A few years ago, we Mets fans were frustrated with Jose Reyes — he teased us with unreal talent, but couldn’t stay on the field due to hamstring problems. It appeared that he’d never play often enough to fulfill his immense potential.

However, after changing his running style, then changing it back again, then going through myriad stretching and training programs, Jose finally kicked the hammy problems for good.

Or so we thought.

Today Jose Reyes was absent from the lineup due to a “tight” hamstring. An MRI revealed that it was in fact a “mild strain“. According to Mets officials, Reyes will take off the rest of the weekend but be able to play on Tuesday. Strangely enough, Pedro Martinez also has a “mild strain”, but won’t return to the mound until late June. Hmmmm…..

While the Mets did not win without Reyes in the lineup on Saturday, it was more because they ran into the buzzsaw known as Ben Sheets than Jose’s absence. After all, Reyes is off to a slow start, barely hitting above the Mendoza Line — I doubt he would have made a difference. And with Angel Pagan playing with his head in the clouds, the Mets will be OK for the short term. But let’s hope a few days of rest is all Jose needs to get his legs — and mojo — back. With the assorted other injuries already decimating the Mets’ roster, a chronic condition with Jose Reyes’ hamstrings would be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

Brewers 5 Mets 3

The Mets’ three-game winning streak came to an end, while the Brewers snapped a three-loss skid, as Milwaukee spoiled Johan Santana’s Shea debut.

The Mets jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the initial inning, on a sacrifice fly by David Wright that scored leadoff batter Angel Pagan and a booming double off the bat of Carlos Delgado that plated Carlos Beltran.

However the Brewers battled back with three of their own — the first on a sac bunt by Ben Sheets that scored Corey Hart, the other two on solo homers by Billy Hall and Rickie Weeks — and the game remained tight until the seventh, when Gabe “Welcome Back” Kapler blasted a 2-run homer into the leftfield seats to make it 5-2.

The Mets were completely inept against Sheets after the first frame, and didn’t score again until David Wright swatted a homerun in the eighth.

Notes

Just before Delgado’s blast in the first, Brewers ace Ben Sheets scolded himself — and pounded himself in the chest, in fact — after hanging a curveball to Beltran, which resulted in a line drive single. One must wonder if Sheets anger with himself had something to do with throwing a meaty fastball over the center of the plate for Delgado to jump all over.

No worries about the homeruns given up by Santana … he is aggressive and throws strikes and therefore homers are going to happen. Usually, they happen with nobody on base. I think he might want to get the fastball inside a little more on occasion, though, because the Brewers hitters looked way too comfortable at the plate.

Johan should have looked back the runner on third on Sheets’ run-scoring sacrifice. Not sure whether to blame Santana for not looking, or Brian Schneider for not yelling out instruction. It was good baserunning by Corey “Sunglasses” Hart.

Speaking of sacrifices and Santana, Johan attempted one with men on first and second in the second inning, but Milwaukee catcher Jason Kendall nailed Damion Easley at third on a bang-bang play to spoil the strategy. I wonder if Willie Randolph was paying attention, and possibly took note of the fact that someone was standing on third base to receive the throw? Because Randolph doesn’t incorporate a defensive strategy that entails third base coverage.

Nice job by Carlos Muniz, who threw two scoreless innings to finish the game for the Mets.

The Marlins are in first place with a 7-3 record, BTW. It’s early, folks.

Next Game

The rubber match pits Oliver Perez vs. Jeff Suppan in a 1:10 PM start. I won’t have a postgame until later in the day, as I have a game of my own at 2:30 … however I’ll leave the comments open.

In case you missed it, tune in to Mets Weekly on SNY on Sunday at 5:30 PM or Monday at 6:30 PM. On the show you’ll get to see Pedro Feliciano teach salsa dancing to Jocelyn Pierce, a profile on Fernando Martinez, and lots of teary-eyed memories of Shea Stadium — including those of yours truly. That’s right … at the end of the show is a “bloggers roundtable” guided by Ted “Groucho” Berg of SNY and including Matt Cerrone of MetsBlog, Anthony DeRosa of HotFoot, Coop of MySummerFamily, and me.

Despite my less-than-endearing comments (I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t watched yet) in this first “bloggers roundtable” segment, I’ll be appearing from time to time during the season on future episodes of Mets Weekly, along with the aforementioned Mets bloggers. But don’t worry, this gig isn’t going to launch me onto ESPN nor Hollywood anytime soon, so MetsToday will continue on.