NY Mets Mess: Goodbye and Good Riddance to Minaya and Manuel

This article first appeared as NY Mets Mess: Goodbye and Good Riddance to Minaya and Manuel on Blogcritics.

Make no mistake about it: the NY Mets will finally part ways with Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel after Sunday's last game of the season. This cannot happen fast enough for me. Goodbye and good riddance to them both.

In the beginning I liked Omar Minaya. I figured this fellow who grew up in Queens in the shadow of Shea Stadium had been a Mets fan all his life. Surely, he would bring something to the table that other GMs lacked: knowledge of the good, bad, and ugly Mets past. This would have to help him fashion a team that would be a winner because every Mets fan wants that, right? Wrong!

Minaya was blamed for many things, but the worst thing I think he brought to the Mets was this: complacency was okay. He seemed to sit on his hands as big fish got hooked by other teams - especially the Yankees - and that made him look either inept or unconcerned about the team. Both attitudes (and I believe Minaya suffered from both afflictions) are deadly in the game and put the Mets into a terrible situation.

Things started to turn for me when he got rid of Willie Randolph. I don't believe that Randolph got sufficient assitance on the field from the GM; therefore, how can he be blamed for the team's performance. Randolph was another local boy who made good, one who went with his father to Mets games from his native Brooklyn. I liked Randolph very much and felt he had a chance to take the Mets all the way, but he was like a carpenter without his hammer and saw. No one can blame him for the team Minaya saddled him with back then.

Of course, Jerry Manuel is not as culpable in this situation. He got dealt a bad hand. He took over for Minaya and he too never got the personnel he deserved. Minaya seemed like a guy standing on the subway platform, letting all the good trains shoot by him. He never made an effort to get Manuel help this year. We wanted Cole Hamels, but what we got was Dillon Gee.

None of this makes any sense and it never will because there is no explaining Minaya's baseball philosophy. It seems to me that he was like a guy trying to hammer nails into a table, but all he did was stand over it and toss the nails in the air. The table is never going to be completed that way, and I think that's why we have the Mets mess we have today.

So goodbye and good riddance to Minaya. I wish Manuel well, but he needs to go someplace else. He is a good fellow and deserves better. Much better.

Whom will the Mets hire as GM? The only more salient question is who will be the new manager. I like Wally Backman very much, and his kick butt attitude got him a long way with the Brooklyn Cyclones. Maybe he is what this team needs. It also needs a guy who can hit 30 homers, a couple of starters who can win 15-20 games, and a bullpen that can close the door.

We have all winter to think about these things, but the Mets organization had better get working on next year this Sunday, October 3, 2010, as soon as the last inning is played. Otherwise, next year Citi Field is going to be a ghost town.

Tricky Dickey Tosses 1-Hit Gem Against Phillies

Article first published as Tricky Dickey Tosses 1-Hit Gem Against Phillies on Blogcritics.

R. A. Dickey (8-5) beat the Phillies and gave the Mets their first back-to-back wins since June. In notching the one-hitter, Dickey accomplished what has been done twenty-five times previously by Mets pitchers. All who came before him -and now he - stood close to that brush with immortality, but the way things went last night, Dickey was more than happy to take the game the way it went.


Speaking on SNY after the game, Dickey was humble about the whole experience. When asked about the one hit of the game, a blooped single into right field by pitcher Cole Hamels (7-9), Dickey said, "And tonight, I am so thankful. It was a real gift. It was an outing where I didn't have a regret." He had thrown a knuckle ball to Hamels, but he hit it, and Dickey indicated that is the nature of things.

After that sixth inning single, Dickey got back to work retiring the Phillies hitters. This one-hitter is all the more satisfying because it comes against a lineup like the Phillies have, and in the minds of at least some of the players and the fans at Citi Field on Friday night, the Mets are still in the hunt in the National League East.

