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Hernandez v. Reyes (NY Post hypes)

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jul 04 2008 05:42 AM

Hubbach's "exclusive" last week was breaking the story of Jerry Manuel's veiled insults to fans. ]SKIDDING METS A REAL FIGHT CLUB HERNANDEZ, REYES NEARLY COME TO BLOWS ON PLANE By BART HUBBUCH Last updated: 6:53 am July 4, 2008 Posted: 4:37 am July 4, 2008 ST. LOUIS - Jose Reyes and Keith Hernandez had to be separated on the Mets' charter plane Sunday night after a tense confrontation over Hernandez's critical comments about the All-Star shortstop. A team source described the situation aboard the plane as "very heated." One player told The Post that he thought Reyes and the popular former Met - now an analyst for the club's SNY TV network - were close to exchanging punches until others stepped in. Reyes said yesterday he was angry at Hernandez after numerous friends and relatives told him Hernandez accused the Mets of "babying" Reyes during the broadcast of Sunday's 3-1 win over the Yankees at Shea Stadium. "He got his point [across] and I got mine," Reyes, when asked to describe the confrontation, told The Post before he drove in three runs in the Mets' 11-1 victory over the Cardinals last night. "I'm not too happy with the way he's been talking." According to one account, strongly denied by both Reyes and Hernandez, what set Reyes off during the flight was when Hernandez allegedly responded to Reyes' concerns by saying: "I was just doing my job - you should do yours." Hernandez's "babying" comment was in response to Reyes throwing his glove to the ground moments after committing a throwing error in the seventh inning Sunday. Reyes said he threw his glove out of anger at himself and not in an effort to show up first baseman Carlos Delgado, who appeared to have a chance to catch the throw. "Well, he's got to get over that," Hernandez said at the time, according to one transcript of the broadcast. "Enough babying going on now. He's a grown man. He's been around a long enough time. Take off the kid gloves." Reyes said friends and family alerted him to the comments immediately after the game, prompting him to approach Hernandez in front of teammates on the late-night flight here to St. Louis. "A lot of people told me, and that's no good," Reyes told The Post. "I was mad at myself because I make an error in that situation. It makes me mad, because [Hernandez] played the game, too. He knows it is not an easy game. And he knows when you make an error, you are supposed to feel bad." Reyes and Hernandez emphatically denied they nearly came to blows, with Hernandez insisting testily that it be described as "a conversation" instead. "I wouldn't say 'confronted,' " Hernandez said brusquely when approached in the team's broadcast booth at Busch Stadium last night. "We had a conversation. 'Confront' is not the word." Hernandez, a five-time All-Star first baseman who was a member of the Mets' 1986 world championship team and is in the club's Hall of Fame, said he has put the incident behind him. "I've had several conversations with players over my career," Hernandez said. "Jose and I are fine. It was not a confrontational conversation, [but] what went on with our conversation is between Jose and I. If he told you, that's his choice." Reyes, however, made it clear to The Post that there is still simmering anger on his part toward the opinionated Hernandez. "I don't know why in that situation he's talking like that," Reyes told The Post. "Like I said, I just [made] an error and I feel bad. I threw my glove down, but I [felt] bad because you're not supposed to be giving extra outs to the other team." This isn't the first time a popular Mets player has taken issue with critical comments by Hernandez. Hernandez wrote on Madison Square Garden's Web site in 2002 that the Mets "had no heart" and "quit a long time ago" on then-manager Bobby Valentine. Mike Piazza responded by calling Hernandez "a clueless voice from the grave" who was "just trying to make a name for himself at our expense." bhubbuch@nypost.com

Frayed Knot Jul 04 2008 07:06 AM

I'll confess to never having heard of this writer until last week. Has he been following the team the whole year or is this a recent thing? Not that it would negate his reporting either way, I just wonder if he's there to intentionally stir up the pot - especially in light of his reaction to the reaction to his Manual/fans story. Anyway, now that this is 'out in the open' I suspect it's something Keith will feel the need to address tonight even if just to say; 'yeah we talked but the details of the story are wrong and/or overblown'. A suprising number of early AM talk-radio callers (on w/the very non-confrontational Richard Neer) are taking the; 'Reyes is a puck, a thug, and a cancer - get rid of his immediately' tact.

batmagadanleadoff Jul 04 2008 08:08 AM

Gallo's Humor from last Wednesday's Daily News:

holychicken Jul 04 2008 08:23 AM

Well, it looks like NY is going to to its best to make Reyes not want to play here any longer.

AG/DC Jul 04 2008 08:41 AM

Gallo's still alive? Reyes appears to be missing the issue --- and that's understandable when everyone including a 150-year-old cartoonist is telling you how you're supposed to be. It's the coaches who need to step in and tell him how losing your composure can be counterproductive.

seawolf17 Jul 04 2008 10:36 AM

AG/DC wrote: Gallo's still alive? I was about to say the same thing. I loved his 1986 Mets calendar.

