A pair of pickoffs made the difference in the Mets’ 3-2 loss to the Yankees in Game 3 of the Subway Series yesterday: Johan Santana’s pickoff that wasn’t and Jose Reyes’ pickoff that was.
“It was the turning point of the game,” Joe Girardi said of Reyes being picked off by Andy Pettitte to end the fifth inning at Shea Stadium.
Reyes was at second base and Damion Easley was at first with two outs and the Mets trailing, 2-1. David Wright was at the plate, giving the Mets an excellent chance to tie things up.
Reyes, however, ruined the chance, getting caught far off second base by Pettitte, who wheeled and threw to Robinson Cano. Cano’s swipe tag hit Reyes on the helmet before he could get back to the bag, ending the inning and leaving Wright at home plate knowing he’d have to wait until the sixth inning to get his swings.
“Pettitte has a way of doing weird things to his advantage,” Alex Rodriguez said. “He picked him off with their best hitter at the plate.”
Oh, and by the way, Wright led off the bottom of the sixth with a home run – though by then the Yankees had scored another run in the top of the sixth in part because of a balk called on Santana after he had picked Rodriguez off first.
Reyes is having a far better season than he typically gets credit for – his numbers in every category are superb. Nevertheless, there are going to be times when he gets picked off or caught stealing, because that’s part of the risk a player takes when he steals as many bases as Reyes does.
But yesterday’s pickoff was a critical mental error, and it was hardly Reyes’ first one this year.
“I try to go to third base in that situation,” he said. “They were guessing right.”
According to Mets manager Jerry Manuel, Reyes was trying to initiate a double steal on the play.
“He was leaning toward third and he was trying to be aggressive,” Manuel said. “He has to be a little more careful. We’ve discussed that.”
Additional reporting by George King.