Reyes started running for the first time on Friday, and he continues to push the envelope in his recovery process, according to Team officials.

“It was a little bit scary for me,” Reyes said of his first time running. “But I am pain free. I’m very happy the way that I performed yesterday; better than I expected.”

The 29-year-old Reyes hurt himself during an awkward and painful slide against the Kansas City Royals. He has already been doing other baseball activities like tossing and catching, but running on that ankle represents the biggest advance in his return to to the Blue Jays lineup.

“Even if I don’t feel a hundred percent, I’m 85-90 percent and I’m able to run the bases good … I’m going to let it fly,” Reyes said. “I’m going to let it go. I’m going to go play, come back and help this ballclub.”

It is now looking like Reyes will be back a month to a 1 1/2 months sooner than anyone expected.

“On a cold night you have to hit the ball 25 feet farther. So, in other words, if the fence is 338 feet and you hit the ball 338 feet, you’ll be 25 feet short.” – Ralph Kiner, attempting to explain the effect of cold weather on the flight of a baseball.

The New York Mets and Minnesota Twins played last Friday night’s game in between snowflakes. According to Major League Baseball, the game time temperature was 34 degrees. Pitchers were licking their fingers and blowing hot air into their balled up fists. Infielders were wearing ski caps. The dugouts were filled with hoodies and heated benches. Toasty, right?

“But when you got outside the dugouts, it’s pretty stinking cold,” Mets manager Terry Collins told the media.

In April 1982 a massive snowstorm hit the northeast, wiping out games almost the entire first week of the baseball season in New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago and Detroit. The weather was so poor the Yankees returned to Florida while their scheduled opponent, the Texas Rangers, worked out under the stands at Shea Stadium. Meanwhile, the Mets beat the Phillies at Veterans Stadium, 7-2, in the season opener. It was all downhill sledding after that.

The Mets moved on to Chicago, where two snowstorms blasted the city just days before the Cubs scheduled opener. It was 34 degrees – and windy – at first pitch. The maintenance teams shoveled the snow into piles under the seats at Wrigley Field. Not a good idea.  Fans pelted Mets players with snowballs, prompting the Cubs public address announcer to appeal to the 26,091 fans: ”Please refrain from throwing snowballs on the field.”

Snow, in April, at the ballpark, isn’t new, but it certainly is unusual looking. David Wright looked like he was posing for a Christmas card …

The cold weather can be dangerous, too.

Former Mets catcher Rick Cerone remembers playing in Toronto in April 1977 as a member of the Blue Jays. The weather was so cold he suffered frost bite on his right hand and he never fully recovered.

”It snowed the first five innings,” said Cerone. “Ever since my hand got frostbitten that day, I’ve had bad circulation in it. Whenever it’s the least bit cold, I had trouble feeling the ball. I use heat packs to keep my hand warm. But that’s what cold weather can do. It’s not just how the cold affects you that day, it’s how it can affect the rest of your career.”

In an interview with the New York Times, Dave Winfield remembered how the cold weather nearly cost him his career. ”My junior year at the University of Minnesota, I was a pitcher as well as an outfielder. We were playing Michigan State in snow flurries and 30-degree weather, when I heard something pop in my elbow. For the next five months, I couldn’t throw a ball 30 feet. I thought I might be through, but lucky for me, my arm came back.”

Standing in the snow, Sandy Alderson looked across the field searching for the infield diamond. He couldn’t spot it. Earlier in the day he was on Twitter suggesting the conditions were more football than baseball. So, he wondered out loud, if the Mets and Rockies might still play later Monday night?

“There isn’t a bright line test,” he said. “Is it 30 degrees? Twenty-eight? Twenty-six? I don’t know where you draw the line.”

The answer: No. We found our bright line. A winter storm warning means no baseball in Colorado. The storm will remain in effect until 6am Tuesday morning.

The Boys of Summer will attempt to play a day-night doubleheader Tuesday at Coors Field. The weather forecast: Cloudy with a chance of snow in the morning. A chance of rain and snow in the afternoon. Highs 37 to 43. Sounds like they’ll be walking a fine bright line again.

