It would be a vast understatement to merely describe Mets infielder Jose Reyes’s season as disappointing. His batting average is way under .200 and age seems to have caught up with his once very speedy legs. He doesn’t steal as many bases nor does he get to ground balls as quickly as he once did.
A lot of Mets fans who call sports talk radio show and post on social media are demanding the team release him. Adding to their argument is that the Mets have an infielder at their top minor league team in Las Vegas named Jeff McNeil who is tearing the cover off of the baseball.
The Mets shouldn’t cut ties with Jose Reyes. Now before you go for the pitchforks and torches, hear me out.
I would be far more inclined to go along with the “Jose has to go!” sentiment if the Mets had even a remote chance of making the playoffs this year but that doesn’t appear to be the case at the All-Star Game bye week. With the season basically lost the Mets have nothing to lose by letting one of their most popular players of all-time finish out the year, and probably his career, on his own terms.
In his defense, Jose had a horrible first half in 2017 but became one of the Mets’ best hitters in the second half and that earned him a contract for 2018. With nothing left to lose the Mets should see if lightning can strike twice.
The aforementioned Jeff McNeil will be called up to the Mets when the team trades free agent-to-be infielder Asdrubal Cabrera to a pennant contender or in case of an injury to an infielder which is a frequent occurrence for the Mets.
From a media perspective, Jose Reyes is always at his locker ready to chat or answer questions during the pregame media access time. Trust me, a lot of players go to great lengths to eschew that responsibility.
Juan Soto, the personable young star outfielder for the Washington Nationals, gave more interviews to the New York media in one weekend at Citi Field than Yoenis Cespedes has done in three years.
Soto’s teammate, Michael Taylor, was thankful that the Nationals’ last game before the All-Star break was played in Queens..Whereas most players either return to their off-season homes or stay in the cities in which the play, Taylor wanted to do something a bit more exotic.
Realizing that Citi Field was close to JFK Airport, Taylor booked an Icelandair flight to Reykjavic for him and his girlfriend. . He was planning to spend four days at Blue Lagoon Geothermal Resort before returning back to Washington.
Noah Syndergaard did pick up a win Friday night in his first game back following a finger injury that kept him off the mound for six weeks.
While the fan mood was upbeat following the Mets’ 4-2 win over the Nationals, the reality was the Noah looked pretty rusty. He was behind in the count on many batters and put the leadoff man on base for the majority of the five innings that he worked. The good news for Syndergaard was that he was always able to get a big out, including a double play hit by Bryce Harper who ran half-speed to first base, when he needed it.
Noah also hit a line drive single in the second inning that drove in the Mets’ fourth and final run for the night. Jacob deGrom should take note of what a Mets pitcher has to do to earn a victory!
Mets third baseman Todd Frazier is expected to be activated in time for the latest installation of the Subway Series that gets underway Friday night and he made no secret of his excitement. “Forget the standings. Every Subway Series game is like Ohio State-Michigan!” he told me exuberantly last Thursday.
Best of luck to actor Branden Wellington who may not be known by name to Mets fans but they have certainly seen him many times over the past five years hosting between inning contests involving Citi Field spectators. Wellington just resigned his emcee position at Mets home games in order to join the cast of Netflix’s “Orange Is The New Black” which films in Los Angeles.
The Yankees showed proper corporate outrage by booting Papa John’s out of Yankee Stadium following the company’s founder and longtime CEO John Schnatter publicly uttering a disgusting racial slur.
It was only fitting that 6’10” American John Isner hooked up with 6’8″ South African tennis star Kevin Anderson in the Wimbledon semi-finals. The two tallest players on the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour went the maximum five sets with Anderson winning the very elongated tie-breaker by the ridiculous score of 26-24. This wasn’t surprising since both Isner and Anderson are known for playing long matches with opponents.
If these two men meet for a night match at Arthur Ashe Stadium during the upcoming US Open my suggestion would be for patrons to let their employers know that they’ll be taking a vacation day following it since they’ll be getting very little sleep.
Comedian Kevin Hart is hosting a Wednesday night CBS summer replacement series called “TKO: Total Knockout.” In spite of its title it has nothing to do with boxing. Rather it borrows heavily from NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” with competitors trying to stop each other from getting across an obstacle course using both old school dodge ball and contraptions that look like they came from a classic Rube Goldberg cartoon.
In a similar vein to “TKO.” Yulu Toys promoted its new party game titled Watermelon Smash to the media at both the annual Toy Insider Magazine summer event and the Holiday Gift Media Preview that were held in Manhattan last week.
Watermelon Smash combines elements of musical chairs and Russian Roulette (albeit without bullets!). Contestants spin a dial and then tap a plastic watermelon which one can fill with liquids (or confetti in the spirit of the famed Harlem Globetrotters routine) over their heads. Each tap causes the watermelon pieces to slowly separate. The last spinner who causes the proverbial straw to break gets drenched.
Not everything shown at the Toy Insider expo was designed for kids. The Singing Machine Company showed off its latest devices for Karaoke enthusiasts. I tried to do justice to Johnny Rivers’ 1966 hit, “Secret Agent Man.”
Growing numbers of consumers are making themselves be heard in the marketplace in that they want the products that they use to be as chemical-free as possible.
Earth Friendly Products started the ecologically conscious cleaning products market back in 1967 and the company has just introduced a hypo-allergenic baby detergent under its Ecos line. Like baby shampoo, adults whose skin is sensitive to certain dyes and need a gentler laundry product will want to use it.
Rebel Green is a new entrant in the eco-conscious market as the Wisconsin company has launched its own line of chemical-free cleaning and soap products. It even manufactures bathroom paper and tissues that don’t come from trees and yet feel and perform like the Scott and Kleenex with which we’re all familiar.
There is also more awareness for skincare products that are made strictly from plant extracts as opposed to synthetics, Beridan Naturals (beridannaturals.com) calls itself a “botanical apothecary” and it has a wide array of products. Its Simple Butter and Cool Salve are designed reduce the pain from cracked skin and sunburn respectively.
A couple weeks ago the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce held a trade show to salute that borough’s food artisans. A couple of days later a lot of those same food purveyors took part in the Brooklyn section of the Fancy Food Show held at the Javits Center. Hopefully next year Queens can replicate what Brooklyn is doing.
Kings County food creators showed that snacks do not have to be unhealthy.
Sattva Vida (sattvavida.com) Energy Bites are small circular confections that contain almonds, dates, cashews, walnuts, and other ingredients that are good for you without added sugars and they are free of gluten to boot.
Contrary to popular belief dark chocolate is good for you as it promotes good circulation. Raaka (raakachocolate.com and Fine & Raw (fineandraw.com) both produce chocolate bars with high cacao content which is beneficial to health.
Flatbreads are becoming increasingly popular. Norwegian Baked’ s Knekkebrod (norwegianbaked.com) wheat-free but contains sunflower, flax, pumpkin, and sesame seeds. The Matzo Project (matzoproject.com) proves that the famous unleavened bread is not just for Passover and can be tastier than the varieties offered by Manischewitz and Streit’s.
Fans of old school family made challah, bread try Jack Bakes (jackbakes.com) whose founder, Jack Hazan, literally is using his grandmother’s made from scratch recipe in each loaf that he bakes.
The heat and humidity of summer are upon us so if you want to indulge in a delightful ice cream treat that have a South Asian influence when it comes to ingredients, try a pint of Malai. (malai.co)