(image culled from The ‘Ropolitans)

Mets SS Jose Reyes appeared on WFAN’s “Mike’d Up” Wednesday, an occasion that caused the New York Post’s Phil Mushnick to focus on topics thoroughly unrelated to Reyes’ physical condition or the Amazins’ chances in 2010. Instead, our Phil insists Reyes “seems eager to sustain his reputation as a knucklehead.”

Wearing a wool ski cap pulled down low, throughout the (indoor) studio interview, Reyes looked like a squeegee man who used to stand outside the Lincoln Tunnel.

Yeah, I know, you can’t judge books by their covers and clothes don’t make the man. But they can offer a pretty good clue. Is there no one — his agent, someone with the Mets  — who can provide one of the team’s best known players with some basic social guidance, especially in public?

By comparison, new Yankee Curtis Granderson yesterday met the media in tie and jacket.

Perhaps that’s because there is a world of difference between an introductory press conference and appearing on a radio show. Granted, said program is simulcast on YES, but can Reyes really be castigated for not being aware there are persons (like myself and Phil) that willingly watch Francesa on TV? Keep in mind, Reyes is accused of looking homeless by a guy who either can’t afford a razor on a NewsCorp salary or actually believes it is socially acceptable to have bugs crawling out of one’s beard.

A quick gander at the photo above is rather telling.  Francesa, despite possessing no shortage of extra padding, appears to be nearly as bundled up as his young interviewee.  Maybe it was genuinely chilly in the WFAN studios that afternoon?