classic post summary over at the geek:
Eric is busy holding a closed-door meeting with a bottle of whiskey.
Fire willie now. clearly maine is injured, i can think of no other reason to give up 8 runs to nats. So, he should have been benched to get his finger healed instead of making it worse AND screwing our team in the process. Certainly after nats started closing in on our 7 run score willie should have pulled maine.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
Should have pulled him to put in...
Mota?
Scho?
Sele?
Hey bro, you've got to follow your own logic here. You don't want the whole pen on the post season roster, but you want Willie to lift Maine in the 4th for...the Pen?
I'd rather take my shot with Maine, even if he's having blister problems.
Bottom line is, the whole team is imploding, and the only question is if the month will end before they can give away the lead.
I'll drink 'em anyway. Turkey 101 always comes through, even if Gotay with the tying run on 3rd does not.
Not lift Maine - he never should have started. If Maine is injured, then starting him hurts the team twice: once because we lose this game, and once again because it just further exacerbates his injury and delays when he'll be healthy to pitch well again. These blisters can put pitchers out of commission for up to a month - it happened to beckett earlier this year. Skip him a start or two.
And at the end of the day I come back to the fact that none of what's happening now is surprising, and Mets mgmt dug themselves this hole. The pitching was always smoke and mirrors, everyone called it out before season started and now it's coming true. Glav and Duque are old, if you are keeping them on roster then you better have an insurance plan to cover the month(s) when they are injured. Perez is still a big wild card: he can have flashes of brilliance, but his inconsistency prevents him from being a top pitcher. And of course you know where I stand on the bullpen: mets should have retained bradford and oliver, and additionally should have made a trade for a legit starting pitcher. As far as I'm concerned, heilman, milledge, pelf, and humber are all legitimately on the table if a real #1 proven pitcher is available for trade.
And, despite the "vaunted" NL-killing offense we were supposed to have, we're still 6th overall in runs in NL. So either that means: (a) the players are not as good as everyone made them out to be, or (b) they are not being used effectively. I think it's (b), which comes right back to willie. He has to set the tone and strategy for how the team is going to play all aspects of the game. Instead, what you basically have is like recent US olympic bball teams: a lot of talent that isn't coached but rather allowed to make their own decisions, resulting in Ls.
Given the payroll and talent on this team, the current situation is absurd; we should have at least a comfortable 5-6 game lead at this point. It would be nice if Omar acknowledged this at the end of the season, and either made a move for some real pitching, or changed out willie. I think willie is great with people and managing clubhouse atmosphere, but that's it. i've seen nothing from him in terms of strategy (whether it's how he manages the lineup, platoons, bullpen, situational decisions, etc.) that makes any sense.
Other than that, let's go mets and get some wins already!
Not to mention willie's quotes are just annoying. I appreciate that he doesn't want to show panic, but at the same time ignoring an obvious train coming at you doesn't help either.
"I actually feel very comfortable," Willie Randolph said before the game, ..."This is very normal to me. This is what championship baseball is."
Huh? I understand that a tight race between two teams is championship baseball, if the race is tight because both teams are playing good baseball. But that's not the case here, I don't see how you make that quote in this situation. Either you truly believe it, or you are trying to be delusional for no point. I'm not sure which is better...
Ah well, it might be just as well if we end up losing home field advantage, since we are #1 in road record in MLB anyway..
I couldn't disagree with you more:
So either that means: (a) the players are not as good as everyone made them out to be, or (b) they are not being used effectively. I think it's (b), which comes right back to willie.
Does Willie get his leadoff guy to hit .250 over the final 3/4 of the season? Or commit two errors on the same play in crunch time down the stretch?
Can Willie make Scho, Sele, or Mota get tough outs? Sure, I'd prefer he was a little more judicious in choosing matchups, but the bottom line is, these guys blow.
Can Willie get Heilman to stop serving up 8th inning taters?
Or get Sanchez to stop riding cabs trolling for narcotics at 3:00 AM?
Can he get Delgado to lift his average above .250?
Can he get Maine to man up with the season on the line? Oh, he had an itty-bitty bwister. Schilling wins Series games with blood pouring out of his plant foot, and Maine can't get through the worst lineup in the NL b/c of his blister? Look, if the man can't throw, he's got to pull himself. The manager's going to say, "can you go?" If the player and the team doctor say "yes", he's going to go. Maine crapped the bed, that's the bottom line. And against a team as bad as the Nats, that's on: Maine. Willie can't make his pitches for him.
Can he get his players to field like major leaguers instead of a franchise record 10 errors in 2 games, right in the middle of the stretch drive?
Please, what's Willie going to do. Use harsh language? Start screaming from the dugout on contact? "Glove down!" "Body in front of the ball!" "Know your play before the ball comes to you!"
The players have been embarrasing over the past week. Like you, I'd like to hear Willie actually admit it, though I'm not sure that would actually help anything.
As for your quote:
"I actually feel very comfortable," Willie Randolph said before the game, ..."This is very normal to me. This is what championship baseball is."
In a word, no.
This is what championship baseball is not.
Oh, and El Duque is now in a boot and unavailable for his next start. Despite the happy poppycock getting floated by Omar, it seems unlikely he'll be ready for the first round of the playoffs, at a minimum. Gary Cohen reported last night that when asked if he'd be ready for the playoffs, Duque shrugged and then crossed his fingers.
SHK- are you a racist?
"Ah well, it might be just as well if we end up losing home field advantage, since we are #1 in road record in MLB anyway.."
I'd rather be on the road than have to go to that dump in Flushing also.
No question that there is no excuse for the hideous, unacceptable meltdown in pitching and fielding. I agree, that comes down to the players, especially in fielding where we've been so excellent all year. This team needs to decide whether they actually want to compete to win, or whether just showing up to have a good time and collect a paycheck is enough. Consistently good teams like the Yanks and Pats find a way to man up and win; we'll see whether the Mets belong in that category.
That said, I think you can point the finger at Omar and Willie for two major issues. First at Omar for this bullpen. Everyone knew that the bullpen was a major strength of the team last year, and an overwhelmingly dominant bullpen was going to be even more critical this year given huge question marks for our starting pitching. To not take the necessary steps to assemble such a bullpen, rather than the garbage we presently have, comes back to Omar.
W.r.t. Willie, I dislike his management of the lineup and lack of instillation of more plate discipline and better situational at-bat adjustments. Of course the recent losses to Nats have nothing to do with offense, but the lack of offense over the season has a lot to do with where we are today. This team should have at least 5-6 more wins at this point than they do, which in large part could have been obtained with better offensive approach. The Mets are ranked 7th in NL in offense, and 15th overall. This is simply not acceptable, and I believe is more a reflection of poor plate approach than talent level. Of course, the players share blame in this: as professionals they should know how to hit and make in-at-bat adjustments. But Willie needs to set the tone and strategy here, and he has not.
Hating on the brother. OK, I got you. I see how it is.
I'm calling it tonight: Pelfrey shuts it down. His best performance of the season hands down, he goes 8 strong innings, mowing down a completely overwhelmed and defenseless Nats lineup.
What would be more fitting recently though would be if he throws first ever Mets no-hitter but we still lose 1-0 due to errors and walks.
Post a Comment