Jose Reyes Gets "A Lot Of Love" From Crowd In Return To Mets

The crowd of 29,477 at Citi Field last night welcomed Jose Reyes back to the Mets "with open arms, cheering him at every turn" during a 5-2 loss to the Marlins. Reyes, who recently completed a 52-game domestic violence suspension, said, "I didn't know what to expect when I came here, to see the crowd react like that was good. They showed me a lot of love" (N.Y. POST, 7/6).

When Reyes walked to the plate for his first at-bat, he was "greeted with thunderous applause and chants of 'Jose! Jose!'" (USA TODAY, 7/6). The ovation "wasn't just warm, it turned into a monsoon that lasted nearly a half-minute." Reyes "stepped out of the batter's box and tipped his helmet" (Bergen RECORD, 7/6). There were "no protesters outside the stadium," and for the "majority of Mets fans inside Citi Field it was all about baseball" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 7/6).

Reyes' return made the back page sports covers for several N.Y. tabloids:

 N.Y. Post