I'm sitting here at Shea Stadium (I'll be home by the time I put this up, in a few hours), and to steal from Jack Buck, I can't believe what I just saw.
The Mets, in desperate need of a victory after getting swept in San Diego, jumped out to a four-run lead against Arizona at Shea Stadium, only to blow that lead and then some.
My job is to remain detached, as you know. But the Mets' performance offended me as a student of the game, as someone who's competed in a level as low as Little League and as a mammal. And, admittedly, as someone who saw the Mets, as the season's outset, as a championship-caliber team.
Here is my column, in which I sound the bugle (one of my favorite, old-school cliches) to re-start the Willie Randolph Watch.
After a game like tonight (last night, I should say), I feel like a change in the Mets' manager's office could only help. The Mets looked scared. Once they grabbed a 5-1 lead, they played like they wished they could keep the ball on the ground and hand it off to their reliable tailback to run out the clock. Yes, it was a hot night, but if John Maine wants to be a true stopper, he's got to figure out a way to make his 101 pitches last more than five innings. And the bullpen was absolutely brutal, from Claudio Vargas to Joe Smith to Duaner Sanchez.
But it's the front office's job to not get bogged down in any one game. To think globally. Of course, the Mets' front office isn't exactly on a roll at the moment. Not after the way the Ryan Church situation was botched.
So I yield the floor to you. Who says that Willie stays, and who says that Willie goes? Who wants to fire Rick Peterson (Poppy, raise your hand)? What about HoJo? What about Omar Minaya?
After a loss like that, you've more than earned the right to point a finger and scream, symbolically, at someone. We'll play the "There's plenty of season left" card some other day.
Comments (33)
Ken, at this point, I agree that change would be good. I think what we are seeing is a logical extension of what happened last September. Most of the same faces are still there. Randolph was doomed all along. If I was Fred Wilpon I would call Willie in and have a chat. Tell him the team's malaise is obviously not entirely the manager's fault, but just like when a big company performs poorly the CEO gets canned, so it is in baseball with a team's manager. I would try and get Willie to stay on for the remainder of his contract as some sort of advisor or scout (similar to Gene Michael). Let Willie save a little face, if that's possible.
Manuel should be made interim manager. Keep Minaya and the coaches in place for the rest of the year. Hire a new manager (maybe Manuel) and let that person hire an entirely new staff.
But, hey, what the heck do I know?
Too bad for Willie; he is not long for this team. All it will take is one more losing streak. I must say I am intrigued by Gary Carter, despite his sleazeball campaigning.
Where do I begin? My frustration level is reaching critical stage and I might jump ship tonight. Pelfrey v Webb, are you kidding me?
From Dr. Nick's handling Church's malady um uh, I mean the Mets' medical staff; Chief Wiggam's fine police work um uh I mean Delgado's useless piece of leather on his right hand; Bart's stellar school record at Springfield Elementary um uh I mean Castillo's ineffective slap-style hitting (ok, he got a few hits last night); Ralph's permanent haze um uh, I mean Reyes' confusion at times; Homer's safety track record um uh, I mean Beltran's poor play of late to Lionel Hutz' sleaziness and used-car approach um uh, I mean Randolp's delusional belief his team is ok.
Worst team ever, well almost.
~H
Ken, like I said before. the Mets are a SOFT, inconsistant, up and down. When the Mets face adversity, they get hit in the mouth and don't response. Something is going to happen with the Mets if things don't turn around soon. Fred and Jeff Wilpon are going to do something with this team and they are not going to wait until the season implodes for them to shake things up. Wille right now is on his last legs and he knows that if the Mets don't turn it around soon, he will be fired. By the way, all this talk of John Maine becoming a very good pitcher is hogwash. So far Maine has been Ok. Not as bad as Oliver Perez, but not being consistant.
Willie should have been fired after last years debacle. This team plays with no sense of urgency at all. They need a kick in the ass and if firing the manager and maybe a coach or two then that is what should and needs to be done. After firing Willie a statement needs to be made that if things don't turnaround and fast no players job is safe. This is an embarrassing team.
fire HoJo
this team can't drive in runs
Joel Sherman made an interesting point today, saying that in the post-steroid testing era why would teams want to load up on older players whose careers were made during the non-testing era?
