Manuel Returns

As recently as a week ago, I was set to say goodbye to Jerry Manuel if the Mets failed to make the playoffs. To miss the playoffs as the Mets have missed the playoffs the last two years seems to require an extreme clubhouse makeover. Today, the worst happened. The Mets lost. The offense was dead all weekend, and the bullpen gave up two season ending runs.

But after the game, watching Manuel stumble through the post-game press conference, I realized I wanted him back. If you've even remotely followed the team this past month, you know the problem was the bullpen. Having watched most of the games down the stretch, I have to say I can't see how he could have managed that wretched bunch any better. The Wagner injury was the decisive point. The Maine injury did not help (everybody forgets that one) the overall pitching. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I do know that if the bullpen converted 50% of the saves in the last two weeks, the Mets would be in the playoffs. No one pitched well, so who was Jerry supposed to go to?

Note: one of my biggest frustrations with Willie Randolph this season was how short a string he had the starters on. Maybe the bullpen was tired out, and Willie is partially to blame. More likely the bullpen was just awful, but it warrants mentioning.

What about the Mets offense? The real turning point was the infamous game against the Cubs a few days ago when the Mets had a runner on third and nobody out for the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings and only scored a single run in those innings. They went on to lose in extra innings, missing a chance to gain ground on the Phillies. Then they only scored 5 runs in three games against the Marlins.

I think the manager can take some blame if an offense is tight, especially at this point. One of his (admitted more abstract) responsibilities is to mentally massage his players. If Jerry was let go, I would have acknowledged the offensive struggles as justification.

But I'm glad Jerry's coming back. I like him. He didn't make a boneheaded move all month, that I noticed. The players and the media seem to like him. He was 16 games over .500 over 2/3 of a season. Anyway, this year's "collapse" wasn't really a collapse. Yeah, we were 3 and a half up in September, but all Mets fans knew how fragile that was. This team didn't have the same feel as the last two teams, which I am still convinced were the two most talented teams in the NL. It's not like the bullpen was great until September. Delgado was playing over his head, and the bottom half of the lineup, as well as the bench, wouldn't scare anyone.

So bring him back. Fix the bullpen. See you in the spring.

(sigh)

Willie Jumps the Shark

Looks like the New York media is getting to Willie Randolph. He's had to backtrack on some comments he made insinuating a racial bias on the part of SNY, the Mets' network.

The fact that he made those comments in the first place is disconcerting. I think a sizable number of non-Mets fans would agree that Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling might be the best TV announcers in baseball right now. I can't imagine those guys displaying any racism, especially Cohen.

Worst of all, the progress the Mets had made towards quieting the criticism with the 2-game sweep of the Yankees has been undone by this, plus the double-header losses yesterday to the Braves.

Piazza Retires

As a Mets fan, I thought I'd weight in on Mike Piazza's retirement. Here's how I'll remember him:

• As the best player during the brief, early '00s Mets run. His face defines those few playoff runs more than any other.
• As a guy who hit the ball as hard as anyone I've seen. I'm convinced his .300+ lifetime average is due to his strength, more than anything else. His ground balls bounced quicker, and his line drives moved faster. Thus, more of them made it to the outfield grass. At his peak, that quiet, compact swing, capped off by his trademark gritting of teeth on impact, was awesome to watch.
• As a guy who had to hold a press conference to declare himself, "Not gay." Hilarious!
• As catcher with a terrible arm. But also as an underrated game-manager, and a solid fielder of pop-ups.
• As a Hall of Fame Met. Check out his sweet "I loved the Mets best" retirement statement.
  

Santana to the Mets

Before I drool over the 2008 Mets, a word on Scoop Jardine. Today I was told more information about Scoop from a different channel, but I was sworn to secrecy about it. It's the first time I've ever known something that I can't report. I don't really like it. All I'll say is that what I've heard has nothing to do with a missed curfew, and is a bit more serious. Here's Donna Ditota in the Post-Standard, explaining the process for dealing with a violation of SU policy:

"It appears that Jardine's transgression falls under the jurisdiction of the university's Judicial Review Board, which oversees all disciplinary action taken against SU students who violate the university's code of Student Conduct. That code is a sweeping document that covers everything from underage drinking to felony arrest. Generally, any student accused of violating the SU conduct code is informed of the complaint and is scheduled to meet with a member of the Judicial Affairs office to resolve the matter informally. If no informal agreement can be reached, the case proceeds to a Judicial Review Board hearing... Usually, the board hears a student's case within 30 days of the initial complaint..."

So there is a chance it will be a month before we see Scoop on the court again. On the other hand, Boeheim mentioned today that there might be some closure to the issue by the end of the week. Jardine didn't practice with the team today.

