|
Lenno looks at history
| ]
[url]newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-spmets1612881327jun15,0,5132565.story[/url]
Newsday.com
If Mets keep fading, will Manuel follow Randolph?
BY DAVID LENNON
david.lennon@newsday.com
9:03 PM EDT, June 15, 2009
Click here to find out more!
BALTIMORE - Set your alarm clocks.
At 3:11 a.m. Wednesday, it will be exactly one year since the Mets fired Willie Randolph, hours after his team rallied to beat the Angels in Anaheim.
The move was largely applauded, both in the clubhouse and among the fan base, but the team's handling of Randolph's termination was a PR disaster. The Mets were on the West Coast, which was their excuse for the middle-of- the-night announcement.
What that failed to explain is why general manager Omar Minaya chose that moment - after flying Randolph across the country the previous night on the team charter - to deliver the news in the GM's suite of the South Coast Plaza Westin in Costa Mesa.
Minaya's move did stop his underachieving team from spiraling further downward. Under then-interim manager Jerry Manuel, the Mets rebounded to go 55-38 in the final 93 games, but still could not avoid a second consecutive September collapse.
So, are the Mets in better shape now than they were a year ago?
As Manuel is fond of saying, that's a good question. The bottom line is that the Mets are limping along at 32-29 and trail the first-place Phillies by four games in the National League East. They just completed a 2-4 week against the Phillies and Yankees - a stretch that included three more winnable games, in particular the one that ended with Luis Castillo's ninth-inning drop in the Subway Series opener Friday.
On the night, er, morning of Randolph's firing, the Mets were 34-35, in fourth place, 6½ games behind the Phillies. They also were beginning their fourth trip to the West Coast during the first 11 weeks of the season. That schedule was a recipe for disaster, and for Randolph, that turned out to be the case.
Perhaps the biggest thing working against Randolph, other than his explosive comments on race and the team's own TV network, was that those Mets were mostly healthy, with the exception of Moises Alou, who was on and off the disabled list for various injuries, and Ryan Church's post-concussion symptoms.
Manuel's roster has dealt with 11 players on the DL, including key ones such as Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado, who remain out for an indefinite period. The Mets also are missing two-fifths of the starting rotation in Oliver Perez and John Maine.
Which is why Johan Santana picked a bad time for the worst outing of his career Sunday in a 15-0 drubbing by the Yankees that felt like twice that score. Still, Manuel tried to put a positive spin on treading water - ignoring the possibility that a team so beat up can eventually become too exhausted and drown.
"As long as we're in that 100-game range, I think we got time," said Manuel, whose Mets have 101 games remaining.
Randolph survived the first of the two collapses in 2007 but eventually had an expiration date, and the Mets wanted him gone so badly, they swallowed the $3.35 million left on his contract. As for Manuel, he is signed only through 2010 for roughly $1.5 million, which definitely makes him vulnerable after the All-Star break if the Mets slip too far off the pace.
One interesting development to watch is the fate of Nationals manager Manny Acta, a longtime favorite of both Minaya and his first lieutenant, Tony Bernazard. Acta could be fired any day now, and it would not be surprising to see the Mets make room for him on their staff in some fashion.
What that eventually could mean for Manuel would be uncertain. Though his club's numerous fundamental lapses this season have reflected poorly on him - not touching bases, failure to run out balls, flawed defense - Manuel is far more popular than Randolph among his own players and the front office. It's not his fault that half the roster has been on the DL, either.
"I think Jerry brings a nice dynamic to this team," David Wright said. "As far as he keeps us loose, he jokes around. But it doesn't matter who you are or what you've done, he'll get on you. I have zero problems with Jerry. I think he's done a phenomenal job with the injuries and getting the most out of his players." |
|
