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[url=http://www.silive.com/sports/advance/index.ssf?/base/Sports/1210335267251450.xml&coll=1&thispage=1]Blame Mets' mediocrity on Willie[/url]
Amazin's are a .500 team since last June, and the manager must find a way to rouse his underachievers
Friday, May 09, 2008
By DAN GRAZIANO
STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE
Excerpt:
Since June 1 of last year, the Mets' record is 71-71. Yes, really. Right on the .500 mark. As mediocre as it gets.
When May of 2007 ended the Mets had a 34-18 record -- the best in the National League -- and a 4 1/2-game lead in the NL East. They led the Phillies, who would eventually win the division, by 8 1/2 games.
Since that time, they've been a .500 team.
"When you're 71-71, that says it all," Billy Wagner said Wednesday in Los Angeles. "We have not played to our potential."
That's one possibility. The other is that the Mets aren't as good as they and we think they are. But Wagner's assessment is likely the more correct one.
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A person familiar with the Mets' thinking, who requested anonymity because he was relaying details of private conversations, said Mets management is planning a reevaluation at the end of this month.
The offseason acquisitions of Johan Santana, Ryan Church and Brian Schneider improved the roster, and if the team hasn't found a way to assert itself in the division by June, the Wilpons will look seriously at whether a change is necessary in the manager's office.
THE RIGHT MAN?
Now, this same person said that, unless the Mets fall completely out of the race, Randolph is likely to last through this season. GM Omar Minaya likely will stick up for him, and there's no clear-cut candidate, inside the organization or out, waiting to take Randolph's place midseason.
But the Mets' underwhelming on-field performance of the past 11 calendar months has ownership wondering if Randolph is the right man to manage their team, and it's a question they have good reason to ask.
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