1-5 road trip

Well, at least we can all temper some of that excitement, right? Relax a little bit, and remember that the last thing this Mets team is going to do is run away with this thing. Curb your enthusiasm.




Breathe in, breathe out.

All it took for the Mets to lose first place and (potentially) four games in the NL East standings was one 1-5 stinker of a road trip. A sweep at the hands of the also-ran Astros, and all of a sudden there's some gum in the gears.

It's not as if the Mets were going to win every single game for the rest of the season. 10 straight had to end at some point. But then the Mets responded in kind with consecutive series wins in big tests at home. We began using adjectives like "resilient" to describe the team, even batting around words like "mettle" and "guts" when talking about our players.

I'm hoping these last six games were an isolated incident, and that it just didn't go well on this road trip. Looking back, you can tell it might not have gone so well when you figure that the Mets in the last week managed to lose individual games started by Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, and Oliver Perez, who had all been brilliant lately. Pelfrey lost for the first time in nine starts. After pitching to a 1.38 ERA in the month of July, Perez had a rough, though not horrible day today (4 ER in 6 IP). The bullpen wasted another strong effort from Johan Santana, who once again seems to have been removed from a game too early (with one out in the 7th, and a 4-1 lead on just 103 pitches). Did I mention that John Maine got hurt?

It's that bullpen that seems like the biggest ongoing cause for concern. Duaner Sanchez's fastball is topping out at 86 MPH. Aaron Heilman has been pitching better, but he's been exposed time and time again and you can't rely too heavily on the guy. Billy Wagner's arm hurts, and when he is in there, he's turning into a slightly more lovable version of Armando Benitez. The other guys are going to have their hiccups, and they picked an unfortunate time to experience them together. Hopefully Eddie Kunz can be an effective reinforcement, because there wasn't a whole lot out there at the deadline for anything other than Omar Minaya's firstborn child.

Look, if one thing has been made clear over and over again this season, it's that these Mets aren't that good. They've proven they can compete for the division, but we also now know that in the post-Willie Randolph era the momentum halting 1-5 road trip is still a part of the team's repertoire. Jerry Manuel has proven himself to be a much better manager; that doesn't mean that the Mets don't have some issues which go beyond the guy leading them.

What this road trip has done is turned the Mets' upcoming home stand into another test. It will either get worse, and the Mets will go 2-4 or lose comparably to the Padres and Marlins, or the Mets will again display some of that newfound resilience and regain their footing. One thing's for sure and that's that Chris Carlin wasn't kidding on WFAN last Friday when he called this the "don't screw around portion" of the Mets schedule. The hardest team we play before a quick two-game series in Philly beginning on August 26 is the aforementioned Marlins, who we'll see this weekend.

Another thing's for sure and that's there is more than enough room in October for a flawed Mets team coming out of the NL East. If this remains a close race, anything can and will happen. There are going to be some peaks and valleys in the season, and with the Mets competing against other teams that aren't that good either, this road trip won't look as bad if the Mets can just prevent it from getting out of control. We know that that won't necessarily be easy, but we've also been given reason to believe that it can happen.

In the end, what are the Mets going to do? At this point, anyone's guess is as good as mine.


(Image courtesy nypost.com)

Mets skip trade deadline rager

If you didn't believe the Marlins would still be a threat with just a third of the season to go, you've officially been put on notice.




And that was before the Fish almost landed Manny Ramirez.

The Marlins handed the Mets their first series loss in over a month yesterday; the first for Mike Pelfrey since before Memorial Day. The Mets got out of Miami with a solid win on Tuesday night, but all in all you've got to be a little bit concerned about the Marlins. The team leads the league in come from behind wins for a reason. They fight hard, even if they play sloppy, NBA Jam baseball (see Dan Uggla) in a football stadium.

Not that the Mets didn't play hard in losing 2 of 3. Jerry's still got them playing inspired, tenacious baseball. Ultimately they've got some obvious shortcomings, and they can't be expected to win every game or every series. Mike Pelfrey's going to have a bad start. It happens. Let's just hope the bullpen gets it together and Ryan Church makes it back soon.

