Interesting report last night on Fox when after Shane Victorino’s slam against Milwaukee in which which he raised his finger in the air as he rounded the bases.

Prior to the next game, teammates taped to Victorino’s locker the photo of him running the bases and wrote ‘J. Reyes’ above it.

A slap at Reyes? Of course it was. But, if this irks you, blame Reyes, for it is stuff like this that upsets other teams enough to put the Mets in their sights. Reyes is a good player with the potential to be great, but he’s been given a free reign for the most part about his celebrations and behavior.

Reyes provided the motivation to the Florida Marlins for the season finale in 2007, and undoubtedly inspired teams against the Mets this year.

Posted under Commentary

Here’s what Oliver Perez had to say about coming back to the Mets and the free-agent market: “This is the team that gave me the second opportunity to come back to the majors and I was really happy, but I have to look at everything and see what team gives me the best opportunity to win.”

To look at surface value, if Perez had come through the Mets would be playing this week, perhaps even hosting a game. But, he didn’t. He had 17 no-decisions in 34 starts. Talk about not completing your work.

I don’t think Perez was throwing his teammates under the bus. Perez is not a great speaker and gets overwhelmed at times talking to the media. He has a tendency to speak in cliche, and that’s what he did there. Scott Boras had him primed on what to say during the season and that was a stock quote.

However, the question should be asked whether Perez gives the Mets their best chance to win. If the dollar figures are true of five years at $75 million to start, is Perez the answer? He won 15 games last year and only 10 this season. That’s a huge drop and injuries aren’t to blame.

Do you really want this guy back or should the Mets spend the money elsewhere?

Posted under New York Mets

Johan Santana pitches tonight for the split at Washington. After last night’s game, Jerry Manuel said his expectations for Santana were to go 170 pitches. He was joking, but after sending out seven relievers last night you had to wonder if there wasn’t a grain of truth to what he was saying.

We all know about how Santana has been shortchanged by his teammates this season, both in run support and bullpen help.

He really does need to get at least into the eighth inning tonight. Nine would be even better.

Luis Ayala closed last night. It’s probably a good assumption to think the same tonight.

Posted under New York Mets