ANALYSIS
There’s few things worse than bad pitching. Orlando Hernandez and Guillermo Mota giving up six runs each is bad pitching.
NOTEBOOK
-The Mets were outscored 34-12 in the series.
-The Mets have lost seven series since June 1. The lost three prior to that, all to Atlanta.
-David Wright has hit safely in all 12 games he’s played at Coors Field, with a .471 average (24-51).
9 Comments
An early Randolph gem from yesterday (e pluribus unum):
Mets up 3-0, top 2nd, Carlos Gomez is on 1st with a single, NONE OUT; El Duque then bunts him to 2nd ONE OUT. (Now if he waits for CarGo to steal 2nd THEN BUNTS, it’s one out and CarGo on THIRD). Anyway, next batter Reyes flies out to CF and CarGo tags and moves to 3rd TWO OUTS. Lo Duca then grounds out to SS, THREE OUTS.
Gomez easily scores from 3rd on the would-be 1 out Reyes pop up. Not that it would have made a grand difference in the final score, but this shows how Willie’s mind works, folks. (Like the other day in the Phillies game where he wastes a couple of pinch hitters because he and the equally cerebral Charley Manuel are busy playing “who can make the dumbest move?”). And at 17-7, every iffy call the losing manager makes is magnified.
However, ALL questionable calls should be analyzed whether it’s a win or a loss. If you multiply that and other similar calls from yesterday by most Mets games played to date, then you have a product glaring at you in the face that spells a problem that lies other than with “the pitchers” or “the players”. The main problem lies with The Chief Motivator in Charge of Making Sensible Calls. He neither motivates nor makes sensible calls. And if a couple of hapless but dedicated Mets bloggers and commentors, myself included, can point the obvious out on a regualr basis, don’t you think that, among others, the Mets themselves can see the same masquerade? Willie truly is clueless on so many levels, and it’s not good for the team. Has a manager of a first-place team ever been fired?
I don’t think willie is clueless. I think he is treating the mets like the yankees or the way torre would treat the team.
Also, we dont know how much Omar is influencing Willie as well. For once I would like him to treat all the players equally. why did el duque get the complete game and Maine didnt? That got me madder than any other decision willie has made so far. oh yeah and the fact he keeps Smelgado in…
I am still not sold on Gotay but something tells me he should get a chance at 1st base.
I miss BV.
Can you imagine what he can do with this team? At least it will be entertaining as Hell.
I disliked when posters would call WIllie clueless. Last year at this time was the first I heard ‘WIC’ and I thought, “Gee, give the guy a chance.” But now after analyzing each and every game late into the season last year and all the ST and reg season games this year, I have to say that I believe he makes some calls just for the sake of making them—and with no logic connected. He appears unawasre of exactly what his team needs. And you’re right, Steve, Omar could have him by the strings for all we know. But judging by the way Willie reacts to terrible ump calls etc (with his uber-calmness), I’d have to conclude that if that were true, he’d be the last to fuss to Omar about the ‘strings’ theory. Thus, I gotta believe his “No Balls” demeanor coupled with his questionalbe calls are my best reasons for calling Willie ‘clueless’. PS: Is Davey Johnson really available?
Ump Calls:
I think Willie only reacts when he knows he can win or fire the team up. Yes Willie is No Valentine.. but Valentine wasnt a Great Manager. he was just very loyal to the team. Now Johnson was a very good manager. Maybe Keith will manager the team? The more I hear him commentary the more I wish he had a more active role on the team.
20/20 hindsight is a wonderfuly thing.
You know what? I’m gonna trust the manager who has played or been involved with baseball his whole life.
So you think Gomez should have stolen 2nd, and then had El Duque bunt? And what happens if he gets thrown out? I’ll tell you what happens, complainaints that Willie had him stealing when he could have been bunted over.
Watching baseball on TV doesn’t make you qualified to be a manager. Playing the game, coaching and managing helps.
Willie ain’t perfect, but he gets a lot more right than wrong.
You guys asking for Bobby V or Davey, you do know that Davey had to do very little with that talent right? He let those guys do whatever they wanted. Read “The Bad Guys Won” sometime, it’s a great book.
As for Bobby, he ain’t a manager for veteran guys. His style gets old real fast. He’s better suited for a younger team with marginal talent that he can prod.
Ed in Win,
Great book. The ‘86 Mets team had balls, talent, and a manager who knoew how to run things. Johnson was an analytical manager—a thinking man’s skipper (re: his computer data on players…at the time that was revolutionary). Yeah he overlooked a lot of their ‘bad’ habits, but he KNEW how to manage them, as opposed to today where there seems to be no reason nor rhyme in some actions made.
And that opinion on Gomez stealing 2nd:
That opinion is valid because at the time the Mets were up 3-0 early on, and it was a valid cvhance to take. The validity being that Gomez is the fastest thing around. That made it more necessary than not taking that chance. That’s exactly what I mean about Willie being clueless, he’s got no guts and no heart. Sometimes ya gotta take chances and his seem too few and far betwween. He’s been in the game for a bunch of years like you mentioned, but that doesn’t make him fully qualified today and right now to manage this team. The Mets would be better suited to phase his AL-stylin-ass outta here. He DOESN’T THINK! His knee-jerk reactions are costly to the Mets. Even to an avid Met fan, this is a glaring shortcoming. Last year the team carried him thus masking his true abilities (or lack thereof).