It's a new and nice thing for me to feel confidence in the Mets. I actually thought they were going to win last night. While they may not win the division in the end, I still think they will. When it comes to an important game, or responding from a tough loss, I have a newfound faith that the Mets will get it done. As I mentioned in my last post, it's interesting that resiliency has become a sort of hallmark for a team that was disturbingly soft just a little bit earlier in the season.

We could have used some reinforcements at the deadline, but with nothing available for anything less than Jon Niese or Fernando Martinez, sometimes no news is good news.

****

Still, this was one of the more active trading seasons in recent memory. The Mets got to the party and decided to lay off the keg. Wise.

But with Mark Teixiera, Ivan Rodriguez, Ken Griffey, Jr., Manny Ramirez, Xavier Nady, C.C. Sabathia, Rich Harden, and Jason Bay all trading places in the last month, there were definitely some winners and losers this July. Let's examine.

The big winners:

New York Yankees: Much as it pains me to say it, the Yankees owned the trade deadline this year. Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte for Jose Tabata, a maybe prospect, and several scrubs was a bigger steal than the Mets getting Johan Santana by default. Then they got Pudge Rodriguez for Kyle Farnsworth, and saw Manny Ramirez get traded out of the AL East. Add to that the fact that the Rays got no major reinforcements, and the Yankees seem poised to walk away from 2008 having bought out the rest of the league. Once again. It's pretty depressing.

Still, you've got to give Brian Cashman some credit. The Yankees wouldn't have been able to engineer those deals if they weren't able to take on limitless contractual obligations, but still: he got three key parts for peanuts.

Chicago Cubs: Already in good shape, they added Rich Harden. If he can stay healthy, they'll be in as good shape as ever to break their now-100 year curse.

Milwaukee Brewers: Added C.C. Sabathia. The downside? They added C.C. Sabathia. That was a "this year" type of move, and if they can't pass the Cubs or make a playoff run as the wild card, they'd better be able to sign him. As we well know by know, the prospects in those trades often aren't insignificant.

Los Angeles Dodgers: Just one game out of first in a crappy division, now they've got Manny Ramirez. They gave up some talent, but no Clayton Kershaw, and nothing from their big three of Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, and James Loney. And they kept the Marlins from making a deal for Manny. Thanks, Ned Coletti!

Manny's going to the beach...not the one in Florida, thankfully

Los Angeles Angels: ...of Anaheim. They were already the best team in baseball, and they added Mark Teixiera. They'll probably resign him. LAA of A has really flown under the radar this decade. They've been good just about every year, won a title, and they've got a good chance this year to win another.

The losers:

Boston Red Sox: Get Jason Bay for Manny Ramirez AND two prospects. If that doesn't sound fair, it's because it's not. The Sox basically paid to get rid of Manny. It's understandable that they wanted him out of town, but I have to question the approach here.

Jason Bay is no Manny Ramirez. Without Manny, and with the Yankees' reinforcements, the Sox basically have the third-best chance at this point to win the AL East. They still could squeak into the playoffs and make some noise, particularly with their pitching, but all in all the outlook for the Sox isn't so good right now.

If you're going to give yourself less of a chance because you want your disgruntled superstar out of town that badly, you might as well at least trade him for prospects in a forward-looking move. Instead, the Red Sox gave up two more of their own prospects and overpaid - dramatically - for Jason Bay. They're going to regret that.

Pittsburgh Pirates: Made out pretty well in the Bay-Ramirez deal, netting two prospects apiece from the Sox and Dodgers, but still got a pretty weak return when you consider the fact that they just traded two of their starting outfielders and one of the better lefty relievers in the game. There's a reason they haven't had a winning season since the early 90s.

Some other trade deadline notes...

The Reds and White Sox also made a pretty big deal involving Junior Griffey, but I don't really know as much about the players being exchanged there. That deal gives the ChiSox a pretty good chance to hold onto the AL Central, while the Reds make a deal they had to make and get a couple of young guys to aid in their rebuilding effort. Both winners.

Watch out for the Indians in the next couple of years. This year is a real disappointment for Cleveland, but they sold high on another superstar (Sabathia), just like they sold high when their luck ran out in the early 2000s. They've got a strong young nucleus, and stand to have some money now to bring in some lower-profile reinforcements. I say they're poised to make another comeback sometime soon.

