Randon Tidbits 5-26-07

Virtual verbal exchange of the year?

Louis (Brooklyn, NY): Jose Reyes is overrated, one great year, the previous year he made the 4th most outs in the histroy of baseball and he's still injury prone, your thoughts?

SportsNation Keith Law: (1:03 PM ET ) My thoughts? You're insane.

Oh so misguided Yankee fan. Too bad he's not in the minority. Jeter is the best player in the universe!

It was oh so appropriate that this question came a few later.

Markward (Aarhus, Denmark): Hi Keith. You always seem to have great knowledge about european cities... been traveling a lot there? Did you notice Jeter blowing a bubble while rounding 1st base when he hit a triple agains the Red Sox.. very impressive.

SportsNation Keith Law: (1:15 PM ET ) Haven't been to Europe in several years, but I do love traveling there. Never been to Denmark, though - maybe we'll go to the original Legoland when my daughter's old enough. Jeter's bubble-blowing was yet another example of how clutch he is.

I love it. It should also be noted there is no way Jose Reyes could do that.

While on the topic of Jose Reyes, he is fantastic and has been for long period of time now. However, his 0.98 G/F ratio is very concerning. In his previous two seasons, Jose maintained a G/F or 1.36 or higher. At the end of the game Thursday night he popped out with two outs in the ninth and the tying run on third. It seems he is getting away from his game a bit and hitting more and more pop-ups. The other strange thing is that although he is walking more, he is still seeing less (though marginally less) pitches than he saw in 2004 and 2005.

While Reyes still figures to be very good this year, there are some indicators to suggest that Reyes could be in for a slight regression this year. He has pop, but not enough to be flyball hitter. He really needs to concentrate more on being the batter he was in 2006 with the eye he has in 2007. Unless he makes some adjustment, I expect him to continue to struggle.

Back to Thursday. One out...tying runs in scoring position....let's bring in Franco! I have no issue with the bunt laid down by Gotay. Willie says he took the bunt sign off to Eddie Coleman on WFAN, but that's not the issue. The issue is by bringing in Franco you are relegating yourself to hoping for a single to right field from a guy that couldn't hit a watermelon right now. Me? I'd prefer to go with the pop in that situation. On top of that, as much as I am for dropping Delgado in the order until he starts hitting, I'm not so sure he should be batting behind Paul LoDuca.

Weird stuff going on in Willie's head. Weird stuff.

Pedro is long tossing 250 feet and says he will be able to throw 95 mph when he comes back. Fuck me baby.

"Those were the days I felt like this - like I could just pick up a ball and shoot it without any hesitation, anything to think about," Martinez said. "That's how good I've been feeling."

For a guy who said he would retire if he didn't feel good, this is very, very, very encouraging. And for good measure, he went after the Rocket.

Martinez also whistled a verbal fastball under the chin of Roger Clemens, saying he watched Clemens pitch Wednesday and "I can do that and probably even better at this point."

I love this guy and we need his edge back on this team.

The Duque? Solid. The Mets are back to a 2.5 game lead over the Bravos.

Ha ha!

George Steinbrenner hung a bull's-eye on the back of general manager Brian Cashman by saying that he alone will shoulder the blame if the Yankees don't turn their season around.

More drama. Remind me why it's good to be a Yankee again?

Jose Valentin is Willie's man when he returns.

"He's my everyday second baseman," Randolph said of Valentin.

I actually like Valentin in the super utility role getting work in the outfield as well as in the infield with Easley. Especially with Green going down and Moises' penchant for getting hurt, I wouldn't be so quick to make any assertions. That would also allow the Mets to perhaps clear up a roster spot by getting rid of super-utility man David Newhan. Also, this is weird because Willie is Mr. Non-committal who continually makes guys earn things. Even Jose Reyes has to earn his spot every spring so why he would commit to Valentin of all people is beyond me.