Rooting For Three Hits

OK, so now I feel old. I know that I am a baseball traditionalist, however, today’s fiasco at Citi Field has me sounding like my father and for that matter my grandfather. In my day, a player wouldn’t pull the stunt that Jose Reyes did today. If he wins the batting title, sure, he won it fair and square and isn’t “backing in to it”, you have to be in the game to do that. However, the path that he (and his agent) chose to pursue was nothing more than bush league. Clearly Reyes is a talented player, but this latest chapter (and possible last) in his Mets career, is another low point and sadly doesn’t really surprise me.

In case you missed it, Reyes bunted for a hit in the first inning and then removed hinself from the game. Figuring that his odds were pretty good, he’d try to win the title on the bench. It put Ryan Braun in the situation needing to go 3-4 in order to pass Reyes for the batting crown. If he starts 3-3, will he sit out?

I remember hearing the story about the great Ted Williams and his quest for .400 when I was growing up. Going into a doubleheader on the last day of the season Williams was batting .39955 which would have been rounded to .400. He could have chosen to remove himself from the lineup on that last day and he would have finished with a .400 average. However, his feeling was that he didn’t deserve the .400 average if he chose to sit out. So he played and went 6-8 in the doubleheader raising his average to .406 becoming the last player to hit .400. That’s the stuff that legends are made of. Sure, Reyes is no Ted Williams, he’s not even a class act. An interesting footnote – Reyes pulled his disappearing act on the 70th anniversary of Ted Williams historic decision and accomplishment!

“I heard some comments in the stands,” Collins said, fighting back tears. “I don’t blame them. People pay a good price to come to these games, and they’ve got to understand that I ask these players to do a lot. I’ve worked hard to get their respect this year, and they deserve ours.”

“The [fans] have to understand what’s going on,” Reyes said. “They have to feel happy if I win the batting title. I do it for the team and for the fans, too.”

Get real Jose, you are doing it for yourself, your agent and your wallet. It would have nice to see you man up and win the title on the field instead of on the bench. You are not winning the batting title for me or your team. Your team and its fans needed you on the field. All you’ve done for me is leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Reyes (and his agent) saw this as an opportunity to increase his free-agent payday. It  demonstrates his lacks the confidence in his ability to win the batting title on the field and that he was more comfortable competing from the bench. He benefited from hometown cooking with his last “hit” last night – a foul ball that hit off his foot while he was still in the batter’s box. Additionally, he got some official scoring help as a good throw would have caught him at first.

The main problem I have is that Reyes placed his individual interests above those of the team, the fans and the integrity of the game. It’s funny that he wanted to play when he felt that the chase was in question (when his manager wanted to protect him from injury) but the minute he liked his odds, he pulled a disappearing act. Well Jose, good luck, I hope that you think that it was worth it but I’ll be rooting for Ryan Braun and the integrity of the game tonight. Now that would be a story. Jose Reyes is an extremely talented and exciting player, however, if he chooses to take injury-prone, choreographed  dance, bush league sideshow elsewhere next season, this just made it a little easier to say farewell. At least Collins gets it.