****

With exactly a third of the 2008 regular season to play, the Mets head to Ten-run Field in Houston tomorrow night for Pedro's return (how many times have we said those words in his short Met career). With 54 games left, the Mets currently sit 1 game from first place, with the Marlins knocking on the door just 1 more game back in third. The Braves are 9 out, just traded Teixiera, and are unlikely to make any noise, but you can never be too complacent with the team from Atlanta, especially as a Mets fan. It's going to be a wild ride. Stay tuned.


(Images courtesy nydailynews.com, photobucket.com)

Unconventional Wisdom

The winning streak ended last Saturday. The Mets lost a devastating game to Philadelphia last Tuesday night. Ryan Church is still on the DL, and yet the Mets have still won 14 of 17 and continue to play exceptionally well.

A previous post in this space might have enumerated the Mets' myriad deficiencies, starting with Mike Pelfrey's lack of guile, Oliver Perez's lack of focus, Johan Santana's lack of aceness, the Mets' lack of two starting outfielders, and the downward arc of Carlos Delgado's career. It wasn't looking too good for the Mets this season, regardless of who was managing our team.

I was largely in alignment with the mainstream, but the Mets' recent surge has made many people look foolish, myself included. Pelfrey is 7-0 in his last nine starts. Johan and Perez just fired gems against the Phillies. Carlos Delgado has four home runs in his last nine games while hitting at a nearly .400 clip in month of July. And the Mets have won 14 of 17 without those two starting outfielders. Sometimes, you'd rather be wrong.

I was at Shea on Tuesday night, for my first game in 2008. I have tickets to the August 8 tilt against the Marlins, but I figured I'd try to go support the team for at least one of the games in the all-important Phillies set and get an extra game in before the big ballpark is ushered out and going to Mets games becomes a triple digit affair in the money department.

The atmosphere was electric. The Mets and Phils, tied for first place. Santana pitching. A full house on hand. Insults and peanuts, thrown in the direction of every Phillies fan in attendance over the age of 18 (you've got to draw the line somewhere).

Two home runs (one by Delgado) and eight strong Santana innings later, and the Mets have a 5-2 lead going into the ninth. Billy Wagner is unavailable, and Jerry says Santana's done, so it's up to Duaner Sanchez to close the door.

All of a sudden, Sanchez and three other relievers can't get a Phillie out. One six-run ninth later and Phillies win, 8-6. A boisterous ride home on the 7 train, ruined.

This was devastating. The worst loss of the season. A nine inning microcosm of last September. You don't lose that type of game and go on to win a division, I said on the ride home.

But what happened next? Two games and two Mets victories later, and we vault into first for the first time since early April...9-4 for the season, so far, against the Phillies. One game after that, and we're up by two after another Phillies loss, and another sensational performance by Pelfrey.

What we're seeing from the Mets right now is some serious resiliency, the hallmark of any good team. It was only this morning that I was able to fully process the fact that this winning stretch has required the Mets to really bear down on a few occasions. That loss on Tuesday night? No big deal. A blown lead that first night in Cincy last week? We'll put up a four-run ninth. The second game of this remarkable turnaround was the one in Philly where Tatis put us over the top in the 12th after Jayson Werth temporarily ruined Billy Wagner's (and my) afternoon.

It's interesting that Jerry Manuel has gotten the Mets to internalize everything that Willie Randolph ever talked about but could never actually get his team to put into practice. The Mets are fighting, and battling, and finding ways to win games. Manuel's "guys" are playing with the kind of inspiration and loyalty to their manager that Willie could never quite inspire. After Tuesday night, he would have given the media some positive nugget to chew on about battling back in the next two games of the series, but the Mets likely would have found a way to roll over again. That's assuming that if Willie was still around, this last Phillies series would have even been important at all.

And it's somewhat unfair for me to still be ripping on Willie Randolph. It's possible that the Mets' recent success has less to do with Jerry Manuel, per se, and more to do with a team responding to any new face, or the right guys being hot at the right time. Still, it's hard to argue that Jerry has pushed the right buttons. The cerebral Manuel's calm sense of urgency, with a twist, certainly appears to be trickling down throughout this entire Mets team.

