He is a very solid baseball man, and ironically, is very similiar 
to Willie Randolph in terms of personality. In fact, Willie may the
more fiery of the two. Manuel is a student of Ghandi which tells you a
bit about his calm demeanor, nothing wrong with that, but I do question
whether a Willie clone makes sense. Much like Willie, he is a good guy,
very intelligent, has a lot of baseball experience, but, again, I
really have to wonder if this team is not in need of a more stern
manager. But, I will reserve judgement, and wish him well….with this
Mets team and front office, Jerry will need all the luck he can get!

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The Mets took two out of three from the Rangers this weekend,
apparently saving Willie Randolph at least for…..who knows? However,
it seems pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto
will be getting the ax. (We all know the Mets biggest problem is of
course first base coaching). The Mets are turning into the Knicks right
before our eyes. This situation is being so poorly handled you would
think Charles Dolan was advising the Wilpon’s.

If you decide that Willie and company are not the right coaches for
the team, fine, fire them and move on! This non sense of “well…lets
see how the Mets play this week” is garbage! If the Mets brain trust
(and I use that term loosely) don’t yet have enough history to decide
if they are in good hands or not from a coaching perspective,  will
another few games really tell  them anything??

Sorry, had to get that off my chest…I feel much better now.

New York Mets quick hits:

• Mets catchers lead the league in stolen bases against
• Mets manager(for today) Willie Randolph has been named to the staff of the all-star game
• the Mets enter play tonight at 33-35
• 6/17 starting pitchers: Johan Santana (7-4) vs John Lackey(3-1)
• 6/18 starting pitchers: Oliver Perez (5-4) vs Jon Garland (6-4)

Closer Billy Wagner, coming off a nightmare week where he blew three
multiple run leads, came on in the ninth inning to notch the win for
the Mets. That may have been the best sign of all for the amazins as
without  a dependable closer, no team can go very far. I must admit,  I
was a bit  nervous  as Billy came out  because if he did it again, it
would have gotten ugly. Closers  must have short memories in order to
be  successful  and Wagner evidently does. He  was impressive  and it
was  good to see.

As the game ended, I couldn’t figure out who looked more relieved, Wagner or Willie Randolph.
The
win gives the Mets a two of three victory in the series, and with the
Phillies losing two this weekend, they pick up a much needed game in
the standings.

The main thought I had was this; what did Willie Randolph do
differently today then in games the Mets have lost this year? The
answer, so far as I could tell, is…nothing at all!

The difference today was the  Mets got some run support, a solid 
outing by their starter, and a lights out performance by the bull pen. 
None of this means that  Willie is a better  manager all of  a sudden.
What it does mean, to me, is what I have been saying all season; the
manager is only as good as his team. On this day, Willies guys came
through for him. Problem is, they are still the same guys  who  lost
four straight last weekend in  San Diego. 

While I am happy with winning this series, and with the Mets coming
through like they did, I still feel the problems that plague this team,
which have them playing .500 ball for the last 160 or so games, still
exist. To me, that is more on the GM then the manager. I hope, as I
have all season, that this will propel them on to some kind of winning
streak to get back in the mix in the NL East. Problem is, based on
recent experience, I can see the next game they play ending like so
many other over the past couple of season’s.

Maybe this time will be different.

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The Mets, luckily, picked up enough offense that  they didn’t need to worry much about the bull pen.

Now, the more significant news;
the Mets have apparently all but decided to fire manager Willie
Randolph. It has been reported that ownership has concluded that it is
time for a change. The lone hold out is General Manager Omar Minaya,
the man to blame for the current sad state of the organization, in my
opinion.

It makes sense  to me  that  Omar  would opt not to fire Willie,
since by doing so, he would be the next one with a target on his back.
I believe his support of Willie Randolph is merely driven by self
preservation. Minaya has put together an old, overpaid ($140M is a lot
to pay for a sub.500team) squad that is not constructed in such a way
that leads you to believe they can compete for a Championship any time
soon. To make matters worse, Minaya has mortgaged the Mets future in
order to bring us this mediocre team. The Mets farm system is one of
the weakest in baseball right now.

Great job, Omar! The Mets are badly handling this situation. If you
want to fire Willie, just do it. Enough of this “day to day” nonsense.
It is bush league and makes the Mets appear second class. If you fire
him though, and Omar knows this, it won’t make much difference. While
Willie certainly has made his share of mistakes, but is it his fault
that Pedro Martinez is old? Or that Carlos Delgado, a once great
player, is now a liability? Is it Willie’s  fault that the bull pen is
sub par? I could go on and on, but you get the point. The  Mets  are 
not a well  constructed  team.  That  is the fault of the man who built
the team, not the man who manages them.

Hopefully Mets
management will decide to make meaningful change, which means get rid
of Minaya and as many of these aging, overpaid players as possible and
lets try to load up on young talent and actually have a future for this
franchise. Just my opinion.

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Below is a picture of Wagner preparing for the save:

   

(Sorry, Billy, couldn’t resist).  For  the most part, Wagner has
been outstanding for the Mets, but of late, he has been a liability. As
we all  know,  the Mets are not a team that can afford to give away a
single game (I realize no team can, but especially the Mets),with the
way they are struggling. The Mets bailed Wagner out last night after he
blew a three run lead in the ninth, and they almost did it again today.
However, David Wright and Damion Easley were robbed in the ninth.

This is typical of the 2008 Mets season; if they get strong starting
pitching, the bull pen fails, if the pitching is strong all around,
they don’t hit, if they hit and pitch, they don’t field. It  has been 
frustrating to say the least.

It was a wasted brilliant performance by Mets ace Johan Santana.
Just like they (Wagner), wasted a tremendous outing by  Mike Pelfrey
last night. Even though the Mets won last night, the kid deserved a W.

The beat  goes on….the Mets continue to prove they are just a mediocre team. It pains me to say it, but look at the facts.

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Mets starter Pedro Martinez didn’t have his best stuff. Yet the Mets
still had a  6-4  lead  in the  bottom of the eight. Duaner Sanchez was
pulled with two out and two on in the inning. On came Mets closer Billy
Wagner. Wagner quickly turned a 6-4 lead into an 8-6 deficit. Wagner
has been solid this year for the most part, but for all his bashing of
teammates (sometimes rightly so), it looks bad to have this kind of
performance. I know there will be some second guessing of Willie
Randolph for this move, (“why didn’t Sanchez finish the
inning?…etc”). I didn’t love it (at least before Wagner imploded),
but it wasn’t a terrible move. As has happened often this season, the
Mets players just didn’t perform. 

The Mets now limp out of town having been swept by a last place
team. Any positive feelings  the Mets garnered  during their recent run
was quickly wiped away after the lost weekend in San Diego. The team is
now 7.5 back of the Phillies and reeling. The best news for Willie
Randolph and the Mets players is that they are on the West Coast, far
away from the angry fans at Shea Stadium.

As I have stated many times, hoping to be proven wrong, I just think
the Mets are a mediocre team right now. Sadly, they  keep proving me
correct.

This is for you, Mets fans….(it couldn’t hurt):