Change may be good for the Mets, but who is out there to take Randolph's place? Buck Showalter?
Bob, it is going to be Manuel short term (and maybe long term).
I think Sherman has a point. Makes me think again that Cashman is going the right thing.
Gil Hodges has a better chance of getting the job than Showalter does.
I'm with you Bob in replacement players. MLB would have disgraced itself and made a mockery of the game. MLB players are elite. It's easy to fail to realize this when you are watching a game because they are all so good.
Jim:
Manuel doesn't strike me as a huge step up, but...change for change's sake in 2008 is the mantra. Maybe a public plea by the Wilpons - win 7 of the next 10 or Willie goes...miss the playoffs and Omar goes.
Part of the image problem witht baseball is that players were better connected to society than the other sports for a long time. They were more like everyone else, and most people had also played the game as a child. It wasn't necessary to be 7 foot tall or weight 300 pounds. Dodger players could be seen sitting on the stoops in Brooklyn with their families.
The major leaguers worked off-season in the towns in which they played and were part of the community that earned almost the same salary as their neighbors.
Then the changes occured. More African-American and Latin players, who did not look like the fans took the field (resentments to non-white players making big money are real). Salaries rose with the economic success of the game and players now had to workout in the offseason to keep their position (and could afford to). They moved to the South or West or back to their native lands in the winter.
Until the mid-80's, there was no strength training and the players looked more like the fans than the NBA or NFL. Legal (and illegal) training methods changed that in the past 25 years.
Players are now not like us - in race, compensation and we cannot access them easily. And that is a shame.
Bob, Manuel isn't a big step up but he has won 500 MLB games, is available and on the scene and can only be an improvement for the rest of the year. Off-season others will become available. I would hate for the Mets to hire a permanent guy now because he might not be the best person available by October. I think there is an excellent chance that Minaya is gone, too, if the Mets go home early.
Ken, I really think the one element this team is lacking is fire. They really play with no heart. When they get ahead in games, they don't play to win, they play not to lose. That is a direct indictment of the manager. They have to want to bury the opposing team each and every game, and it just seems like their content to build an early lead and coast. I don't really blame the front office, because to me Omar Minaya's biggest sin so far has been depleting the farm system, but that should have no bearing on how the major league team plays. He put together a legitimate playoff contender and this team is just absolutely heartless and doesn't respond to Willie at all. Willie tries to play the part of the cool customer, saying he's a "winner" and he's been here before. We're Mets fans, we don't care what he did with the Yankees. This is a "what-have-you-done-for-me-lately" league and Willie and his Mets have done nothing for us for the past year-plus. I hate to say it, but it's time for Willie to go.
If they do fire Willie, they should fire Minaya on the same day. The guy is just as much to blame, if not more, for the Mets' predicament. Willie can only work with what he's been given. Omar started off strong but has failed miserably time after time over the last 3 years. Pathetic. Thanks for being incompetent and ruining the Mets.
Oh yeah, and fire Peterson and HoJo also. Since when does Howard Freaking Johnson qualify as a hitting coach?! He was a part time player on the '86 Mets and that's about it. And does Peterson have something on the Wilpons? Talk about teflon.
I need a Duff. Stat.
Rock
The Mets keep playing like they are right now, the Wilpons will shake things up. I understand point Joel Sherman's point, but at some point Fred and Jeff will see how the team performs, and if they keep underperforming, heads will roll.
The expectations got too high in 2006 when Beltran, Valentine and apparently Reyes had career years and Trachsel won 15 games and Wagner saved 40. None of these guys ever showed that before and havent since. We see now why Willie never got hired to manage any of the other teams he interviewed for, he doesn't have what it takes to motivate this batch of unprofessional athletes that were acquired for him.
So, first Willie needs to go, he wasn't that good a 3rd base coach for the Yankees that he deserved a chance to manage. So, he got his chance and predictably has failed after a magic season in 2006 where everything went his way. Then Omar goes after trying to clean up Phillips mess and having everything go his way for a couple and a half years. He's leaving behind another mess to clean up.
