Mets’ Capuano Throws Zeroes and Support Arrives Late

On Friday night, as Jose Reyes waited on deck for his turn at bat, a Pirates fan began to taunt him, trying in vain to highlight some perceived flaws in Reyes’s game. The heckler shouted that Reyes, who is in the final year of his contract, would never get a payday similar to the seven-year, $142 million deal that the Boston Red Sox gave Carl Crawford last winter and pointed out that Reyes does not hit home runs.

Reyes, who had hit only one entering the game, proceeded to lash a home run to right field, emphatically muzzling the abuse with perfect timing. On Sunday, as if to reinforce the point he made to that chagrined fan, Reyes drilled another homer in the Mets’ 7-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Lately, it seems there is nothing Reyes can’t do.

He went 3 of 5 Sunday for his major-league-leading 33rd multi-hit game, scored two runs and raised his batting average to .346, the highest in baseball. He continued to play excellent defense as well, with several fine plays at shortstop. After the game, his manager declared him the leading candidate for the National League’s Most Valuable Player award.

“Obviously, I get to see him every day, and in my mind he is,” Manager Terry Collins said, “so that would be yes.”

The veteran pitcher Jason Isringhausen compared Reyes’s impact on the Mets to that of Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who just received a 10-year, $157 million contract from Colorado. The Mets play in the biggest market in baseball, and ordinarily re-signing a popular, homegrown talent like Reyes would be an easy decision.

But financial mistakes on the part of the Mets’ owners have left open the possibility that they will not be able to pay Reyes, who is in his prime at 28, what he could command as a free agent after the season. Although a midseason trade seems less likely with each passing day, especially since the Mets are showing unexpected potential as they hover close to .500, Reyes could be playing his last few months as a Met.

“I don’t have that decision, man,” he said, unable to contain a huge smile. “I told you guys over and over, I don’t have that decision. I’m just going to continue to play and do my job and help this team the most that I can, and whatever happens in the future, happens. Right now, the only thing that I can control is continue to play.”

On Sunday, Reyes had six total bases, giving him 144 on the season, which is third in the league behind Matt Kemp of the Dodgers and Prince Fielder of the Brewers. He is first in baseball with 11 triples and third in stolen bases with 20.

In the National League, he is third in runs with 47 and tied for third with 19 doubles. He also has the most hits in baseball, with 94.

Reyes has failed to get a hit in only one of his last 18 games, and during that span he has hit .427 with 5 triples, 6 doubles, 2 homers and 21 runs.

He is still a long way from winning any awards, but two weeks into June he is playing better than he ever has.

“I think so,” he said. “By this point, all my career, I’ve never hit over .340, so right now I’ve got a routine and I’ve been consistent with everything, so hopefully I can continue with the same routine.”

His performance Sunday was part of a commanding victory in which starter Chris Capuano pitched masterfully, holding the Pirates scoreless on three hits over seven innings.

Capuano needed to be good to match Pirates starter Kevin Correia, who did not allow a base runner until Jason Bay’s ground-ball single with two outs in the fifth. Bay continued to show signs of creeping out of his slump, as he also pushed home the game’s first run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh.

That turned into one of two bizarre moments in the game because Angel Pagan, who was running from first on the play, was called out on an appeal to end the inning because, after rounding second, he never touched it again as he scampered back to first.

Pagan made up for the gaffe by leaping to catch Lyle Overbay’s fly ball at the wall in the bottom of the inning. The ball was hit so deep that the operator for the home run fireworks display at PNC Park shot off a salvo in premature celebration. An amused Pagan turned around and waved at the pyrotechnics.

“They thought it was a homer,” he smiled. “I just said, ‘It was an out, so save it for later.’ ”

The last home run of the game didn’t come from a Pirate. It came from someone who is pillaging National League pitchers: Reyes.


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