Whenever Terry Collins broaches the subject of Jose Reyes, he always — always — mentions Reyes’ smile. Hit a homer, go 0-for-4, there was the smile. Win, lose, day, night, home, away, Reyes smiled.
But recently, when Collins discussed Reyes he didn’t talk about the smile. He spoke of frustration. Start a season 6-for-62 with 16 strikeouts, you’d be frustrated, too.
“Right now,” Collins said Saturday, “you can just, when you’re around him, sense he’s really struggling mentally with what his approach is.”
So Collins gave Reyes the day off against the Nationals. Might give him Sunday, too, in order to clear his head, relax, and maybe gain a sense of starting fresh.