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During his weekly interview with WFAN, Paul Lo Duca told the show’s hosts that he remains confidence in his team, because a) they’re better than what they’ve shown of late, b) still have a three-game lead, and c) they know they’re capable of winning, they just need to do it.
Lo Duca responded with a solid four-seconds of silence when asked if he believes his manager, Willie Randolph, should go out an defend his players to the umpire, such as when Marlon Anderson and Lo Duca were ejected over the weekend for arguing balls and strikes.
…i wrote the following three days ago, and i’m glad to know i was not just speculating…
i would like to have seen willie get a bit loud with the ump here, as well…usually, i don’t put a lot of stock in to this, but back-to-back nights he sees his player got tossed, in the ninth, and i’d like to think his players would appreciate knowing willie is as angry about it as they are…
Overall, Lo Duca credits the recent swoon to simply playing poor defense, which has made the bullpen look far worse than it actually is.
He expressed concern that some of his teammates were laughing on the bench last night, up by four runs in the fourth, considering they blew similar leads in nearly every game they lost over the weekend.
Yes, he is concerned by the team’s recent play, and though he didn’t acknowledge whether they would benefit from being yelled at by Randolph, he did say he may talk with Tom Glavine, Carlos Delgado, and other veterans, about how best to – and whether they should – address the locker room.
If he had a message to the team, it would be that they can’t take anything for granted. He expressed over and over again that he so badly wants to return to the post-season, and win a World Series, and does not want to see this talented team waste a great opportunity.
To listen to Lo Duca’s entire interview, go to WFAN.com.
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It was so silent….I heard crickets….
Willie will be happy
And there you have it….Willie refuses to back his players, therefore his players refuse to back him…Maybe Julio Franco was not wrong after all.
While LoDuca was arguing, Willie was just sitting in the dugout, arms crossed. Didn’t move a muscle, not even to keep his player in the game and then DiFelice drops foul. Game over.
Such a great spot. I doubt he is alone in his overall distaste for Randolph and his tactics.
Willie has managed with a chip on his shoulder as long as he has been here….WHY?!?!?!?! He does things that are unorthodox ON PURPOSE, it seems, so that he can make a big case that he is smarter and knows “his guys” better than anyone else does. Problem is, that chip on his shoulder is such a farce. Watching him manage these past 2 seasons, it is clear he is NOT made for the NL. How can you be an NL manager and not know what a double switch is intended to do? or not know what a squeeze play is? or even say that we don’t employ the wheel play?
I have been saying that about doing unorthodox things on purpose since last year. He wants to prove so badly that he is smarter than the obvious move and 70% of the time it backfires. This is why the alternative WAS OBVIOUS!
Yes…that would be the point of the word. It is obvious for a REASON….cause it makes sense! UGH!
That silence was very telling and echos the sentiments of many people here….
For me, personally…not that it matters what I think…. but I have absolutely had it with Willie’s no-emotion demenor… like many have said… it may work with the Yankees… It clearly does not work with the mets. I cannot remember the number of times I have said, or heard said “if this team can just play up to its potential” well… it is now september, and except for a few extended streaks… this team has grossly, grossly underperformed this year. I have never watched a team for a season, a season in which they will probably win the division and been so unbelievably frustrated.
i believe a manager’s job description is the following, in random order:
1. In game strategy. (double switches, pitching changes, lineup selection, etc.)
2. Running and being responsible for on and off field actions of his players. Mind you, this is also the player’s job. However, a manager should “run” his team and respond accordingly to all situations regarding individual and collective player performances.
3. Motivating his players, making them want to be part of his team and essentially “playing for him” because they want to first, and because secondly they don’t want to let him down.
4. “Game time” defending of his players (varies on the situation. (Lo Duca and Anderson for example).
I’m wondering how people on this site grade Willy on my four respective categories?
I would like to hear some responses before I chime in. Thank you for any anticipated responses.
1. F-
2. B
3. D-
4. F-
interesting. I am struggling with number 3, as it has gone down considerably from what I felt, say, mid season.
Looking at it over his entire tenure, and not the last four games, I’d say
1. C
2. B
3. B+
4. B
I’ll qualify my grade for 4. Getting thrown out is not defending your players; it’s stupid. A coach defends his players by getting in between them and the ump, diffusing the situation, and preventing long-term suspensions. Willie has done this very well, as only LoDuca, who has severe anger issues, has been suspended under Willie (I believe).
I agree with your analysis on number four, but only in conjunction with my belief that at “sometime” a manager must blow a fuse to spark a team…pun intended.
I have amplified my answer, and now score willy….
4. C-
I can buy that. And it is probably more effective when a laid back coach blows up.
Getting thrown out is defending your players when you’re sending a message to the player that he is right and the umpire had no business making the call he did. The Reyes “strikeout” was the PERFECT example of when a manager really ought to go ballistic. Here was an umpire blatantly altering calls to “show up” a player. Willie needed to be livid.