Can they keep it up? Everyone on the Mets is stepping it up right now, from Delgado and Pelfrey to Robinson Cancel and Argenis Reyes. Reyes and Wright have rounded into form and are poised to put up numbers as good as anything we've seen from those two. Santana is a second half pitcher, and you have to like what you saw in a big game last Tuesday, even if he didn't end up getting a much-deserved win.

There is a lot of season left, and we don't know if Delgado can continue his pace, or if Pelfrey will keep being dominant, if Ryan Church will come back, if the bullpen will hold, if Carlos Beltran will finally get it going consistently. But I do remember how I felt about the Mets from around this time last year until about a month ago, and I like this a lot more. Regardless of what happens between now and when the leaves change, the Mets have turned their season around, and it's finally fun to watch again.


(Image courtesy nydailynews.com)

Nine wins

Does there have to be an all-star break?

(Image courtesy www.newsday.com)

Assessing Jerry Manuel

If the Mets fail to make the playoffs this season, it won't be because of their manager. That bears repeating, because for most Mets fans that would have been an entirely different statement just a few short weeks ago.



With tonight's win, the Mets have improved to just 13-10 since Jerry Manuel took over the team. On paper, that doesn't look that much better than the .500 ball they've been playing for close to 14 months now. In the Mets' recent 12 game stretch of three consecutive important four-game series, they began by splitting the first two (4-4) and only finished 7-5 because they took three of four in Philadelphia. Last night's win in Philly and the game tonight against San Francisco are all that currently separates the Mets from .500.

There's a lot about the Mets right now that doesn't look a whole lot different. Billy Wagner can still blow a save against the Phillies, and Aaron Heilman can still lose a game to the Cardinals. Ryan Church is still out with a concussion. Moises Alou should still retire. The Mets still beat the living daylights out of the Yankees in game one of that two stadium doubleheader, only to lose the nightcap to Sidney Ponson.

But while I might a month ago have attributed inconsistent play and any team shortcomings to a failure in managerial leadership, the difference right now is that I've quickly grown re-accustomed to the feeling of confidence in my team's manager, something that's obviously been lacking for quite some time. As most Mets fans, I suspect, will do if the Mets don't go anywhere this season, I'm prepared to chalk any failures up to the fact that this team might just not be that good. If the Mets don't go anywhere this season, it will be because the rest of the offense has had to prop up Carlos Delgado, Luis Castillo, and starting outfield slots in right and left that have been lacking a starting outfielder for significant portions of the season. It will be because Aaron Heilman, 0.64 June ERA and all, will always be unpredictable, and Billy Wagner seems to be far from ironclad when it comes to closing out big games.

These issues weren't Willie Randolph's fault, and they're not Jerry Manuel's fault. So why was Willie blamed for the Mets' collective failures (fairly in my opinion) while Manuel seems to be enjoying our (my, at least) affection and confidence?

There will almost always be a honeymoon period with any new manager, especially when they replace someone who became as deeply unpopular as Willie Randolph. And part of the initial satisfaction with Manuel seems to have come from the fact that he differs from Willie when it comes to a few key things that seem to have annoyed everyone most about Randolph. Still, Jerry Manuel has already endeared himself to Mets fans in a way that I think was always elusive for Willie Randolph.

Manuel is also a calming influence guy, but he's already been ejected three times and he doesn't find arguing with umpires to be pointless. He seems to place more value on conspicuous action, when necessary, to protect players (witness the Carlos Beltran situation with Brian Runge) or team dignity. He believes in setting roles for the bullpen. He talks about the need to play fundamentally sound, but before tonight's game actually got his team together to work on fundamentals, instead of just trusting the players to figure things out for themselves. Manuel seems to be a bit more willing to try new things in order to solve lingering problems. He has the advantage of having done this before (six years in Chicago), but in general he just inspires more confidence as a manager than Willie had been since really the end of last summer.

