On the Mets beat

Pitching Wagner clearly showed panic on Randolph's part. He started the day by sitting a number of regular players and treating the game like "any other game." Going to Wagner in the eighth with Heilman waiting and ready was a clear reversal in this thinking. You have to be consistent. If it's really like any other game then play it that way pole to to pole. At first, I thought he was flip-flopping Heilman and Wagner, to use the latter against the heart of the order, and I wonder why teams don't do this more often. At any rate, Randolph's erratic decison-making hurt the Mets.

Why does he have to be "consistent"? What does that even mean? A manager can't change his mind, try something new, give the ball to his closer in the 8th?

If Heilman blows up in the 8th, some folks would kill Willie for not bringing in his expensive closer in a game the Mets "HAD" to win.

I may not agree with every in game decision Willie's made since he's been here, but he clearly has respect from the team and he is a no-nonsense guy who doesn't let the NY media nonsense dictate what he does or says.

Willie's not the issue with the Mets - the bullpen's been bad lately, but the season long lack of hitting from C, 1B and RF is why they are not waltzing to another division crown.

What a Joke, this team is an embarassment!

JoeNunz nailed it...
BULLPEN, BULLPEN & BULLPEN it the first issue that this team has. Don't go blaming Willie! He does the best he can with this team day in and day out. Is he perfect? NO! What Manager is in the fans eyes? None! Everyone at home can think better but, none of us get paid to do the job.

David Wright is the only solid player on this team over the last month. The rest are streaky at best. Alou looked hot for what three games off the DL? Beltran, doing good but not steady. Green, please continue to play Milledge and Chavez. Green, Pack your Bags! Reyes, Jose Who? The kid has fallen asleep as of late and shows no heart! Castillo, well he can't do the job if Reyes can't reach base. Delgado, we should have got Texiera. Too bad we still have him next year. Loduca the same, contract year you would expect alot more.

Now if things can turn around. AND SOON, things will be OK. The team we watched the last four days was a shell of the 06 team we loved.

PLEASE WORK ON OUR BULLPEN IN THE WINTER!!!

Oh yea, I never though this year would be a waltz to the division crowd and I did call it here at the beginning of the season that the Phillies would be the bigger obstacle and I still stick to that!

though = thought
crowd = crown

sorry

I'm no Mets fan, but the Phillies who I am a fan of shouldn't have won that ballgame. The Phillies had blown two seperate leads in that ballgame and really the only one you should blame is Billy Wagner. I knew there was a reason why we wanted him out of Philly and that reason raised it's ugly head again. It is a shame that he had to try to extend himself to throw two innings when Randolph should have pulled him. Who knows, maybe Billy kissed enough butt to stay in when he shouldn't of.

I have to disagree with this blog post. Randolph has too much of a soft spot for his veterans and listens to them too often.
Example 1: Cliff floyd pinch hitting in the playoffs last year, with only 1 leg.
Example 2: LoDuca catching glavine's 1st attempt at 300 and re-injuring himself shortly thereafter.
Example 3: Wagner, after complaining of a dead arm to the media being allowed to go 6 outs, when he was clearly gassed after about, what, 35 pitches with only 1 out in the 9th yesterday?
Even if you give Willie a pass on never squeezing and strangely not making guys steal in obvious steal situations (like when ever anyone's on 1st with Delgado or Green at bat), a manager who finds it difficult tell his guys 'no' is very troublesome.

I didn't mean the bullpen was the biggest problem. In fact, pitching is what gave them the division lead in the first place.

The biggest difference between this year and last is the drop in production from C, RF and especially 1B. (I don't think Texiera was available at the beginning of last year, and they certainly weren't going to release DelGado this year, so that idea may be a moot point.)

As far as Reyes "having no heart", what the heck does that mean? For whatever reason, he had a real bad series in Philly (a place he usually lights up), but to accuse him of "having no heart" is irresponsible at best. Did he lose his "heart" this week? Or did he just stink?

This entire team had it too easy last year and the others teams got better - Phillies and Braves.

They expected the cake walk and they still do. The "heart" to play the game and win. The fun they have it is all much different then last year.

Until they realize that no one is handing them a pennant and go out and earn it the result is going to be sad.

The Tex comment was more venting as was my whole post. Frustration!

OK he just stunk wrong use of words.

This is baseball we're talking about here, right? Not life and death. I have been a Mets fan since the 60's, but whether they win or lose, we still have to go to work, pay the bills, deal with real life. When they start giving me a winner's portion paycheck, then I'll start getting nutty about how they perform and who's not doing the job. Until then, it's just baseball.

Fire Willie!!

The chant must be started at Shea

Fire Willie!

Yes Reyes does have no heart this year.. just like the entire team (Fire Willie)... in case you havent noticed Reyes has been embarrassed by other top SS the last 2 months! He needs to step up and at least take it personal when he plays against Rollins and Ramirez. They have both made him look stupid. Reyes is unmotivated like the rest of this team.

