how it all went wrong

Jose Reyes’s Mad, Savage Trip

Boy, what a year.

Yesterday, the Mets announced that Jose Reyes, while running the bases in his rehab with less than a week left in the season, tore his hamstring and will likely require surgery. It’s likely he’ll miss the beginning of next season, and there is quiet fear the injury could be career-threatening. It has been a hellish season for the Mets, but for Reyes, it’s truly been a nightmare, an endless series of minor injuries adding up to major ones, just one misery after another.

To track just how bad this season has been, we went to Matthew Cerrone’s great and comprehensive MetsBlog and picked out Reyes’s season lowlights. There are so many. Follow us through the evil labyrinth of Reyes’s 2009 season.

April 1: “Jose Reyes sat silent at his locker, watching intently [Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS], pitch by pitch. David Wright was there for the eighth inning and left, bat in hand, but he returned in time for the final out.” “… [W]atching the game motivated him for this upcoming season even more.”

May 4: “David Wright is being booed often in Citi Field, while Reyes, who has been criticized a lot in the past, seems to be going unnoticed. I think what has been most disappointing is that Jerry Manuel worked a lot with Reyes in spring training to try and elevate his game, and encouraging him to be a leader on the team and essentially become the captain of the infield. He has started slow before, and ended up with a tremendous stat line, so I believe he, like so many others, will turn it around.”

May 15: “Jose Reyes did not play last night due to a stiff right calf. However, WFAN’s Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts continue to push the idea on air that Reyes was benched last night, as punishment for sloppy base running during the last few games.”

May 19: “Jose Reyes missed his fifth straight start last night. Prior to the game, though he has swelling in both the right knee and calf, he told reporters he will not go on the disabled list. Reyes will test himself on field before today’s game, and, according to Jerry Manuel, ‘He should be ready to go from here on out.’”

May 21: “Jose Reyes left the game in the third inning tonight, after he aggravated his right calf again during an at bat. He limped down the dugout steps, after running out a ground ball.”

May 26: “Jose Reyes did light running yesterday, and told reporters, though he is willing to play at less than 100 percent, he is not yet close to being ready.”

May 31: “Jose Reyes will leave for St. Lucie this evening, when the team departs for Pittsburgh. Reyes will likely play in a minor-league rehab game on Tuesday and Wednesday, after which he’ll be reevaluated on Thursday by team doctors.”

June 5: “Jose Reyes has a slight tear in the tendon between his knee and the hamstring, he will rest for two days and then be reevaluated. From what I can gather, people connected to the Mets believe he is likely to be out of action through at least the All Star break. However, people close to Reyes believe he could be back sooner, because it’s the tendon not the actual hamstring that has been comprised.”

June 5: “Jose Reyes is trying a new, alternative treatment called PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy). The agent for Reyes, Peter Greenberg, told me that the hope is that the treatment will allow Reyes to heal quicker. Greenberg said there is no definitive time-table for Reyes’ return.”

June 17: “Boston talk-radio host Danny Picard suggests, on his blog I’m Jusy Sayin, that, in the off season, the Red Sox should offer RHP Clay Buchholz, top prospect RHP Michael Bowden, OF Jacoby Ellsbury and SS Jed Lowrie to the Mets for SS Jose Reyes.”

June 23: “According to Matt Gelb in the Star-Ledger, “Reyes and Ramirez were rear-ended by a firetruck on the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge sometime Monday while driving to the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan for a check-up visit. Reyes and Ramirez were not injured in the accident.”

July 13: “Prior to yesterday’s game, Jose Reyes ran in the outfield at Citi Field and although there is still no timetable for his return, the results were encouraging. After the workout, Jerry Manuel told reporters: “It was very encouraging to watch him move as freely as he was moving and to be able to not have a [very] noticeable limp or anything … even though I could still see that in him, it was not as noticeable as it was early on.”

July 18: “Jose Reyes apparently did not want to run in Port St. Lucie yesterday after pointing to his hamstring, but the Mets do not feel it was a setback as the plan was to make it more of a lighter day.”

July 24: “Anthony McCarron, in today’s Daily News, is reporting that Jose Reyes will play in a simulated game today in Port St. Lucie. Reyes, who has been frustrated that he has been unable to play, told McCarron: “It’s going to be hard for me to wait until I’m 100 percent … Maybe that doesn’t happen this year. After rest and the offseason, maybe it’ll be 100 percent next year. If I feel like I’m 80 percent and able to go, I’m going to play because I don’t know if 100 percent is going to be there this year. I might have to learn to play at 80 percent.”

July 30: “In the New York Post, Page Six says Jose Reyes was spotted last Friday night, dancing at the club Serie 56 in Washington Heights. According to the report, ‘Reyes danced all night long … He and a bevy of Latin ladies took over the entire VIP section.’ The Mets say the report is false, as Reyes was rehabbing in Port St. Lucie last Friday … he was not even in New York.”

July 31: “Mets SS Jose Reyes had a set-back this afternoon, Jerry Manuel told reporters prior to today’s game in Citi Field. Reyes was unable to run hard around the bases, he explained, and there is no timetable for when he will do so.”

August 5: “According to a team press release, “Jose Reyes has scar tissue and inflammation behind the right knee, related to the hamstring tendon injury, which has caused continued pain.” Reyes will continue physical therapy in hopes of breaking up the scar tissue and reduce the inflammation.”

September 26: “Prior to tonight’s game, Jose Reyes ran with what Jerry Manuel called “intensity”. Manuel told reporters: “If that type of stuff could be witnessed and could be somewhat intense or close to game action, it would be very satisfying.”

September 30: “Jose Reyes now has a torn right hamstring, which occurred while running the bases in New York earlier in the week, in addition to the torn tendon behind his right knee, the team told reporters following today’s game. … [T]he team has not said whether he’ll have surgery, but, at this point, that seems inevitable … “

Jose Reyes’s Mad, Savage Trip