I just like the way this guy runs the team. At this point, I propose the Mets keep Jerry Manuel, regardless of what happens the rest of the season. Where Willie Randolph led the Mets through intentional dispassion and a Torre-like lack of managerial personality, Jerry Manuel seems to be more of a Met guy, already having established himself as a Gandhi-quoting cerebral type with an edge that comes out when necessary, like during the Beltran vs. Runge situation, the argument last night over the ridiculous Ryan Howard home run call, or the "tongue-in-cheek" comment his first night on the job about knifing Jose Reyes if he acts up again.

Mets fans were leery of Manuel because he came directly from Randolph's right hand. But it's also clear from the early body of Manuel's work and the other coaching changes on the staff that this is a fundamentally different Mets leadership at this point. Manuel may have worked with Willie, but he's his own man with his own ideas, and he's taken the team in his own direction. Mets fans understandably didn't like the idea of another Willie guy taking over for Willie, but the fact remains bench coaches don't play a very assertive role and Mets fans knew hardly anything about Manuel before he was promoted. To a large degree, I think we've all been pleasantly surprised more than anything else.

In replacing Willie, the Mets tapped the easiest resource, an experienced manager out of their own dugout - this seemed less than exciting for those of us who would have preferred a more radical change, and admittedly, Jerry Manuel was not on my short list of favorite candidates to take over the Mets. Regardless of my prior feelings, however, or what happens the rest of this season, I must now admit that the Mets careful, risk-averse solution has for the moment left the Mets with a manager with whose leadership I am at least comfortable, and I think its hard to dispute the fact that the Mets were fortunate to have a guy like Jerry Manuel so readily available.


(Picture courtesy nydailynews.com)

And the sky hasn't even fallen...

...Not yet, anyway. Carlos Delgado just hit two home runs and drove in nine in this afternoon's double dip opener, the Mets first ever win in any game played as part of an intra-city, two stadium double header.

The second home run stoked the fears of sky-loving citizens everywhere, but it seems like everything's holding up alright.

Game 2 starts in about ten minutes. It's Pedro vs. Sidney Ponson, who I'm told won't be allowed to pitch with his customary jagged bottleneck.

Sidney Ponson everyone!

15 runs sounds good to me. Can it be duplicated? It's high time we fix the broken record.

Mets outslug Yanks in opener (sny.tv)

Images courtesy emptythebench.com, nydailynews.com

Battle of the Manuels

If the Mets somehow come roaring back this season to make the NL East race interesting, who wins the division may come down to an epic battle of the Manuels.

VS.

It should be CRAZY.

Aside from that, let's run through a few more points regarding today's news.

As mentioned, the Mets managed to screw up a move that should have been seen as a real potential rejuvenator for this team. Now everyone's talking about how little class the Mets and Omar Minaya have, and where most fans have wanted to see Willie go, we all really just feel bad for the guy at this point. In true Mets fashion, we've managed to generate negative vibes from what should have been a positive move. Nice.

So instead of being happy when I heard the news, I just sort of shrugged, and thought first about how our organization really can't seem to do much of anything right. How in god's name do you get your fans to react negatively to a move they all pretty much were calling and chanting in the seats for?

Only the Mets...and you do it by lacking the fortitude to make the move when it would have been bold and ballsy. Instead you cave into the pressure of your city's media, and then send subtle hints in your press conference that you shouldn't be blamed for the way it was done because in the end it was really the media who drove you to do it in the first place. “You guys do your job very well,” said a sarcastic-sounding Minaya to his media gathering (Thanks to metsblog for the quote). Was he hinting at the aforementioned pressure?

Second point, and for this we'll go counter-intuitive for a second. I might submit that maybe this whole debacle is a net-plus, because with the just about universal consensus that the Mets screwed this up, now the pressure is off the new manager and coaching staff, with more attention focused on how badly we screwed up. Yeah? Wishful thinking I guess, but maybe the negative attention on Omar lets Jerry Manuel relax a little bit for his first few games.