Now, on to the good news. Johan Santana to the Mets for OF Carlos Gomez, P Phil Humber, and two other pitching prospects. I'm thrilled, mainly because Minaya swung the big deal without giving up Jose Reyes.

This deal has a chance to do for the Mets what the Pedro Martinez deal did for the Red Sox. Granted, Johan is a couple years older. But he is moving from the AL to the NL. He's joining a team that has a great offense already (one kept in tact with Reyes staying put). The Mets still have to improve their bullpen, but their rotation is exciting:

Santana
Pedro
John Maine - at 27, should last later into the season
Oliver Perez - still only 26!

Then it's rounded off with the ageless El Duque, the promising young Mike Pelfrey, or some other not yet acquired pitcher.

On the other side of this story, I think it's a massive missed opportunity for both the Red Sox and the Yankees. The Yankees needed to close the gap on the suddenly dominant Red Sox. The Red Sox had a chance to open up an insurmountable gap for the next five years in the AL East. I think both teams should have given up more than they offered. Isn't losing Ellsbury worth putting the kibosh on the Yankees for the foreseeable future? And no, Ellsbury isn't the same as Reyes. The Red Sox didn't need Ellsbury to win the Series. The Mets did need Reyes for their offense. Ellsbury is still basically a prospect.

I'll admit that it sucks the Twins couldn't keep Johan, but YOU have to admit it's nice that the national league has one top tier team. The AL is so freakin good right now, at least we can imagine that whoever comes out of the AL might get a fight in the series from the Mets.

Are you gonna eat that?

One of my favorite strategies when going out to dinner with a bunch of friends is to order a small dish then eat whatever everyone else doesn't finish or like. I can usually stuff myself silly that way. I kind of feel the same way about Alex Rodriguez right now.

"Is anyone gonna take that? No? OK, send it down here."

A month after single-handedly (or as single-handedly as possible for an offensive baseball player) helping the Yankees make the playoffs, A-Rod is persona non grata for everyone everywhere. The Yankees don't want him since he opted out of his contract. The Red Sox don't want him because he showed them up by opting out the day Boston won the Series. The Angels don't want him because their owner has said in the past he wouldn't want to spend that much of his payroll on one player. No one else wants him because of the price tag and because he's a clubhouse cancer and will never win a championship. At least those are a few of the reasons I've heard tossed around this week. Most of all though, everyone just dislikes him because all he cares about is money.

Well, I dislike him. I do think money is most important to him. And I do think he's a basket case come the playoffs. But I'll take him on the Mets, given a slightly different reality, and if no one else wants him.

This year the Mets paid Delgado $14.5 million, Pedro $14 M, and Beltran $13.5 M. Oh and Shawn Green was fourth on the payroll with an insane $11.8M. Those guys are still under contract next year, and they've got to do anything possible to keep Wright and Reyes forever. Also, the Mets need to spend money on starting pitching. Now is not the time to buy A-Rod. But if Delgado and Green could magically be erased. If Wright and Reyes were inked to magical contracts that pays them what they deserve and locks them up for 20 years. If Pedro suddenly turned back his clock eight years and if the Mets knew beyond a doubt that Maine and Ollie Perez would both win 17 games. Then I'd take A-Rod.

OK, those are huge ifs. Obviously, I don't really think it'd be a good idea to sign A-Rod given the current situation. But I do think A-Rod would be a good fit for the Mets. I think he could help the Mets win a championship. Actually, I think he could help a lot of teams win a championship.

Take Boston. Every Boston fan wants to sign Mike Lowell without a glance at A-Rod. Certainly, Boston fans hate A-Rod. But consider this: Papi, Manny, A-Rod. Are you kidding me? That's one of the greatest clutch power hitters of all time, one of the greatest RBI hitters of all time, and the greatest hitter of this generation in his prime. They would absolutely blow the Yankees out of the water in the regular season, and Papi and Manny would take care of business in the post season so that A-Rod would come to the plate looking to continue a rally rather than start a rally. I would love to see A-Rod win a series with Boston. That'd really delight me in the same way that seeing Shaq win a championship without Kobe delighted me. Listen Boston fans: Mike Lowell is never going to be this good again. Let him go. I really think A-Rod is a good fit for Boston. It'd be a rocky start, sure, but it would work.

I guess I don't buy that A-Rod is the clubhouse poison that people are making him out to be. He's not insane. Maybe he's a bit standoffish but he's not a jerk. He just likes making a lot of money putting up historic numbers.

