Get in your time machine. You will not have to go way back. Let’s stop first on May 19, 2007.
The Mets are in first place. They are the defending NL East champs and just missed going to the World Series. They already have won the Subway Series opener at Shea Stadium, and here in the second game, David Wright hits a two-run home run in each of his first two at-bats. He is so locked in that the Yankees issue intentional walks in his next three at-bats.
The Mets win, 10-7. Wright is the star.
Four weeks later, June 15, the Mets are still in first when they head to The Bronx for what turns into a pitching duel between Oliver Perez and Roger Clemens. Only two runs score, one on an RBI single from Jose Reyes and the other when Reyes takes Clemens deep in the fifth inning.
In the 2-0 Mets triumph, Reyes goes 3-for-3 with a walk, a run, two RBIs and three steals. He is the star.
At that moment, a common story line emerges in town: Wright and Reyes are passing Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter as the preeminent left side of the infield in New York and baseball; and because of that, the Mets are on the way to passing the Yankees. Why not?
Wright and Reyes were both 24; Jeter and Rodriguez were facing summer birthdays that would turn them 33 and 32, respectively. The guard was changing.
Except the baton never passed. Wright and Reyes never eclipsed Rodriguez and Jeter, and the Mets never did overtake the Yankees. And that is no coincidence.
Look, Jeff Wilpon can channel Knute Rockne. He can airdrop into every NL city in which the Mets play the rest of the season. He can threaten and cajole and have endless meetings about ways to improve the team.
Here is a simple reality: The Mets cannot get better if Wright and Reyes are less than stars. After all, the team was built to have Wright and Reyes as its cornerstones, and if they are not going to be elite players, the Mets have about zero chance of overcoming any of their myriad pathologies. Not just in 2010, but into the near future, as well.
This should be the prime for Wright and Reyes, both in their age-27 season, and the twilight for Rodriguez and Jeter. Of course, it has not played out that way. Jeter finished third in the AL MVP vote last year and Rodriguez was 10th. Both were brilliant — especially Rodriguez — as the Yankees won their 27th championship.
Now, maybe age has begun to impact Jeter, who will turn 36 next month. He has struggled in May, dropping his average to .275 and his OPS to .718 going into last night. It is not pretty. Yet, it is no less than two steps up from Reyes, who has far worse numbers (.216/.548).
The electricity that defined Reyes’ actions on the field is absent. Maybe it is the time he missed due to leg and thyroid problems, perhaps the thyroid issue has sapped some of Reyes’ quick-twitch magic. Whatever the reason, the Mets have lost their one-man defibrillator.
Wright was going to be the Mets’ Jeter; the homegrown kid who mixed skill, intangibles and charisma to become prince of the city. Instead, he has finally passed Rodriguez in the worst of all categories: Wright is now the most dissected athlete in New York. We break down his swing and psychoanalyze his mind. What is up with the wild arm, the lack of clutch play and, yes, all of those strikeouts?
Reyes and Wright have dwindled from cornerstones to puzzles. The Mets went all in during the 2006 season, signing both to multi-year contracts, believing they had erected a long-term foundation. Now the Mets will have to decide on Reyes’ $11 million option for 2011 and whether a champion really can be built around the left side of their infield.
As a new Subway Series begins, the question now is not whether Reyes and Wright have passed Jeter and Rodriguez, but if the best days for Reyes and Wright already have passed and, if so, how do the Mets survive that?