New York Baseball Bloopers
It's done. It's over. The New York media and "Joe from Long Island" on the Fan got their pound of flesh. The Mets organization handled it in about the most unprofessional way imaginable, and this life-long Mets fan is just ashamed right now.
In case you don't know what happened, Mets manager Willie Randolph got fired this morning. As in early this morning. As in 3:15am New York time this morning. His job had been in jeopardy since the end of last season, when the Mets blew a 7-game lead with 17 games to play. They've been mediocre this season, flirting with the .500 mark all the way, and they haven't been within reach of first place since early May. So Mets fans (patient sort that they are) started the chants of "Fire Willie", and the New York media started their own Willie Watch, trotting out their talking heads on TV and radio to proclaim whether or not Willie had earned his pink slip after every loss.
Considering the Mets have been without Pedro Martinez for most of the season, Moises Alou can't play two games in a row without going down for a month, Ryan Church (their best player for the first six weeks of the season) got a concussion and was completely mishandled by the team, which has led to him missing almost a month... well, suffice to say, Willie hadn't been running all the A troops out there every time. Plus, he's had to deal with a struggling Carlos Delgado and a struggling Carlos Beltran, neither of whom have been giving 100 percent on a consistent basis (let's just say that when one of them dives for a ball, it's a surprise). Willie probably stuck his foot in his mouth when he wondered aloud if the criticism against him was racially motivated, but his biggest mistake there was saying it in confidence to a New York media member and thinking it would stay private.
Apparently, the decision had already been made to fire Willie after the Mets managed to get swept four straight by the cellar-dwelling Padres a week ago, but they wanted to "wait until the right time" to pull the trigger. Meanwhile, the organization developed more leaks than the Monica Lewinsky investigation, and the press knew everything before it was going to happen. So when GM Omar Minaya was reported to be heading to Anaheim with the Mets for this current roadtrip, it was assumed that Willie would be fired first thing yesterday (although that in itself is silly... why pay to fly a dead man walking cross-country when he's just gonna get fired before he can manage a game out there). Instead, Omar hung out at the hotel while the Mets were winning their 3rd game in the last 4 and actually showing some signs that they'd turned the corner. When the team got back after the game, Willie got whacked.
Classy, huh?
So Jerry Manuel will be running things for the rest of the season, and I have no reason to believe that this team is going to rally now. They might have for Willie, and it's nothing against Manuel, but it's kind of a tough hit to take when you're rallying around a guy, starting to play hard for him, and it doesn't matter. I foresee a .500 season, after which Manuel and the remaining coaches get fired and the organization will have to clean house. And to think, just 9 months ago, we Mets fans thought we were on the way to a 2nd straight division title and maybe a world championship run...
But leave it to Hank Steinbrenner to find a way to at least try to upstage the soap opera playing out in Queens. His ace pitcher, Chien-Ming Wang sprained his foot rounding the bases in Houston during interleague play over the weekend; Wang is likely out until September. American League pitchers, of course, don't bat normally, but in National League ballparks, you play by NL rules. Well, Mt. Steinbrenner Junior blew up yesterday, saying that the National League should "grow up and join the 21st century" and have a designated hitter like the AL does. Let me address Mr. Steinbrenner directly...
Listen up, assbag... the designated hitter is probably the stupidest rule baseball has ever come up with. Pitchers should hit just like everyone else does; hell, if the pitchers didn't hit back in the day, we never would have found out that Babe Ruth could hit a baseball nine miles and that guy MADE your franchise. It's part of the strategy that is baseball, figuring out what to do with a lesser hitter at the bottom of your lineup, instead of creating a new position that has been used ever since to give good-hit, no-glove types like Edgar Martinez a career, or worse to allow us to see hobbling 40-somethings who are well past their primes try to eke out a couple more halfway decent seasons and collect a few million more dollars. I have had it with you and your overinflated opinion of both yourself and your franchise, which is really your daddy's franchise, and I could tell you a few things about how one can play with daddy's money and run everything into the ground...
In short, Hank, I hope Randy Wolf starts tonight's game against your Yankees by throwing one right at Derek Jeter's head and then telling him, "That's how we do things in the National League, and you tell your stain of an owner that!" It'll never happen, of course, because that's another aspect of baseball that's been thrown out of the game, like AL pitchers batting... or team ownership handling their business in a dignified way... maybe it's just a New York thing...
