WASHINGTON — Time to beat the Yankees and start to be taken seriously again.
The Mets are in shambles as they try to jump-start their season, but also know the road to respectability starts with making a stand in the Subway Series this weekend.
“It means a lot because [the Yankees] are the world champions,” Jose Reyes said yesterday. “This is the first time I am going to play against them after they have won the World Series. I know they have a very good team over there.”
Only adding to the circus, manager Jerry Manuel is fighting to save his job as the Mets begin a stretch of six games against last year’s respective pennant winners, the Yankees and Phillies. Manuel could be unemployed by week’s end if the Mets make a feeble showing.
Jason Bay, who has a sense of what this weekend will bring based on playing in the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, wants to avoid getting egg on his face.
“In order to be taken seriously you’ve got to beat everybody, and you’ve got to beat the good teams, too,” Bay said. “A lot is made of the wins and losses — probably too much — so it would definitely be nice to be on the winning side of that.”
Bay was approached by somebody yesterday who wanted to know what it’s like to own Mariano Rivera.
“Own him?” Bay asked rhetorically.
It was a reference to the game-winning homer Bay hit against Rivera last April at Fenway Park that made him a villain in the eyes of Yankees fans.
But Bay said that thought never enters his mind when preparing to face the Yankees.
“It was one home run — one game,” Bay said. “I don’t really look at it like everybody else does. I understand how perceptions probably grow. It’s my only hit against him, so definitely somebody you don’t enjoy facing.”
Jeff Francoeur views this return to Citi Field as more than facing the Yankees. He prefers to lump the Phillies into the equation.
“You’re kind of at that point now where you’re a fourth of the way into the season and looking at six games that are kind of big to talk about, where we want to go as a team,” Francoeur said.
“There’s nothing you can’t do, nothing you can’t make up, but the last thing you want to do is end the month of May sitting there far back and not feeling good about yourselves.”
What if the Mets can win two games against the Yankees this weekend?
“It can jump-start you, it gives you confidence,” Francoeur said. “When you can beat teams like that, it’s a good chance to get out there and give our fans something to be excited about, too.”
The Mets went 1-5 in the Subway Series last season, which included getting swept three games at Citi Field in late June.
Reyes, who did not play any of the Subway games as he sat on the disabled list with hamstring/knee problems, welcomes the opportunity to resume his friendly rivalry with Derek Jeter, whom the Mets shortstop considers a mentor.
“[Jeter] always gives me some advice — he always says ‘Stay positive, this is a tough city to play baseball in,’ “ Reyes said. “ ‘Don’t worry about what people say, just try to play the game the right way.’ Every year he’s told me that.”
What would a series win mean to Reyes?
“The next series we have to play is against the Phillies, so if we play a good series against the Yankees, we can carry that to the next series,” Reyes said. “Lately we haven’t been playing good baseball against the Yankees so let’s see what happens.”