In Jose Reyes’ words, he is at his best when he can “get on base, run like crazy.”
Last night he got on base. And he ran like crazy even to just get on base.
Reyes had his third straight multiple-hit game and fourth in five — picking up his 1,000th career hit along the way. He also scored a season-high-tying three runs, stole a pair of bases and collected an RBI as the top-of-the-order catalyst in the Mets’ 8-0 rout of the Phils at Citi Field.
“The last two or three weeks, I’ve been feeling very good in my legs. I’ve got a lot of confidence,” said Reyes, who has been back at leadoff for 10 games.
“I told Luis [Castillo] every day, ‘I can’t wait to get on base two or three times again, because my legs feel so good now.’ ”
And he’s not the only one waiting for him to get aboard.
“We’re a completely different team [when he plays that way],” said No. 3hitter Jason Bay (two RBIs, driving in Reyes each time).
“That’s not saying everything falls on his shoulders. But you can see when he’s out there getting hits, stealing bases, making pitchers uncomfortable. In a perfect world, he gets a hit, steals second. I’m hitting third, I’ll take that every single time.”
“He finally has his legs underneath him,” said manager Jerry Manuel, whose gang moved to .500 at 23-23. “That had a lot to do with his inability to hit the ball the way he wanted to.”
Reyes became the quickest Met to 1,000 hits (833 games) in franchise history.