Jerry Manuel let loose one of his loud chuckles. Yes, Jose Reyes did look healthy during the Mets' intrasquad game. Reyes hit the first pitch he saw Monday for a two-run triple in his first game-like setting since he was sidelined for most of last season by an injured right leg. Reyes says it felt a little weird when he stepped into the batter's box, but his leg felt good and he doesn't feel like he has anything to worry about. Reyes, who has been a leadoff hitter for most of his career, batted third during the scrimmage. Manuel is toying with the move while All-Star center fielder Carlos Beltran is expected to miss the start of the season following right knee surgery. - link
You couldn’t blame Luis Castillo for not showing much loyalty to the Mets, who spent the offseason trying to trade their oft-criticized second baseman. Castillo reportedly tutored Marlins utility man Emilio Bonifacio most mornings this offseason to school him on fundamentals like bunting, base running and how to best utilize his speed. "We're the same players, me and him,'' Castillo told the Miami Herald. "That's what I tell him.'' Castillo, who played the first 10 years of his career with the Marlins, and Bonifacio are both from the Dominican Republic, and that’s where they worked out five days a week this winter. - link
Mets manager Jerry Manuel said that Johan Santana (elbow) will make his first Grapefruit League start on March 9 against the Astros. The rest of the rotation will be built around Santana's start next Tuesday, according to Manuel. It will be Santana's first game action since undergoing season ending surgery on his left elbow last September. Santana is 29-16 with a 2.78 ERA and 1.18 WHIP over his first two seasons in Queens. With a shaky supporting cast, Santana will be counted on more than ever this season. - link
“Above all, the story of Willie Mays reminds us of a time when the only performance-enhancing drug was joy.” - – Pete Hamill
The above sentence — which concluded Pete Hamill’s New York Times review of James Hirsch’s excellent Willie Mays book — has been batted around a bit on the Internet the last few days. It has been batted around mainly because, well, with all due respect, it’s ridiculous. As more than one person cynically has written, and more than a few hundred cynically have thought: “I didn’t know that joy was another word for amphetamines.”
Up front, I should say that I love Pete Hammill. He’s another writing hero of mine. He, more than almost anyone else I’ve read, has a knack for capturing the whiff of smoke and black-and-white charm of a certain time and place and occasion — New York in the 1960s, a rainy night out with Frank Sinatra, the violence and beauty of a Sugar Ray Robinson fight. A Pete Hamilll essay on Willie Mays was exactly what I wanted to read on a cold Sunday morning as the days begin to lengthen. - link
Tony Bernazard is long gone as a Mets' executive, rather famously fired last summer for bad behavior, but the legend of his notorious influence on all phases of the organization continues to grow. It turns out that Bernazard even dictated the extreme opposite-field hitting philosophy the Mets adopted last season, which may have contributed to their stunningly low home run total. Hitting coach Howard Johnson, who has now changed the philosophy to try and make the Mets more of a power-hitting ballclub again, Sunday confirmed what I'd been told by sources in the organization - link
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