose!
Cards Win! Braves lose!
Holy Baseball…these were two epic collapses in what was overall an epic night of baseball. 2 extra innings, on rain delay. Fitting way to end it all, especially for a Met fan just watching.
Anonymous
9/29/2011-11:30am at 11:30 am (UTC -4)
but the key question is: Did it help the Phils to get the cards? Would the Brewers put up a better fight?
I am hoping the Cards pull off another 2006 miracle here. St Louis vs. Rangers WS?
Darknova306
9/29/2011-4:47am at 4:47 am (UTC -4)
I really couldn’t care less about batting titles in the first place, so this whole thing is a non-story to me. Congrats to Jose for getting the title, but I just can’t bring myself to care.
Paul J. Festa
9/29/2011-5:35pm at 5:35 pm (UTC -4)
No way Collins would refuse his request, when the Mets are courting him like a prom date.