Who replaces them? The biggest mistake the Wilpons have made was firing Valentine because he didn't get along with Phillips. He wore out his welcome, maybe, but next season might be time to try him again. Until then Manuel, the new manager will bring in a new staff anyway. There's all sorts of Asst. GM's out there who could take Omar's place, I like the GM the Reds fired, he did well in a short period of time.
Once again Mets' fans it's wait til next year.
I'm never crazy about the midseason firing of a manager. I think it really all depends on who they have to replace him and what the team wants. Omar (who, yes, is very much to blame too) simply has to take the temperature of his team and find out how they feel.
The frustrating thing about Willie is a quote like this: "They found a few holes. We didn't." It's absurd. They hit four homers and you hit two infield singles in the first inning.
But Omar is getting a bit of a break here. It's almost like he made the Santana deal and felt this was all the team needed. (And that deal fell into his lap.) Earlier in the year it was trendy to say "Well, maybe the Yankees just aren't that good of a team" -- well, the Mets just aren't that good of a team. Some of their legitimately good players aren't playing well, their pitching staff is down to one reliable pitcher (Satana, and even he has had issues) and their bullpen has been a nightmare.
I'll actually be going to the Mets game tonight. Which probably means they'll pull off some miracle drubbing of Webb.
The expectations got too high in 2006 when Beltran, Valentine and apparently Reyes had career years and Trachsel won 15 games and Wagner saved 40.
---
I'll give you Beltran, but Wagner's 2006 numbers were right in line with his typical year (and he had a better year in '05), Reyes put up the same numbers in '07, and Valentin was coming off a poor year, but used to hit 30 home runs a year with the White Sox (he had hit 30 homers as recently as '04). And Trachsel... well, wins mean nothing, and he wasn't anything special.
It's an interesting point, but I'm not sure it holds up.
could you imagine if you had a business and for this business you built a brand new facility to promote what was supposed to be the best product around and in a period of 80 days this product no longer worked as advertised and you had a few million angry, frustrated customers? would you issue a recall?
i sure would. if i was nine months from what was supposed to be THE moment for the evolution of this franchise, i'd go back to the drawing board ASAP.
I forgot to add in Delgado who will never have that year again due to age. And LoDuca had his offensive year too, which won't be coming anymore, but the defensive years at catcher are here. When you win 97 games and only 2 pitchers win over 10 games you can't discount the Trachsel wins because he's been basically worthless. Then there was the Nady trade for Perez, Nady had 14 hrs and he hadn't done that before. Everything came together and on paper that team still doesn't look good.
Anyway Mets fans expectations got too high. In reading this season's magazines and predictions very few picked the Mets above third, Mets' fans expected them to go to the Series. Personally, I picked the Phillies to win, Atlanta 2nd and Arizona to be the wild card. Things could be worse, we could live in Denver and be Rockies' fans. :)
We'll take Willie back as 3B coach. Meachem is terrible!
To continue in the Simpsons vein, why don't we fire the mascot?
Go Dancin' Homer!
Bob.
Even during their lean years, the Isotopes were better than the '08 Mets. No, Duff Man says 'move the Mets to Alberque.'
~H
Howard gets my vote for best "Simpsons" reference of the day.
Hey, everyone's favorite "anonymous" Internet flamer, Pete Abraham, ate too many Twinkies today and proposed the following trade:
"Kennedy, Tabata and Betances"
OR --
"Tabata, Betances and Cano"
for half a year of C.C. Sabathia.
The cream filling in those Twinkies must have spoiled in the heat or something.
Easy, easy, baileywalk. PeteAbe really proposed that? I'll have to check that out.
Thanks for all of the feedback. I don't feel compelled to respond, except to tell Richie G. that my friend, you've got major player-hating issues. All good stuff.
Ken, I wish I could turn a blind eye. I miss being a fan of some team other than my fantasy baseball team. But its not hate. It's frustration. Why should I care when they clearly dont.
But just so you know, I love Fernando Tatis (at least the way he's playing now). I love Rex Hudler. I love John Stearns. I love how David Eckstein said its not too much to ask to run to first base four times a night. I love college softball players. I love heart. I love effort. I will never boo anyone that tries.
