By BRIAN LEWIS
Last updated: 7:12 am
June 26, 2008
Posted: 3:42 am
June 26, 2008
With the Mets facing the prospect of getting swept by the worst team in baseball, with the offense sputtering to just six runs in four games, it was Jose Reyes that sparked them in his very first at-bat. He's always been their best barometer, and last night the barometer was on fire.
If David Wright and his two home runs was the engine of their 8-2 rout of Seattle, Reyes was the key that ignited them, going 1-for-3 with a walk, two run scored and three RBIs. He manufactured a run with his legs in the first and with his bat in the third, the kind of smallball-longball combination that can shake this offense from its malaise.
"Every time you take a lead early like that it makes it easier; you're going to play more relaxed. That's a good sign for us and for the future too," Reyes said. "There's still plenty of baseball left. We didn't play our best baseball so far. When we're starting to play good baseball, watch out. As soon as we start playing consistent, we're gong to be dangerous down the road."
The shortstop worked Seattle starter Miguel Batista for a leadoff walk then stole second. He took third on a wild pitch and scored on Luis Castillo's groundout.
"That's something we can build off offensively," Wright said of Reyes' tablesetting. "It's unrealistic to expect three home runs. That's the way we need to play - draw a walk, steal a base, get 'em over and get 'em in. That puts pressure on a defense. When we click, that's what we're doing."
It was 5-0 in the third when Reyes erased all doubt, crushing a 1-2 pitch into the right field loge for a three-run shot - his ninth of the year - for an 8-0 cushion.
Reyes is hitting .318 in his last 16 games with 16 runs scored, and he's batting .326 over his last 44 games. After hitting .240 in April, he has 24 RBIs, 43 runs scored and 21 steals since the start of May.