In case you don't know what happened, Mets manager Willie Randolph got fired this morning. As in early this morning. As in 3:15am New York time this morning. His job had been in jeopardy since the end of last season, when the Mets blew a 7-game lead with 17 games to play. They've been mediocre this season, flirting with the .500 mark all the way, and they haven't been within reach of first place since early May. So Mets fans (patient sort that they are) started the chants of "Fire Willie", and the New York media started their own Willie Watch, trotting out their talking heads on TV and radio to proclaim whether or not Willie had earned his pink slip after every loss.
Considering the Mets have been without Pedro Martinez for most of the season, Moises Alou can't play two games in a row without going down for a month, Ryan Church (their best player for the first six weeks of the season) got a concussion and was completely mishandled by the team, which has led to him missing almost a month... well, suffice to say, Willie hadn't been running all the A troops out there every time. Plus, he's had to deal with a struggling Carlos Delgado and a struggling Carlos Beltran, neither of whom have been giving 100 percent on a consistent basis (let's just say that when one of them dives for a ball, it's a surprise). Willie probably stuck his foot in his mouth when he wondered aloud if the criticism against him was racially motivated, but his biggest mistake there was saying it in confidence to a New York media member and thinking it would stay private.
Apparently, the decision had already been made to fire Willie after the Mets managed to get swept four straight by the cellar-dwelling Padres a week ago, but they wanted to "wait until the right time" to pull the trigger. Meanwhile, the organization developed more leaks than the Monica Lewinsky investigation, and the press knew everything before it was going to happen. So when GM Omar Minaya was reported to be heading to Anaheim with the Mets for this current roadtrip, it was assumed that Willie would be fired first thing yesterday (although that in itself is silly... why pay to fly a dead man walking cross-country when he's just gonna get fired before he can manage a game out there). Instead, Omar hung out at the hotel while the Mets were winning their 3rd game in the last 4 and actually showing some signs that they'd turned the corner. When the team got back after the game, Willie got whacked.
Classy, huh?
So Jerry Manuel will be running things for the rest of the season, and I have no reason to believe that this team is going to rally now. They might have for Willie, and it's nothing against Manuel, but it's kind of a tough hit to take when you're rallying around a guy, starting to play hard for him, and it doesn't matter. I foresee a .500 season, after which Manuel and the remaining coaches get fired and the organization will have to clean house. And to think, just 9 months ago, we Mets fans thought we were on the way to a 2nd straight division title and maybe a world championship run...
But leave it to Hank Steinbrenner to find a way to at least try to upstage the soap opera playing out in Queens. His ace pitcher, Chien-Ming Wang sprained his foot rounding the bases in Houston during interleague play over the weekend; Wang is likely out until September. American League pitchers, of course, don't bat normally, but in National League ballparks, you play by NL rules. Well, Mt. Steinbrenner Junior blew up yesterday, saying that the National League should "grow up and join the 21st century" and have a designated hitter like the AL does. Let me address Mr. Steinbrenner directly...
Listen up, assbag... the designated hitter is probably the stupidest rule baseball has ever come up with. Pitchers should hit just like everyone else does; hell, if the pitchers didn't hit back in the day, we never would have found out that Babe Ruth could hit a baseball nine miles and that guy MADE your franchise. It's part of the strategy that is baseball, figuring out what to do with a lesser hitter at the bottom of your lineup, instead of creating a new position that has been used ever since to give good-hit, no-glove types like Edgar Martinez a career, or worse to allow us to see hobbling 40-somethings who are well past their primes try to eke out a couple more halfway decent seasons and collect a few million more dollars. I have had it with you and your overinflated opinion of both yourself and your franchise, which is really your daddy's franchise, and I could tell you a few things about how one can play with daddy's money and run everything into the ground...
In short, Hank, I hope Randy Wolf starts tonight's game against your Yankees by throwing one right at Derek Jeter's head and then telling him, "That's how we do things in the National League, and you tell your stain of an owner that!" It'll never happen, of course, because that's another aspect of baseball that's been thrown out of the game, like AL pitchers batting... or team ownership handling their business in a dignified way... maybe it's just a New York thing...
posted by Dave | 10:07 AM
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