Woke Up This Mornin'...And Willie Randolph Is Gone!
Jade continued to insist that Willie needed to find a way to light a fire under Jose. I never really gave it a response beacuse sweetie, when your team completes the father of all breakdowns in the last 17 games of a year, one shortstop is the LEAST of your problems. As I tried to convey to Jade and everyone just eight months ago, when you're incapable of keeping your team motivated to continue playing at the high level they played with for the first 140 games or so, that speaks more to the manager of the team than anyone else. When in a do or die game that determines your season either continuing on or ending where you stand, when your manager doesn't have the right state of mind to remove a pitcher who clearly isn't having his best day until the team's NINE RUNS in the hole...he clearly isn't the guy that will get your team to the promised land. As I stated before, my issues with Coughlin were promptly silenced when he outcoached Belichick and won the Super Bowl. He lightened off the throttle to some degree and in kind, the players played like not only they had spinal colums holding them up...but like they had a chip the size of the former Soviet Union on their shoulders and they were past motivated. The results? A Giants team that many say overachieved, went on the road three times and toppled three division winners. Then went on to the NFL's biggest stage where, insert your conspiracy theory, excuse or whatever here, they did what no other team did all last season. They ended a Sunday with a loss pinned to the ole Hoodie's chest like a dollar bill on someone's birthday. I didn't see that going down with the Mets this season with Willie at the helm. No amount of reverse psychology was going to get me to change direction on that either. Those who think I'm being overly facetious or something need to consider this, there's a reason that in close to 40 plus years before last year, no team up by 7 games or more with less than 17 days left in the year never finished out of first. When that happens and you look at the roster the Mets had last year, gaping holes or not, you see something's wrong up top with the manager himself. Want another example? Clint Hurdle of the Rocks has himself a pennant. The Rockies were thought to be dead to rights and somehow, during the time it took for the Mets to blow an entire year in a little more than half a month, the Rocks managed to string together some 22 straight wins. Blowing by the Pods in a one game playoff, then sweeping the East champion Phils and West Champion D-Backs en route to a World Series that by most accounts...they had no business in from a talent perspective. But because Clint got the most out of his players, his season ended in early November instead of early October.
Now look at the Rockies presently. They're at the bottom of the West, 14 games below .500 and sitting behind a Bonds-less Giants team. Lemme repeat that, the Giants with a pitcher named after what sounds like an adhesive (Lincecum) as its ace sits on top of the reigning National League Champions in their division. You can call it injuries as most of the press has, I call it the fact that midnight struck for Cinderella and that hemi powered car they drove all the way to the Fall Classic transformed back to a Pinto that you wouldn't trust to get you to the store and back. When Willie promised that the Mets would play the "Yankee Way", he must've meant the way they played after Willie's last ring as a player, because these guys haven't resembled that AT ALL since 2006. When people ask 'why now', the answer that won't be mentioned is really simple even amidst those who say 'they've won three of their last four'. The answer is this team hasn't played like they've wanted to right a colossal wrong one year ago. The answer is that this team with its payroll being a non factor, has played more like the Daze-ins' rather than the Amazins'. The answer is that in spite of what may and will be said to the contrary, the Phillies are NOT better than the Mets. Anyone who doubts this need look at their sweep by the Rocks last October as proof of this. The Phils aren't as good as everyone believes they are, they're simply playing better than expected at this point in the year (consider this folks, the Marlins are in second place) while the Mets have aimlessly slept walk beneath all possible expectations.
So Manuel has more than half a season to undo eight months of crap, that Willie managed to cook up. Catching the Phils isn't out of the question, neither is making the playoffs. Still, my own problem with the move is that now, you're basically banking on the only bench coach who kept his job to do what Willie did not. Get this team playing like not only does it have a set, but like it's the biggest set this side of the Sawks (Red Sox that is). I mean, dare I say, but even Baby Steinbrenner would've most likely canned Willie after last year's collapse and I wouldn't have knocked him for it. King George in his prime would've done it and not even batted an eye while doing so. Bottom line, fact of the matter, Omar did this way too late and in doing so, has Mets management subject to a TON of scrutiny it's not really deserving of considering the steps they've taken to make this team competitive. GM Len would've fired his ass on October 4th at the LATEST last year. June 17th was way too late...even if it was three hours past Midnight on the East Coast.
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