His Walks Are Off

Remember when the Mets were an exciting first-inning team, one that bludgeoned opponents early?

What happened to that squad? I trace it to the returned impatience of Jose Reyes.

There was a stat on the Mets telecast Wednesday about how as Reyes goes, the Mets go. Actually, this year, I think that's more of a David Wright thing, but here's one more note on Reyes.

It's a rather disturbing stat. Reyes is hitting .229 in his first AB leading off a game in 2008. He's drawn one game-opening walk and scored six runs.

In 2007, Reyes led off a game 160 times. He hit .303, but more importantly, he had 15 game-opening walks. He scored 37 runs.

That's a pretty significant difference, but one I'd hope is fixable.

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By the way, if you haven't already, check out http://www.garykeithandron.com/, as the Mets broadcast crew now has its own website and is selling t-shirts to raise money for a few worthy charities. Looking forward to seeing if Keith Hernandez joins the world o'bloggers.