And Ken, answer this please. If the Mets hustled every ball last year, do you really think they would have lost by 1 game to the Phils? Or do you think maybe out of that hustle they would have picked up at least two games and won the division? So instead of paying $160 million to Johan, all they really had to do was try and not pay anything extra. But in todays MLB, that IS too much to ask for.
Ken, so far the NL MVP is Chase Utley's to lose. Utely has been unbeilvable for the Phillies. The other candiate would be Chipper Jones of the Braves. He's hitting .400 and the Braves miss hit bat in the lineup. The AL MVp is wide open. No one has taken charge yet.
Dennis, Dan Uggla is putting his name in that MVP NL hat.
Richie, no, I don't think hustle would've made the difference last year. You're going to have to give me a specific example.
I'm not going to pretend that the game hasn't changed along with the big money. But I will say that a) there are many, many more players who DO care than who DON'T care, and b) The treatment the players received from the owners before they unionized was criminal. I just don't think you can ignore that part of the equation.
Criminal? Ken, that's a harsh word. And again, you keep lumping me as pro-owner, I'm not. I'm anti-owner. I have no problem with them asking for as much money as possible, I have a problem with them striking and not hustling.
And Ken, heres an example of a player taking an extra base last year on the Mets. The game was a pretty big one at the time, game #162. Dontrelle Willis lines a shot into rightfield. Milledge jogs all the way to get the ball as Willis hustles all the way. Instead of a man on 2nd, Willis gets to 3rd. That type of play happens all the time with the Mets (if the batter hustles) and if you dont think that cost the Mets 2 games in the course of a 162 game season, you're not paying enough attention.
Also, not every non-hustle is as easy to see as Timo Perez (and yes, he absolutely would have scored if he was hustling) For instance, a guy doubles to the gap with no outs. He jogs lightly to second. Easy double, no one notices anything. What if he sprinted to second? the OF sees this and bobbles the ball. Since he was already streaking he goes to third base. He scores on a weak grounder. Mets win the game by a run.
Jose Reyes hits a ground ball to shortstop. He lightly jogs to first. The shortsop sees he has all day and throws to first. What if Jose ran hard? The shortstop hurries his throw and throws it away. Reyes reaches now. He comes around to score.
As for players that do care over dont care. Well I'm sure they'll say they care (unless their Tom Glavine) but I can just go by what I see on TV.
Richie, Dontrelle didn't score after that triple, so it didn't cost the Mets. So you're still going to have to give me 2 "non-hustle" plays that cost the Mets a game each. You're accusing me of not paying attention. I'm asking you to back that up that accusation with specific examples.
Ken, I did that off the top of my head. But if you google Mets dont hustle in 2007, a lot comes up.
I must admit, I didn't watch too many games last year. So I cant come up with two single plays that cost the Mets runs last year. But I heard something this year of a Mets 1-0 loss to the Brewers or the Reds where Wright hit a pop up and both he and Castillo didn't run. And Castilo would have scored and Wright would have been on second?
Also, is baseball the only sport where putting pressure on a defender is bad? I mean in hockey a good forechecker will make a defenseman give the puck away. Michael Strahan can make Tom Brady throw an interception because he's forcing the play. A good defender in basketball, can make a dribbler lose control. Is it really inconceivable that a player busting it out of the box can make a shortstop throw the ball away? Is it? But maybe only Tatis and Byrnes bust it out every play and force that throw. So even if I cant come up with two specific examples, there are thousands of NON EXAMPLES that surely could have impacted the game.
I mean no disrespect by putting this link in and I wont ever again if you have an issue with it. I obviously enjoy your work even if I totally disagree with you.
But this is a great article by Phil Mushnick.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04282008/sports/theyre_jogging_our_memories_108426.htm
I have no issue with links, Richie, as long as they're family-friendly. I agree with you about pressuring the defense. I just think that a lack of hustle is prevalent around the game, so I don't buy the "If the Mets hustled, they would've won last year" theory. And with all due respect, you can't back it up, after accusing me of not paying attention.
But we're all good. I appreciate the kind words, and I always appreciate a good debate.