Deja vu can be defined as the experience of feeling sure that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously.
I had an extreme sense of deja vu during tonight’s Mets game against the Florida Marlins. Jose Reyes singled to right field in the second inning during the Mets’ rally. Soon after, time was called, and I saw trainer Ray Ramirez approach Reyes at first base.
Reyes took an awkward swing on his base hit, and it appeared Ramirez was just checking in on him.
Then Jerry Manuel came out of the dugout to attend to the situation. Here is where my deja vu struck.
As my fellow Mets fans will never forget, Jerry Manuel, in his first ever game as Mets’ manager in June 2008, pulled Jose Reyes in the first inning in Anaheim. Reyes was visibly perturbed by Manuel’s decision and protested for several minutes before finally storming off the field and into the clubhouse.
Tonight I was expecting a similar situation. However, after a brief discussion, Reyes calmly walked off the field and sat in the dugout, where he and Manuel talked about what had transpired.
It appears Reyes has aggravated the oblique injury he suffered in June. At a time when the Mets desperately need his services, Reyes will be held out of baseball activities until he is pain free. That could be tomorrow or weeks from now when the Mets are fully eliminated from playoff contention.
If the Mets are going to make a late-season run, they need Reyes as the spark plug at the top of the batting order. Though he has struggled offensively lately, the team phrase remains: “As Reyes goes, so goes the Mets.”
The Mets will hope for the speedy recovery of Jose. Time is running out this season, and if the team were to get hot, it would need to be sooner rather than later. But without Reyes, all hope appears lost for the 2010 Mets’ season.
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