By BRIAN LEWIS
May 27, 2008
Jose Reyes is usually the Mets' best barometer and biggest sparkplug, but so deep is their malaise under reprieved manager Willie Randolph that they can't buy a win even though he finally has started hitting.
The Mets lost 7-3 to Florida last night despite Reyes' two home runs, and largely because of his poor fielding.
They usually win when he gets on base multiple times, but with him batting .327 in an 11-game hitting streak, they're still just 3-8 and wasted his first multi-homer game since last September - when his sad .205 average contributed to the Mets' historic collapse.
Misplaying what should've been an inning-ending Jorge Cantu grounder in the first didn't help last night, opening the door for a pair of Marlin runs.
"It's nice to have two home runs in the game, but the win, we didn't get it," said Reyes, whose Mets fell 61/2 games behind first-place Florida. It's hard to say what's more disturbing, the fact that they can't win even when Reyes is raking the ball, or the fact the star shortstop keeps misplaying the ball.
He let a potential inning-ending double-play go through his legs Sunday. And last night he followed his first-inning error by not getting low enough - perhaps expecting a hop that never came - and letting Jacques Jones' grounder go under his glove in the sixth for a single.
"I feel OK. I got two errors but I don't feel like I'm in a slump. Errors are part of the game," said Reyes, who led off the first by crushing a belt-high pitch out to right, then turned on a 2-1 changeup in the second for a solo shot that gave them a 3-2 lead.
In a game they needed to win to help quell the fervor surrounding Randolph's job status, that lead wasn't enough.
"We just try to play the game, don't worry about everything that's happening," Reyes said. "Now they said he's the manager, and we feel happy for him. We just try to stay focused and get some wins for him."
