So maybe this a partial reason why Aaron Heilman has been so bad this year. Jerry Manuel said he has a knee issue that has affected him. Heilman said it’s tendinitis in the left knee, been bothering him since spring training, although he will only blame it for a handful of bad games. Can Jerry Manuel really afford to use him in anything remotely resembling a close game at this point?
Manuel has made Tatis the right-handed option in left field instead of Nick Evans. The manager trusts experience in these crucial games and says Tatis is better defensively. He says rest is basically going to be out of the question for the regulars, and that this should feel like June or July to Ryan Church because he missed so much time. Manuel says he’s the freshest now.
It would be interesting to see how some of the September callups would fare. I know some of you have been writing comments about that. But Manuel seems to want to go with the known over he unknown unless maybe there’s a one-sided game.
So in The Journal News and on LoHud.com today is the story of last night’s wild 13-10 win over Washington, plus a Mets notebook on Reyes vowing that he and the team will have a better September this time, on Billy Wagner’s surgery and on Heilman’s situation.