My third point is also one I made earlier this morning, and that's that this team has some other issues. It's got some talent, no doubt, but unless Jerry Manuel can wave a magic wand and get Carlos Delgado to hit and Moises Alou to somehow lose 10 years, there are still some issues on this team. I've been beating the Delgado and Alou thing to death, but they're the most glaring ones. In his press conference, Omar made the rare move of taking personal responsibility, noting that he bears some blame for the team he put on the field. Time to get to work, Minaya. The issues with Alou and Delgado may be a little harder to resolve, but the Mets could start getting their roster in gear by not carrying three catchers and promoting another guy from triple-A (Pascucci or Aguila) to fill out the bench and step in occasionally at, you guessed it, first base and left field.

So the Mets have a few more kinks to work out, but the other at least is that with the end of this whole saga, (Omar said unequivocally that Manuel is the manager for the rest of the year) everyone can chill out and focus on baseball again. Now that Willie's gone, Omar can think about how little sense it makes for a major league team to carry three catchers.

And while many fans are unsatisfied with the promotion of Jerry Manuel, I really don't think any of us know that much about the guy. Bench coaches rarely speak to the media; I don't even think I'd ever heard Manuel's voice before I watched some clips from the presser. He's got a smooth voice that Matt Cerrone over at metsblog compared to a radio DJs - I'd say it sounds more like a cross between Barry White and an old black preacher. His post game pressers will be fun to listen to, soothing if nothing else.

But that's neither here nor there. I'm encouraged because although he's not the fiery guy that many of us might have wanted, he's probably the best choice for an in-season replacement. He's here, he knows the team, and he probably is a little bit more outwardly fiery than Willie. He, not Willie, took on the umps forcefully after that blown call on the Delgado home run/foul ball against the Yankees. And regardless of his motivational techniques, he's new and he's bound to have some new ideas. For all the fuss about Willie's demeanor, we forget that a new manager also brings with him a few plans for how to shake up the lineup and the bullpen and get his own winning mix out there.

So don't sleep on Jerry Manuel. There's really not a whole lot to lose at this point - we either turn it around this year, or Manuel's probably gone and we get a new manager next season with a few new players as well.

In the meantime, with the drama over, hopefully we can all remember how much we love our Mets instead of how much we don't like our manager. Send some positive vibes; with Santana on the mound tonight the Mets have a chance to win a second straight series. A new day has dawned and we can all move forward.

Let's go Mets. Now let us go forth and be fruitful.


Images courtesy cnnsi.com, jamd.com

Fired Willie

As of around 3 am Eastern Daylight Time this morning, Willie Randolph is no longer the manager of the New York Mets.

Two ex-Mets

After a win? Now that hardly seems fair.

A win, no less, in which Aaron Heilman struck out Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter with two men on in the seventh to keep another lost lead from fully slipping away. A day after Robinson Cancel gave Willie a temporary reprieve, even the embattled Heilman couldn't save his erstwhile manager.

I should be happy, right? I'm just not so sure if this even matters. Rick Peterson and Tom Nieto are also gone, although Nieto in this situation is pretty much an extra in Omar Minaya's drama. And it's all even unfolding under the bright lights of Hollywood! Well, Anaheim, but Arte Moreno's not counting, so why should you?

But I'll refer back to the point I made yesterday: this Mets team has a few more problems than anything Willie's done. If Omar Minaya's got any guts he'll release Carlos Delgado and Moises Alou tomorrow, and follow through on his four years old pledge to make the Mets younger, faster, and more sustainable. I don't know, however. His bungling of the Willie situation would lead me to believe Delgado and Alou aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Did it just occur to Omar last night that Willie deserved to go? Not last October 1, or at any time in the last three weeks? Was Omar waiting for the right moment? If he was, I dare say that it's not right to fly the manager of a New York team out to California to tell him he's lost his job, after his team wins. If Willie was going to go, he should have gone before the Rangers' series, before game 2 yesterday, or after the next Mets' loss. Or at any time in last three weeks/8 months. The Mets really screwed this up, and despite calling repeatedly for his head this season, I actually feel bad for Willie Randolph.

On the bright side, we can write Rick Peterson's obituary as Mets' pitching coach. He catches a lot of flak for the Victor Zambrano "10 minutes" claim, but in a cleaning house like the Mets just performed, he had to go too. He's been here too long, and the Mets aren't pitching well enough. Plus the guy's full of it and thinks he knows everything. I'm ready to see what Dan Wharthen can do. As for Tom Nieto: Tommy, it seems we hardly knew ya. Any words of wisdom for Ken Oberkfell?

