SAN FRANCISCO — Just in case anyone is wondering, Ed Kranepool is the Mets all-time hits leader at 1,418.
It was fitting on the day Derek Jeter collected his 3,000th hit in such dramatic fashion with his third home run of the season and 237th of his career, part of his magical 5-for-5 performance — Great Ones do that — the Mets were 3,000 miles away, getting shut down by Tim Lincecum and the Giants, 3-1 at beautiful AT&T Park.
The Mets live in the same city as the Yankees, but the Broadway spotlight is never quite the same for them. The only player who has even the slightest glimmer of hope of ever collecting 3,000 hits as a Met, their shortstop, Jose Reyes, could be with another team next season.
Reyes, 28, owns 1,243 hits and is having a fantastic year but is out injured again with a strained left hamstring. Jeter, meanwhile, proudly continues his Hall of Fame march at the age of 37.
“It was amazing, I almost cried,” Reyes told The Post of Jeter’s Amazin’ day and that 3,000th hit. “Good for him. I’m happy for him.”
To put Jeter’s feat into perspective, consider that when Jeter was Reyes’ age he finished the 2002 season with a total of 1,390 hits. Reyes has somewhat similar numbers, but he would have to remain healthy to come anywhere close to that majestic baseball kingdom that Jeter entered yesterday in such legendary fashion.
“That’s a lot of hits, a lot of hits,” said Reyes, who had a good day in a Mets disabled list kind of way, throwing in the outfield three hours before the game and hitting in the indoor cage. As he spoke he had his left hamstring wrapped in ice.
When I mentioned Jeter’s hit total (at the age of 28) to him and how Reyes is in the same area code as Jeter at that age, Reyes smiled and noted: “But I have to stay on the field. I missed a lot of time. You have to play every day.”
Manager Terry Collins praised Jeter, saying this was a great day for baseball and noting that whenever Jeter does decide to retire you can be sure that in The Captain’s final game he will get four hits and “the game-winner” and on the final play make a “jump throw to first to nip the runner and the Yankees win the last game and the World Series.”
Such is Jeter’s charmed and wonderful baseball life.
It’s also further illustrates that the Yankees and Mets live in opposite baseball universes.
It takes courage to be a Mets fan in New York considering all the obstacles thrown their way, including ownership that is struggling to stay afloat while the Yankees, whether they succeed or not on the field, always put their money on the table year after playoff year.
Having said all that, these 2011 Mets under Collins have overachieved, considering all the pitfalls they have faced. They are now seven games back of the Braves in the loss column for the wild card. It won’t be long before there is an all-out salary dump.
Collins has the Mets playing hard and together. They not only have to try to beat their opponents every night they have to try to overcome the reality of organizational failure compounded by the injuries to Reyes, All-Star third baseman David Wright and Ike Davis.
“I don’t think there’s any question we’re beating expectations,” Collins said. “Heck, even if David and Ike were here, expectations were that we weren’t going to be very good. That was the thought by a lot of people.”
Last night was one of those nights where the Mets limited offense never clicked and the missing bats were evident against Lincecum and the Giants bullpen. The Mets managed just four hits, all doubles, one less hit than Jeter had on the day.
Sizing up Jeter’s performance for the baseball ages one final time, Collins said, “That’s some magic stuff right there.”
If only one day the Mets could find some magic of their own.