Rockin' Doc Jul 04 2008 11:07 AM

AG/DC - "Gallo's still alive?" Not according to Lisa and Vinny.

Mex17 Jul 04 2008 11:38 AM

The kid was a model citizen until Rickey Henderson became a coach last season.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jul 04 2008 11:41 AM

uh, sure.

Mex17 Jul 04 2008 01:02 PM

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: uh, sure. It's true. Did you ever hear of any attitude-related with Reyes prior to mid-season last year? Since then, there have been several. . .all since Mr. "My hamstring suddenly hurts coincidentally at the same time when I am beginning to feel that my contract does not pay me enough. . .Hey Bobby, let's play cards in the clubhouse during this must-win playoff game" showed up for awhile.

Zvon Jul 04 2008 01:42 PM

Its nice to know Reyes is "hearing" what is being said by others. It's ashame that he's not "listening".

AG/DC Jul 04 2008 02:02 PM

Let's deal with this as itself, and nto try and hang it on a historical bogeyman. I think Reyes is hearing and listening a lot. There's just a lot of conflicting information. Show passion/show composure. Be aggressive/be restrained. Let your personality show/let your game do the talking. Being young and wise is hard. That's one of the reasons we hire old wizened guys to sit on the bench and spit.

Zvon Jul 04 2008 02:49 PM

He's taking what he hears and playing the victim. If he listens and processes it correctly its not a slur but (can be construed as) constructive criticism. The choice is his. I know in the past he has been given conflicting advice on how to carry himself. I hope the staff currently in place can push: show passion, be aggressive, let your personality show, because these are Jose's natural traits. It is the when and how he chooses to display it that has to be refined and only can be achieved by Reyes himself, and only if he listens and realizes that this is a problem.

AG/DC Jul 04 2008 07:18 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jul 05 2008 03:27 PM

Our nature can be our undoing often enough, as well, though. It's our nature to crap in our pants. You've got to negotiate with your nature and coaches teach you how to do it. It's Jose's nature to be aggressive, but if coaches didn't work with him on dampening that, he might still be walking at the .036 rate he had in 2005. And yeah, your last paragraph says as much, I guess. One thing we need to celebrate is that he's having the best offensive season of his career, and therefore the best by a shortstop in mets history.

Frayed Knot Jul 05 2008 07:07 AM

from the FWIW department; Ed Coleman on FAN claims that the Keith/Jose discussion "wasn't even close" to coming to blows despite what the NYPost writer claims.

*62 Jul 05 2008 10:07 AM

Mex17 wrote: ="John Cougar Lunchbucket"]uh, sure. It's true. Did you ever hear of any attitude-related with Reyes prior to mid-season last year? Since then, there have been several. . .all since Mr. "My hamstring suddenly hurts coincidentally at the same time when I am beginning to feel that my contract does not pay me enough. . .Hey Bobby, let's play cards in the clubhouse during this must-win playoff game" showed up for awhile. You didn't "hear" about stuff so much as having been able to see for yourself that Reyes was, and still is, immature for a guy who is the five-year incumbent starter at the position. Particularly his awful plate discipline. Throwing your glove on the ground, under any circumstances, is quite amateurish and he should have gotten over that type of behavior by age twelve. Seriously.

batmagadanleadoff Jul 05 2008 10:56 AM

Didn't Rickey Henderson kill the Kennedys?

duan Jul 05 2008 12:51 PM

AG/DC wrote: It's the coaches who need to step in and tell him how losing your composure can be counterproductive. by the way, i think that's the EXACT point that Keith Hernandez is making.

Frayed Knot Jul 05 2008 01:52 PM

duan wrote: by the way, i think that's the EXACT point that Keith Hernandez is making. Which is something that Reyes - who I suspect views Hernandez's role as something akin to a team PR guy - sees as finger-pointing and tattling to the fans rather than coaching.

Centerfield Jul 07 2008 07:13 AM

="Rockin' Doc"]AG/DC - "Gallo's still alive?" Not according to Lisa and Vinny. No, you're thinking of Callo, with a "C". What did Keith have to say about all this?

Frayed Knot Jul 07 2008 07:31 AM

]Gallo's still alive? 85 and going strong. btw, while listening to the radio yesterday waiting for the game to resume (or not) I was getting a kick out of the newest take from Met callers: that Keith Hernandez is not only a horrible announcer but actually despises the Mets and never misses an opportunity to knock them. And this seems to go beyond just the recent stuff with Reyes. His covert status as a double agent is apparently revealed in such things as his public pronouncement of his love of the Cardinal uniform and his criticism of defensive alignments.

AG/DC Jul 07 2008 07:35 AM

In other words, he's an analyst.

Frayed Knot Jul 07 2008 07:45 AM

Well sure, but he's a mean, nasty, ugly, double-crossing analyst who hates the team that's paying him and the fans who are listening to him. Aren't you paying attention here?