On the Mets beat

Hey everybody, Chris Mascaro here filling in for Mr. Lennon. Yesterday I spoke with Jose Reyes, who met with patients at the Schneider Children's Hospital in New Hyde Park (you can see video from the event down the right side of this page).

Here is the story from today's paper, in which Reyes spoke about the need for a closer and his desire to have Pedro Martinez back next year.

Here are some leftovers (even before Thanksgiving!) from Reyes:

On seeing the Phillies win the World Series: "It's kind of tough to see them win because we're in the same division. But at the same time, we have to say 'congratulations' to them because they played better than us, better than everybody. That's why the won the World Series, so you have to give credit to them."

On playing for the Dominican Republic in the 2009 World Baseball Classic: "You get to represent your country. That's the most important thing to me. You just try to be there and try to do whatever they ask me to do."

(Reyes added that the Dominican team is well stocked at shortstop, as Hanley Ramirez and Miguel Tejada are also likely to play.)

On Brian Fuentes after saying that he'd rather have Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez on the Mets: "He's good too. He's good."

(Reyes is 2 for 5 with two doubles and an RBI off Fuentes and is 1 for 2 off K-Rod. You can find those numbers by scrolling through this.)

On Luis Castillo: "He got a lot of injuries last season, so that's kind of tough to play like that. He just started working out and he says he's going to be ready for next season. We know what he's capable to do in the field. "

On Castillo's leadership: "No doubt he helped me. How many Gold Gloves did he win? He's great defensive-wise at second base. Last year, he got a lot of injuries, so he wasn't able to play the way he normally plays."

On playing with five different second basemen last season: "I'm used to that already, so I don't mind. I get comfortable with anyone there."

On yesterday's event: "You can see how happy the kids are when they see me, so that's really important for me and for them."

Reyes signed hats and pictures of him for the children, and posed for photographs with them. He mentioned that he is also involved in building a new baseball field for children in the Dominican Republic.