Jerry Manuel will take over as manager, with Oberkfell (formerly the AAA manager) coaching first and Wharthen (formerly the AAA pitching coach) assuming the same duties at the major league level. Luis Aguayo, the New Orleans team's field coordinator, will step in as Manuel's bench coach.

Jerry, Jerry, Jerry! We'll see what Manuel can do to fix the mess...



Images courtesy nydailynews.com, tshirthell.com

Robinson Cancel saves Willie's skin

With his first hit in...nine years? As pathetic as the 2008 Mets' season has been, you know things are getting interesting when the third string catcher wins the game with his first hit since Orel Hershiser was pitching for the Amazins'.

Which brings me to my next point: the third string catcher? The Mets' roster management has been so bungled in the past three weeks that its left me with a healthy doubt that anything can change this season with the current hierarchy.

Extending well beyond the status of our beleaguered manager. Two or three weeks ago, whenever it was we got swept by the Braves, I was fairly confident that the firing of Willie Randolph had the singlehanded potential to turn these Mets around and get us on a roll toward the playoffs. A fiery type - Lee Mazzilli perhaps? - could have gotten this thing fully turned around.

Now I'm singing somewhat of a different tune, inspired by Jim Mora. PLAYOFFS?!? Let's hold a lead first. Or replace our injured starting right fielder with someone other than, say, a third string catcher.

Apologies to Robinson Cancel, who makes Ramon Castro look like Kate Moss

This Mets team is deeply flawed. The flaws carve a canyon far deeper than the depth of any of Willie Randolph's ineptitudes. Would I still like to see Randolph fired?

Maybe, but I'm not so sure it would make any difference at this point. Perhaps Willie would do a better job if, say, the Mets had a starting left fielder. Or a real first baseman. Or a bench that included hungry players who have put up numbers in AAA and earned a chance at the major league level. Instead of, you know, Marlon Anderson and his sub-Mendoza line batting average.

Where's Chris Aguila? Hitting over .300 with good power in New Orleans, he was up for a day last week, until Omar Minaya somehow determined that Cancel was a better option. Then there was Abraham Nunez, and Nick Evans, and, heck, Raul Casanova, all promoted over Val Pascucci, the 6 foot 6 first baseman/left fielder in triple-A who's got 10 home runs in just over a month with the Zephyrs.

Nunez had one hit in about three weeks with the AAA club. Raul Casanova, like Cancel, is also another catcher...a waste of space with 25 precious roster spots. Nick Evans came from double-A. Omar Minaya doesn't seem to have the attention span anymore to perform any General Managerial duties other than making a blockbuster trade.

I'll tell you what I can't stand: that the Mets continue to trot out a old first baseman who doesn't look like he gives a crap, despite his .240 average and power numbers in a two year decline. Or that they don't have the balls to release the 42 year-old left fielder who's played all of fifteen games this season due to three different injuries. Or that their pitching coach seems like a better fit at a zen monastery or on a self-help bookshelf than in a major league dugout. Why isn't anyone talking about Rick Peterson (myself included)? The Mets' pitching hasn't exactly been stellar this season.

All I'm saying is that the Mets' travails these past couple of weeks have made it abundantly clear that this whole thing is so much bigger than Willie Randolph. Do the Mets have some quality pieces? Sure. But if the Mets rallying to win 7 of 9 and then going 3-6 in their next three series has taught us anything, it's that this is absolutely not all Willie's fault.

I used to think that in order to save 2008, the Mets would have to man up and fire Willie. Now it seems clear that in order to save 2008, the Mets are going to have to grow a pair and find a way to cut the dead weight. Omar Minaya should dump Delgado, Alou, and Rick Peterson. Then learn that the 23rd, 24th, and 25th men on the roster are just as important as Wright, Reyes, and Beltran, and perhaps give some of those minor leaguers who have earned it a chance when the Mets have a roster vacancy.