In the sixth inning of tonight’s game against the Kansas City Royals, Blue Jays shortstop Jose Reyes slid into second base awkwardly on a stolen base attempt.

Reyes immediately grabbed for his ankle, then spent most of the time writhing in pain and in tears until trainers came out and carted him off the field.

The stolen base was Reyes’ fifth of the year and he was enjoying a solid start to the season batting .395 on the season despite the Blue Jays 3-6 start.

Maicer Izturis came in to replace Reyes at shortstop.

We hope it’s not a serious injury for the former Met who gave us so many great thrills and memories when he patrolled shortstop at Shea and Citi Field.

Thanks to our great photo services partner US Presswire and Luis Rivera  for the photo…

In 31 plate appearances so far this season, Buck is batting .393/.387/.464 with four home runs and an NL leading 14 RBIs in eight games.

Buck did not hit his fourth home run of the year last year until May 13 (25 games) and did not drive in his 14th run of the season until June 24 (50 games).

He is the first Mets player with four home runs in the team’s first eight games of season since Mike Piazza in 2001.

I tossed the following question out on Twitter and what follows are a few of the many responses.

Some Met fans are excited about Buck because it keeps the Mets in contention. Others are excited because we can trade him at deadline and get more for him if he keeps this up. Where do you stand?

@metsmerized I love what he brings to the young pitching staff. I think that’s valuable then what we could receive in trade at the deadline.

— Ben Yoel (@Ben_Yoel) April 10, 2013

@metsmerized trade, he keeps it up they could get a nice return

— Bosco (@bosco86) April 10, 2013

@metsmerized He’s without a doubt a deadline trade

— Michael C DeLuca (@MiaFins1) April 10, 2013

@metsmerized Dam ngood question. Think I’m the latter, hoping that if they are in contention d’Arnaud can keep them there.

— E.J. (@TheHappyRecap) April 10, 2013

@metsmerized The only answer to this question is . . . both.It all denoends on timing and circumstance.

— Scott M. Dolan (@ScottMDolan) April 10, 2013

@metsmerized keep buck and sign him. Good 1-2 punch behind the plate; maybe Buck can play 1st against lefties when d’arnaud arrives

— anthonynap (@anthonynap) April 10, 2013

Damn… What the Buck will the Mets do….

When the Blue Jays forced Sandy Alderson to take John Buck‘s $6 million dollar contract as a condition of making the deal for Travis d’Arnaud, many people including me groaned. I loved the fact that Buck could actually catch (unlike Josh Thole) and would be an asset overall, but six million samoans for Buck was simply too much for me to swallow.

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, and Alderson sure lucked out on this one despite holding his nose and agreed to take Buck in that Dickey deal.

Fast forward to April 9, 2013…

Through seven games, Buck is now batting .375 to lead the Mets and throw in three homers (tops on the team) and 12 RBIs (tops in the NL). Somebody get me a shot of Chivas…

Are there still a lot of skeptics out there? Of course and rightfully so, but that doesn’t faze the Mets catcher one bit.

“I don’t really care,” he said. “I figure if I just keep doing what I’m doing, they can be surprised at the end of the year.”

Before joining the Mets, Buck was merely a career .236 hitter over his nine years in the majors. He has bounced around from team to team and has logged time with Kansas City, Toronto and Miami before hitting the streets of Flushing.

The power however, shouldn’t come as surprise to anyone as Buck has belted 15 or more homers three times in his career. But what’s happening right now? This is a first…

Last night, he blasted a three-run shot off of the once great Roy Halladay and clinched the win for the Mets. But it’s not just his bat that has been impressive. Mets starters have the second best ERA in the majors when he’s behind the dish and calling the game. He’s been the complete package for the Amazins.

I have always said that Omar Minaya struck gold when he picked up R.A. Dickey off the scrap heap. John Buck could end up becoming Sandy Alderson’s first real nugget and ironically, he didn’t even want him in the first place.