There's no such thing as "just" baseball. Baseball is a whole lot more than a game. And now, the Mets are going to have to turn it up. Maine's going to have to pitch like was earlier in the year against Hudson. And whichever rook is going to have to play to his potential (I hope it's Pelfrey, and he DOES get it done). And then you've got Glavine vs. Smoltz. Geez...isn't this like the 4th time these two have gone head-to-head this year? Glavine pitched well last game. Maybe Green can light up Smoltz like he always does. Bottom line...it sucks that we have to go to Atlanta with this pressure, while Philly has the luxury of taking their act down to Miami for the next couple of days. Advantage Phils. But, I'm not throwing in the towel just yet. Let's go Mets!

And one more thought on this lack of effort from the team..... Not letting Feliciano go home for the birth of his child back in June was out right disgusting by this team! No game is more important then your childs birth.

all together now.....

FIRE WILLIE! FIRE WILLIE!!! FIRE WILLIE!!!!

FIRE WILLIE!!!

Reyes is unmotivated?

What evidence do you have? How could you possibly make such a ridiculous statement?

What does "take it personal" even mean?

You have no idea how he's FEELING...can you stick to how he's PLAYING?

Why do baseball fans, especially in New York, feel this need to psychoanalyze everyone...

I was screaming at the tv for Willie to not pinch hit for Heilman. To do so, meant that Wagner would come in after showing fatigue yesterday and would easily blow the game today. I know that Marlon is on FIRE, but you can only ride that horse for so long and it was very risky to rely on a tired Wagner. Dumb move. Bad bad!!

Anyone claiming that the Mets as a team has no heart is just plain nutz.

This team has gone the whole season without their Ace pitcher. They've maintained first place despite that and also many key injuries all across this roster.

No heart?

Fire Willie?

That just plain crazy talk. People are getting a little impatient and just need to call this year for what it is; A team playing with house money.

For the future, as this team looks to get younger while contending, it's a smart move. There's no way they could have picked up an impact player this year via trade w/o giving up Milledge, Pelfrey or Gomez. The Mets are a team that built to contend for the next 8 years.

Well beyond Pedro, Delgado, Green and LoDuca.

Oh boy. Where do I start.

First off Witless Wiliie is completely clueless as a manager. Any manager who say's things like "we don't need to beat the Braves" "We're still in 1st, that's all that matters." "I want a close race" "I'm not worried about the Phillies", ect is out of touch with reality. He's burned up the pen and has things all messed up now. If he's so great as a manager, how come he can't even do a double switch without emptying the bench? And then needing to use El' Duque to pinch run a few weeks ago.

The Mets won last year inspite of Witless Willie. They struggle this year because of all his tinkering. Last year Lo Duca hit 2nd most of the time. The result? A .318 average for Pauly and the Mets scoring early and often in games. This year, Lo Duca has hit just about everywhere but 2nd. The result? The Mets can hardly score multiple runs in any inning this year.

Want another example of Witless Willie's incompetance? Two words. Carlos Delgado. Until recently he insisted on hitting him 4th or 5th in the line-up. Can someone please explain why? Delgadud has single handily cost the Mets at least 10 games with his lousy hitting and suspect fielding. How many rallies did he kill this year? I don't have enough fingers and toes.

Want another? Julio Franco. Witless Willie insisted on making him the 1st hitter of the bench. It didn't matter that he was hitting .185 at best. It didn't matter that Franco can't hit anything fast than 85 mph. But Witless Willie still used him. And then, once he's cut, say that he wasn't all that good in the clubhouse or in the field. That "his veteran leadership was over rated". Talk about two faced!!

The point is, Witless Willie is over matched when choices need to be made before and during the game. There's a reason he interviewed for 12 other jobs before Omar hired him. And Willie wasn't even Omar's 1st, 2nd, or 3rd choice. Omar ran out of options.

So the Mets score "only" 3 runs off Smoltz and this is "witless" Willie's fault? Let's go over this piece by piece as Joel Sherman's article started, this anti-Willie crap is gaining traction.

The manager, especially in New York, is supposed to take pressure off players. The Mets don't panic and they shrug off bad games. I loved Bobby Valentine, but the Mets couyld never do that under him, there were always hangover games. Lose 4 in a row, win the next 4.

LoDuca has been hurt and inconsistent all year. he is batting 7th and 8th where he belongs. A lot of Mets fans were upset when the Mets got Castillo, you don't hear from them anymore.

Carlos Delgado is hitting .252 with 22 HR's and 80 RBI's. He might yet make 100 RBI's. He bats 5th where he now belongs. You also had Wright's slump, Alou's injuries and Beltran's injuries along the way.

Julio Franco was hired to pinch hit and Willie used him and then exposed him as being unable to play anymore. Mets pick up Marlon Anderson. Would you have liked Willie to have wasted the roster spot all year?

If Willie is so bad, how come the Mets may be the only team in baseball to repeat as division champs this year?