The Mets need change, but it's of the more wholesale variety. What they do with Willie Randolph doesn't matter. Several smaller but still significant moves are both more pressing and can easily match firing the manager for shock value. I don't want to root for Carlos Delgado in October, or a pitching staff that's still led by the Mullet, or the Jacket, or whatever you want to call him. Which is convenient, because there's a good chance that with the present orange and blue formula I won't face that dilemma.

In true Mets' fashion, the job status of Willie Randolph is what's being truly mismanaged. I'm thoroughly convinced, though, that if the Mets want to catch a good Phillies team this season (or the two other teams in front of them), they might want to look at some other potential improvements.


Image courtesy bp1.blogger.com

In a weird place

I'm not sure what to make of the Mets' 4 game sweep at the hands of the cellar dwelling Padres. Which is interesting, because two weeks ago, I might have picketed Shea. Right now, I'm just confused.

I feel bad for not having written anything on Wednesday. I missed a chance to talk about how well the Mets were playing - that's in the past now. Perhaps it was Gary Cohen who jinxed it, when after Wednesday's win he told Matt Yallof on Mets' Post Game Live about how badly the Mets were going to beat up on San Diego this weekend.

You couldn't blame Gary, really. The Mets went into San Diego having won 7 of 9. The Padres entered Thursday night's game with a 24-37 record, and the distinction of being the worst hitting team in the National League. The latter held up over most of the weekend, as the Pads scored just two runs in each of the first three games this weekend. Unfortunately, two is more than one, so by this afternoon's game the former stat had improved by a factor of three.

Fast forward to the eighth inning of today's game, with Duaner Sanchez on the mound, the Mets up 6-4, and two Padres on base. Sanchez powers a 93 mile-an-hour fastball by Scott Hairston for the second out. He bears down well, and seems poised to get out of the inning with Jody Gerut coming up next. The catch? Gerut's a lefty, and Sanchez is a righty, so the first law of over-managing states that Billy Wagner, the lefty, is forced to come in to face Gerut and try to nail down a four out save.

There are libraries of conventional wisdom to vindicate Willie Randolph's decision here. Your closer's ready; bring him in to set up the lefty vs. lefty match-up and end the threat in the 8th.

But it's interesting to note that while Randolph did the conventional thing, Pads skipper Bud Black saw something in Gerut, opted not to pinch-hit, and Gerut came through with an RBI single. 6-5. Tony Clark follows with a three-run homer, to give the Padres an 8-6 lead they wouldn't relinquish. Oh, snap. Sunny San Diego wasn't so sunny this weekend for the Metsies.

I didn't like taking Sanchez out there for the mere reason that he just looked like he was getting out of that inning. And he looked pretty disappointed walking off the mound when he got the hook the moment he struck out Hairston, as if he too was wondering why people act like it's a felony to have a right-handed reliever pitch to a left-handed batter. And for christ's sake, it's not like Jody Gerut is Tony Gwynn.

Willie's known for going with his gut quite frequently, and it often backfires. The gutsy thing to do today would have been to leave Sanchez in to face the lefty, trusting in his capability after a big K to get one more out. Today, Willie went by the book, and it backfired.




But what's more interesting to me is that Willie ultimately chose to go with a barely-warm Wagner instead of a pumped up Sanchez. Especially knowing that Wagner has trouble coming in in the middle of an inning.

In the broadcast, Keith Hernandez said that Willie made the right move. Matt Cerrone agreed - twice - in his post-game remarks on metsblog, as if trying to preempt the all-but-certain anger of his site's readers.

And to be fair, we wouldn't be talking about any of this if the fastball Wagner zipped by Clark the pitch before the home run had been called a strike. It was a strike. The Mets should have been out of that inning. Instead, we're all left only to ponder.

The Mets need to figure it out, and soon. Sanchez should have stayed in. But I can't even fault Willie for anything else these last four games. The Mets aren't playing listlessly anymore; now they're just losing. I really am confused, because for nine beautiful games the Mets were fun to watch and looking solid again. Now, I'm left only to ponder.

30-32, 100 to play. 7 1/2 behind the first place Phillies...ugh. They'll turn it around, right? I mean, right? Time's running out on "it's still early."

I just want my team back, and I'm still waiting.


Pictures courtesy padres.com, mets.com