After Jose Reyes robbed Alex Rodriguez and saved a run with his superb diving catch-and-throw, Josh Thole and the Mets could feel the karma leaning their way.
“I think that was the key moment when Jose made the diving play,” Thole said. “We felt like we were in control.”
Reyes’ brilliant performance came in the fifth inning of last night’s 2-1 Mets victory in The Bronx, with A-Rod at the plate, runners on first and second and two outs in a 1-1 game. Rodriguez, who at that point was 7-for-10 against R.A. Dickey in his career, smacked a shot up the middle against the knuckleballer, seemingly an RBI single.
But Reyes snared the ball with a diving stop, then gunned it to first to nail Rodriguez, keeping the score tied and ending the inning.
“When he hit it, I [thought it was a hit],” Daniel Murphy said. “But Jose does some special things out there.”
In his 43rd career Subway Series game, Reyes delivered. His buddy on the left side of the infield, Justin Turner, marveled that Reyes made the play after he had committed a throwing error after a grounder by the leadoff man, Brett Gardner (which actually was a bad call by the umpire) then threw wide on a Derek Jeter infield hit after Gardner had stolen second.
“He was frustrated a little bit about the two before that,” Turner said. “For him to stay focused and not let those get to him and stay ready to make the next play is why he’s a superstar.”
Added Freddy Garcia, “I think that was the key to the game.”
At the plate, Reyes went 0-for-4, and while he’s in the midst of a strong season, he surprisingly only has one homer in 190 at-bats. While Reyes isn’t a pure home run hitter and is on pace for 47 doubles and 22 triples (both of which would be career highs), he did average 15.7 homers per season from 2006-08 and drilled 11 in 133 games last season.
“He certainly has power,” Phil Hughes said. “He has power in this ballpark for sure.”
Mets officials dismiss any concerns about Reyes’ homer total. And as general manager Sandy Alderson theorized yesterday,
“I think it may just be where he’s hit the ball,” said general manager Sandy Alderson, who said on-base percentage is more critical than power when evaluating his shortstop’s long-term value.
– Additional reporting by Brian Lewis and Dan Martin.