"The Yankees will be better off without him," has been a common refrain this week. Has anyone thought that perhaps A-Rod would be better off without the Yankees? The Yankees were always going to be bigger than A-Rod, no matter what he did. And he was always going to be judged solely on the post season. But most of all, I don't think the personality of the Yankees matches up with A-Rod. They're too intense, too clean cut, too centered on their tradition. A-Rod could be the one and only star in California with the Angels or the Dodgers. Or he could grow a goatee, stick it to the Yankees and win a title in Boston. Or he could jump over to the happy-go-lucky Mets where traditional expectations are lower and a single World Series title would be MORE than enough to earn him the love of Mets fans.

I'm rooting for A-Rod to end up on the Red Sox because of what that would mean for that rivalry, and because I really believe that would bury the Yankees in the AL East. I'm not predicting A-Rod will win a championship with whoever he ends up with. I'm not even predicting he'll definitely be a success. I'm just saying that you're wrong if you pass on A-Rod for any other reason than cost. And if you do, you can pass him down to me.

* * *

On a related note, I think Joe Girardi was the right guy for the Yankees job. But I still stand by the statement I made when Torre left: "The new manager will be gone by 2010."

No Worries

This happens to be our 300th post. Here's a link to the first column. Since I've started the blog, I've been rejected for a 10hr/week job as an editorial assistant in the sports department of the Syracuse Post-Standard and have been offered a grand total of zero book deals. However, I did complete a 45 page masters research paper called "American Anglophobia in the Interwar Period: Tension between Two World Powers." If you want to read about why some Americans hated Great Britain between the two World Wars, let me know and I'll email you the paper. I dunno, I think its interesting.

What I wanted to write about today is the New York Mets, the team that I followed longer than any other. Their lead shrank to 1 1/2 games over the Phillies last night. They've matched their season high with a 5-game losing streak. And Mike Pelfrey (2-7, 5.23) takes the mound tonight as the Mets try to avoid getting swept by the pesky Nationals.

I'm not worried. This is the best team in the National League and it will win the division when its all said and done. With a different roster, but the same season trajectory, I'd be in a panic. For instance, if the Mets had traded rosters with the inexperienced Brewers then led the division all year only to see the lead diminish to 1 1/2 games on September 19, that would be cause for alarm.

But again, this is the best team in the NL, with great chemistry and a fantastic coach who continues to be pushing the right buttons, even if things don't quite work out. Last night with only one out left the Mets managed to cut the lead to one and put runners on first and third before Ruben Gotay struck out to end the game. On the face of it, that sounds bad for Gotay, but in fact he had a great at-bat against the underrated Chad Cordero. Gotay was the right pinch hitter in that situation.

Two innings before, one of the best pinch hitters in the majors also came to the plate with a chance to do some damage. Marlon Anderson struck out, too. It was the right call by Willie, but it didn't work out.

Meanwhile, Shawn Green is hitting. Jeff "I'm thrilled for one last shot at a World Series before I retire" Conine contributed off the bench. Endy "The Catch" Chavez went 3 for 3. Reyes is fine. Davey is awesome. Luis Castillo continues to make Omar Minaya look like a genius. Milledge is clicking. Alou has a 22-game hitting streak and, hopefully, a quad that's feeling OK. Delgado is about to return.

Before last nights game the team had a players only meeting for forty minutes. Presumably, the 4 errors they had given up on Monday was a hot topic. Last night they scored 8 runs, out-hit the Nationals and had the winning run on base in the ninth. And they committed zero errors. They didn't get the win, but they didn't play like crap either. Here's a quote from the AP story:

"Ninety-nine percent of the time, we win this game," New York third baseman David Wright said. "We take a lot of positives from this. We played extremely well defensively. It was one of the best games of the season offensively."

Last night's loss rests on John Maine. I love what Maine has given the Mets this year, and he's going to have a solid career, but the kid is clearly tired. The home run to Ronnie Belliard was a pitch that stayed up. If El Duque wasn't out for the regular season at least, I would have liked to see Willie take the ball from John last night then watch cameras follow John out to his car, away from the stadium and into his living room where he throws on a pair of sweatpants, grabs a beer and settles in to watch the rest of the Mets season and rejuvenate for next year.

The Phillies are shaky and erratic, as evidenced by the way they tanked after sweeping the Mets a few weeks ago. Their best pitcher, Cole Hamels, looked iffy over 3 innings in his first outing in a month. The rest of their rotation looks a lot less pretty than it did in March. When Burrell is hitting, that lineup is horrifying, but he's cooled down: no HRs or RBIs in his last 8 games. Last night in the late innings, with the Mets trailing, (I am) Keith Hernandez confidently predicted that the Phillies would fade away and not even take the wild card. I agree. I wouldn't want to face them in the playoffs, but I don't think they'll make it that far.

Speaking of the wild card, I didn't even address that safety net because I don't feel like it will come into play. If the Phillies take the lead in the NL East, check back with me. Until then, I'm not worried.