Happy Jose Reyes Eve

Yes, Jose Reyes returns tomorrow and our stockings are hung by the chimney with care. But there was cool moment in tonight’s 8-2 win over the Nats that deserves atttention.

In the ninth, 20-year-old Jenrry Mejia got Pudge Rodriguez to ground to 20-year-old Ruben Tejada – two guys who were born around the time Rodriguez started playing pro ball.

Sure, Mike Pelfrey was serviceable, Rod Barajas and Jeff Francoeur each went deep twice and the Mets hit four homers for the first time in their Citi Field history, but it’s important – as the team reached its .500 2010 level again – to realize that this year is really about next year, when the Mets will be playing for a new manager (Bobby Valentine?) and the youth movement may be ready to arrive.

Two other thoughts watching tonight’s game:

1. The team looked, for the first time, like it was having fun playing baseball. The roasting of Wright on the bench for his wind-blown non-homerun was hilarious.

2. This was the second game in a row with fewer than 30,000 fans at Citi Field – indeed yesterday’s game marked the lowest paid attendance for a regular reason game in the ballpark’s short history. Sure, the stadium’s even nicer this year but it shows that a winning team is needed to pack the place.

Oh and did we mention…Jose Reyes is back tomorrow.

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