It's a new day in Metsland, as my colleague Anthony Rieber summed up in his game story for last night's 8-4 win over the Dodgers (and Joe Torre).
"Compliments for the general manager? Laughter in the clubhouse? Public relations man Jay Horwitz wearing the 3-0 orange suit jacket again? Pedro on his way to New York? The Mets seem like a totally different team than on Monday, after Randolph's Summit at Shea with ownership left his job security in question."
I've been saying all along that this year has been unlike any other in the sense that every game -- yes, every game -- seems like a life-or-death event, sort of like that of an NFL season. That's not usually how a 162-game baseball season works, and SNY comments aside, it's why there has been such hysteria for firing manager Willie Randolph less than two months into the season.
Some may want to frame this three-game winning streak as a stay of execution for Randolph, but after Monday's meeting, I think he's going to get at least until the All-Star break to turn the Mets around. The Mets don't want every loss to re-ignite the Willie Watch all over again. If the team is five games under .500 and 10 games out by the break, then GM Omar Minaya will be under pressure to make a change. I'm betting that neither will be the case.
For those clamoring to make Aaron Heilman a starter -- a la Joba Chamberlain -- today's Mets Insider takes a closer look at that issue and you'll probably be disappointed that he's staying in the bullpen.
Looks like Pedro Martinez is slotted for Tuesday in San Francisco and Carlos Delgado has no intention of spending his last season in a Mets uniform as part of a platoon at first base. Interesting response from the big guy. None of the usual cliches of "I'll do whatever Willie wants me to " or "I'm here to help the team win." Delgado made it clear he will be a very unhappy camper if that's what Randolph decides. Let's see how he does tonight against Dodgers lefthander Clayton Kershaw.
The Church saga continues as well, and now that he's getting better, the Mets can only hope the events of last week don't haunt their rightfielder for the remainder of the season -- or his life. Johnette Howard also writes about some Torre guy that spoke for a while yesterday at Shea.
Comments (3)
You can really only rest on your laurels for so long. Who is Delgado to say that he would be upset for getting his playing time cut when he's been so horrible against lefties? A small sample size is a small sample size, but hitting .215 over the first 2 months is not that. If Delgado is going to be upset over a possible platoon, it would be a disgrace and you might have to think about having someone like Omar or Tony Bernazard have a serious talk with him (who knows though, those guys might have been in Willie's ear to keep Delagdo playin) or cut the guy out right.
Delstinko must go. How about that F. Thomas' numbers in Oakland. Better than Delstinko. I was at the game last night and Delgado made a great play at 1B that Thomas could never make. Unfortunately, at this point, Delgado is an automatic out when the pressure is on him and pitchers go after him. The fans hate him and his bat speed is awful. Should have signed Thomas, Piazza, hell even Barry Bonds for one year and inserted Nick Evans at 1B next year if we couldn't get Mark Teixeira from the Braves. Bet the team would play with passion and pop with those vets.
This is NOT A NEW DAY....yet. This team needs to get 10+ games over .500 to be considered "better" and to even compete for the Division title which should be the REGULAR SEASON GOAL. THIS TEAM HAS A LOOONG WAY TO GO TO THE TOP OF THE DIVISION.