Jose Reyes has said all year he wasn’t thinking about his impending free agency or the possibility of leaving the Mets.
And that’s still true — for now. But the shortstop did admit that his feelings could change in what could be his final homestand with the Mets at Citi Field.
“Right now, it’s not on my mind,” Reyes said before last night’s game against the Phillies was postponed. “The next couple of days, maybe it will get into my head. This is the only team I’ve played for and I don’t know if I’ll be back next year.”
Reyes also has a batting title to concern himself with.
“If I put that stuff in my head, I don’t perform like I want to,” said Reyes, who is hitting .329 and battling Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun (.329), and the Dodgers’ Matt Kemp (.326). “I don’t change anything now. I’ll stay with the same approach.”
That can be easier said than done.
“I’ve got a lot of people from the Dominican calling me and they want me to win the batting title,” Reyes said. “I tell those guys, ‘I’m happy I’m healthy. If it happens, great.’ ”
Manager Terry Collins acknowledged that Reyes could be affected by the situation.
“I thought about that on the plane [Thursday] night,” Collins said. “Would these be his last games [as a Met]? My first thought was, ‘This guy has enough on his mind, with his legs, the contract, the batting title . . . ‘ I’m going to bring him in and talk about a couple of things. I think it’s gonna be a hard six days with huge distractions.”
“I have a lot of great memories here,” Reyes said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. We’ll find out soon.”
David Wright continues to hold out hope Reyes will remain to his left in the infield.
“I’m trying to be optimistic that he’ll still be here,” Wright said. “We both kind of want to finish what we started and we haven’t accomplished that yet.”
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Last night’s Mets-Phillies game was postponed by rain and will be made up as part of a day-night doubleheader today, with the first game at 1:10 p.m. and the nightcap at 7:10 p.m.
Tickets to last night’s game will only be good for the 7:10 game. Sunday’s game has been pushed back to 2:10 p.m. from 1:10 p.m.
R.A. Dickey will start the first game today, in what Collins said may be his final start of the season. He will face Cole Hamels, while Dillon Gee goes against Joe Blanton in the nightcap.
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Lucas Duda is still suffering from headaches after hitting the fence in St. Louis Wednesday and went for an MRI yesterday. If his headaches don’t dissipate, he won’t be back this season. Still, Collins has seen enough from the rookie to prove that he deserves to be back with the team next season.
“He’ll be in that lineup,” Collins said. “We’ve gotta find a place for him.”
Collins added he’d rather have Duda in left field than right, but acknowledged that move seemed unlikely and thought the idea of moving Jason Bay to center, Angel Pagan to right and Duda to left would likely not be a good idea.
Pagan was scratched from the lineup last night before the rainout after he hit his head on his backswing in the first inning of Thursday’s win in St. Louis. Bay was due to return to the lineup after missing the previous three games with an illness.