Ambassador Jose

Stroke of luck found me when the Brooklyn Cyclones ticket I had for weeks turned out to give me entry to see Jose Reyes in action as he started and finished his rehab stint. As you probably know by now, Reyes was 1-3 with a loud double in the sixth which ignited a four run Brooklyn rally (which wasn’t near enough for them as they lost 11-5 to the Lowell Spinners). The important part was that he ran fine. Almost as important was the fun he was having on the field and off the field, as he laughed and smiled with fans, teammates, and opposition alike … and even gave claw. (Videos after the jump, and notice the obnoxious Yankee fan during at bat number one:)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
5XFm3huctwk[/youtube]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
v19sKFi8UTQ[/youtube]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
BvYsJo6b1Ic[/youtube]

Seeing Jose have the amount of fun he had during (and after, as you’ll see below) a rehab game takes away my analytical side telling me whether it’s actually a good idea to get prospects for him and build for the future or to keep him and build around him (and even my analytical side tells me that trading him would ultimately set the franchise back five years), and replaces it with an adamanent sense of: this guy is not only a baseball player but an ambassador for his team and his sport, whether he likes it or not.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
PIlHq2ikJbM[/youtube]

In other words: please don’t take … our sunshine away.