REYES RETURN STILL UP IN AIR
Jose Reyes sat in front of his locker, bat in hand.
He was asked before the Mets hosted the Rays yesterday if he had taken batting practice yet and responded, “No, the guys who are playing are hitting now.”
The Mets are looking forward to when the shortstop joins that group again, although they still don’t have a good idea of when that will be.
Reyes took swings on Friday for the first time since aggravating his right leg injury, which was first a calf problem, by tearing his hamstring last month. Although the early results were positive, he knows they don’t mean much.
Reyes still hasn’t taken ground balls — those plans were scrapped because of yesterday’s rain — and he still isn’t running.
“I have to wait for the pain to go away,” said Reyes, adding that he has problems when he makes a quick move. “I still feel it.”
And until he runs, he knows that the other positive steps he’s taking are virtually meaningless.
“I don’t worry about taking ground balls,” Reyes said. “I worry about running. That’s the key. Before I made it worse, I was taking batting practice and fielding ground balls. I just worry about the running part. That’s a bigger problem for me.”
It’s a bigger problem for the Mets. The team has survived fairly well without its leadoff hitter since first he departed during a game against the Dodgers on May 20. Reyes was placed on the disabled list May 26, then tore his hamstring during a minor-league rehab stint in St. Lucie earlier this month.
“In two weeks, the first time I hit was yesterday and [I was] pain free,” Reyes said. “So it’s a good sign.”
Not as good, though, as when he’ll be able to say the same thing when he runs. And that still appears to be a long way off.
“We don’t know when,” Reyes said. “We’re doing some exercises for the leg first and, depending on how I’m feeling, we’ll go from there.”
Reyes has learned the hard way the ramifications of rushing back. “I don’t want to get on the field too soon and try to get a setback again,” Reyes said.