As I said, sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.

Noah Syndergaard, the Mets No. 3 prospect, made his season debut Sunday, tossing four scoreless innings against the Jupiter Hammerheads. St. Lucie won the game 1-0 and are now 4-0 on the season.

Syndergaard surrendered just three hits while walking one and striking out five. He departed after four innings as he continues to get stretched out from a lat injury during the spring.

Syndergaard was part of the Travis d’Arnaud package in the trade with the Blue Jays for R.A. Dickey.

Sandy’s man, as I’m sure you’ve heard is Travis d’Arnaud, who is widely considered the best catching prospect in all of baseball.  Despite a season ending knee injury, it wouldn’t be surprising to see d’Arnaud break camp with the Mets come April, instantly bolstering the team’s roster at catcher.  Hitting for both power and average, while at the same time being considered above average defensively, d’Arnaud has the potential to solidify the Mets backstop needs for the foreseeable future.  If you ask most MLB General Managers, Travis d’Arnaud may have been too much to offer all by himself, but Sandy Alderson wasn’t done.

As a result, the Blue Jays’ number one pitching prospect, Noah Snydergaard, will also head south of the border and join the strong crop of young, hard throwing pitchers the Mets already have at the Single A level.  Although he may not find his way to the majors until sometime during the 2015 season, Snydergaard’s inclusion in this deal is the perfect example of Sandy Alderson maximizing what he has to work with.  For the second time in two years, Alderson pulled off a trade that no one thought was possible by waiting until what seems like the last possible minute to get things done.

Throw-ins on the deal also include backup catcher, John Buck, who will serve as a place holder for d’Arnaud if he isn’t ready for the start of the season, and eighteen year old Wuilma Buerra, who will look to come back from a broken jaw as a result of being struck in the face by a rogue pitch.  Neither play a major factor in the balance of this deal, but they do represent just how much value Alderson was able to squeeze of our Dickey’s Cy Young season.

Like him or not, these types of deals are the reason Sandy Alderson was brought to Queens, and will be the reason he remains in Queens if he so sees fit.  Hamstrung by a reduced cashflow, only now, entering his third season as team General Manager can the hints of the master play start to take shape.  With two months remaining before Spring Training, his work certainly isn’t done if he hopes to field a semi-competitive team in 2013.   However, regardless of how this upcoming season plays out, Sandy Alderson has put several more pieces in play for what could be a promising young team in 2014 and beyond.

Follow me on Twitter at @RobPatterson83

Through the use of the scorecard, let’s take a look at how David Wright did this week:

Wright continues to impress everyone this year, and his batting average for the entire year sits at .412. His strikeout count has decreased quite a bit this year, he is not chasing many pitches out of the zone and thus is also getting more walks this year.

Honorable Mentions

These players, although not winning the Player of the Week award, had a very strong showing this week and deserve to be recognized. We will also show how strong a showing they had through the use of the scorecard.

Mike Baxter

Lucas Duda

Miguel Batista (Now on DL)

Tim Byrdak

Rob Johnson (Catcher in Relief)

Not So Hot

The Not So Hot area mentions a few players who did not have a good week this week.

Manny Acosta

Jon Niese

Jon Rauch

Dillon Gee

Mike Nickeas

Andres Torres

Ike Davis

Kirk Nieuwenhuis

Player Of The Week Scoreboard

This area shows the scoreboard of the Players of the Week, and who has won already this season and how many times.

1. David Wright – 3

T2. Kirk Nieuwenhuis – 1

T2. Johan Santana – 1

T2. Andres Torres – 1

Trivia

To finish off the Player of the Week announcement each week, I’ll be asking you a trivia question. The answer will be announced during the next Player of the Week announcement, as well as the first person who answered correctly. Another question will then be asked. Last Week’s Answer is: 16 wins for Tom Seaver in 1967. Adam was the first person to correctly answer the question. So here is this week’s question:

When did David Wright make his Major League debut and against what team?