This second straight shutout (Johan Santana won 4-0 over the Rockies the day before) made it unnecessary to worry about the absence of Francisco Rodriguez, the Mets closer being suspended for two games for fighting with his girlfriend's father on Wednesday after the Mets dreadful 6-2 loss to the Rockies. Manager Jerry Manuel seemed happy to not have to think about who would have closed the game under different circumstances. He said of Santana and Dickey, "For those guys to take it upon themselves as starters to start and complete the game was huge for us."

It is undeniable that after the week of turmoil with Santana being accused of rape and K-Rod being arrested for assault, the Mets needed the peace that only winning can bring to the clubhouse. Those troubling things still exist in the periphery of their minds, but winning, especially over the Phillies, does heal things faster than anything else.

Now the Mets have to worry about the games yet to come, but for a brief moment on Friday night at Citi Field, there was a kind of hush over the crowd, a sensation that they were witnessing a great moment in Mets history. Even though it was not to be a no-hitter, it was an immeasurably significant win for a team that needed another win more than anything.

Will R.A. Dickey be the man to eventually get the Mets first no-hitter? Judging from last night's masterful performance, he may be just the guy to do it. Until then, the Mets and their fans finally have something to smile about.

Surviving A Rain Delay At Citi Field

Article first published as Surviving A Rain Delay At Citi Field on Blogcritics.

Going to last night's game at Citi Field, I was tempted to take my old toy broom, which I used to bring as a kid to games at Shea Stadium when the Mets were ready to sweep an opponent. Instead, I opted to take an umbrella, and I am glad I did.


The Mets ground crew quickly got the field covered when rain fell.

During the rain delay there was an amazing spirit amongst the people waiting around in the ballpark. The way Citi Field is configured, there are plenty of refreshment areas and everyone was partaking in the bounty of hot dogs, pizzas, grilled sausages, and ice cream that is available. Another difference from old Shea is the quantity and quality of a variety of beers either on tap, in bottles, or in the can. Two hours is a long time to twiddle one's thumbs, but from what I observed many of the faithful were too busy holding cups to bother with that.

 

I am waiting for the game to start along with forty thousand other fans.

 

It is Fleet Week here in New York City with the impending Memorial Day holiday, and you could tell that all the big ships are in town because sailors were everywhere at the game last night. As lightning crackled across the sky and heavy winds blew, you could see that our Navy fellows were undetered by the adverse conditions. The regular fans were also not going to let the weather get them down. They came to see a sweep and some heavy rains were not going to get in the way of that.

After a two-hour rain delay, the game got underway at 9:05 with Mike Pelfrey's first pitch of the night. The damp weather didn't seem to bother Pelfrey (now 7-1), as he was on his game and pitched seven scoreless innings. The opposing pitcher Cole Hamels (5-3) matched him for the most part, but the lefty eventually broke down in the seventh and gave up two extra runs the Mets needed to close the deal.

I don't know what is more intriguing about this sweep of the Phillies: the fact that the Mets shut them out for twenty-seven innings, or that the Mets finally seem to be able to get the big hits at the right times. If the pitching continues to be as good as it seemed to be this past week, and the hitters keep doing their thing, who knows what can happen? Hey, I know R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi are not Seaver and Koosman, but they looked pretty damn good to me.

The Mets are now 19-9 at home but 6-14 on the road. As they embark on this road trip, they need to be able to start winning some away games fast. Owning a 25-23 record, and having won five in a row and seven of their last ten games, the Mets are now only two games behind the Phillies in the National League East.


Ghosts of the old Mets seemed to hover above the field in the rain.

By the time the game ended last night at 11:53, I was pretty much ready for some sleep and not the long ride home from Citi Field. Although I was exhausted I was also glowing, because on that soggy night the ghosts of the old Mets seemed to hover above the field in the preternatural haze above the stadium. I could almost hear the voice of the late and great Tug McGraw saying, "You gotta believe!" And on this night, I started to think anything was possible again for my beloved Amazing Mets.