Getting thrown out every time a call doesn’t go your way at first base, however, is stupid. My grade has to be a “D”, and dropping.
1. C-
2. B+
3. B-
4. D+
Interesting how we only differ on item 4.
Another question I would pose: what weight do each of the traits carry? I would say that in baseball, 2 and 3 carry more weight than 1. I guess 4 could tie into the rating for 3.
it is a good question….. see, i think willy is overly deficient at #1, so I pay more attention to it I guess. I think he is downright bad at in-game managing…but I do think most of his players play for him.
I also think this team needs a spark, and that it wouldn’t hurt, in fact only help, if Willy publicly got booted from a game for defending a player…..or at least throw some chairs in the clubhouse.
A little Hal McCrae action! ;)
1. Game Strategy- C-…I want to see a squeeze play before I die
2.Running Team- C-…would have been a solid C, but, for Dwauyna Sanchez being out after 3 AM
3.Motivating- D…have seen NO evidence of anyone willing to ‘go to the mat’ for Willie–Petersen, yes, Willie, no.
4. Game Time Defending-F…yeah, I want to see retaliation for our guys being “plunked” HBP? So what..May I have another, Sir?!
1. F-
2. D
3. F
4. F-
He doesn’t like Willie and willie hates guys who get thrown out when they are needed more on the field instead of trying to be a sparkplug. See Doug Miektiwiecz. I think mentioning on the line whom he will speak to regarding sparking the team is unprofessional and un-met like. he should keep it in house. paulie is loved by his teammates and we love him but this year he has almost stuck his foot in his mouth a few times, and ruffled feathers.
Do you remember when he threw th eball to the ground and got in the Umps face about a bad call and the ball was still live? Thats the kind of spark and heart we need to see from this team. And what did Willie do then, nothing at all. LoDuca is a spark and he plays with the fire that we need right now. The rest of the team needs to stick together and all get that spark. Steal, hit-n-run, bunt for hits, put the pressure on the other team and dont let up, even if the score is 10-1 we still need more!!!! Last night was a perfect example we had a 4 run lead and lost. You never have enough runs, once you start the ball rolling keep it going.
Yeah, I remember the base runners advancing because of LoDuca’s inability to control his temper.
If Lo Duca is such a spark, why did the team continue to play miserable against Philly? The team is lost, they don’t know who they are anymore.
My point is that it would be nice to see the players or manager react to a bad play or bad game. Instead they sit there like statues and then say the same old rederick after the game. We are emotional about the team, so, why cant they be? show some concern, thats all.
Yeah, I just listened to it, and got it on the computer in a downloadable file, just trying out some new windows media player audio recorder thing I have. That really did speak volumes when he was silence about Willie not yelling at the umps. I give credit to Duca though, he’s pretty honest and vocal about everything.
Anyone hear Benigno suggesting firing Rick Peterson if they don’t make the playoffs? Ouch. I say demolish the bullpen, completely.
I love this team and I desperately want them to win the World Series…
Duke tells it like it is… This team has been terribly disappointing since June… While none of us should have expected to play like 2006, we expected some sense of dominanace…
I hope this teams wins the East and I hope they have postseason success… However, I am gravely disappointed in this team’s play this year… Ya’ Gotta Believe… We do, but do the players?
You can add Lo Duca to the question-willie bang wagon… and it shouldn’t come as a suprise. Duca is the antithesis of Willie, and that is a bad thing.
I didn’t know that getting thrown out arguing strikes and balls would help the team win. Maybe if Willie got thrown out with Lo Duca, the mets could have lost by a few more runs.
I’m just gonna wait it out till the panic subsides.
Agreed.
If Willie would argue and get thrown out for the players once in awhile they wouldn’t have to do it themselves. I gave Willie the benefit of the doubt the last couple years but after this season I think its time to turn to some of our in house options. Hojo, Oberkfell, where’d Gary Carter go? Willie’s use of Mota alone is enough to make me question his ability. Add to that the general malaise of this team and his general lack of in game managing ability what does Willie bring to this team? Up until this season it certainly seemed like he was a great motivator but not anymore. Most frustrating is the lack of emotion shown by Willie and many of the players. It makes fans question why they care if the players and manager don’t. I’m happy to hear Loduca.
the willie bang wagon eh????
I guess that picture from the walk off waiting for Green, with Dukie’s hand on Wright’s thigh shows a bit more of his feelings, lol
ok now that I chuckled at that…
COME ON METSS!!!!
Nice recap. You’re doing a great job during these tough games–keep it up and thanks Matt!!
I’m not sure why people are actually happy about this. Do you want a line between the players and the manager on September 18th? I certainly don’t.
Furthermore, while I love LoDuca’s fire and I do appreciate his play of late – he can’t be getting thrown out in the 9th inning of key ballgames this late in the season. I would bet that he would have caught the foul bunt on Friday night in the 10th. Just because he doesn’t think Willie would have argued on his behalf – that doesn’t absolve him from getting tossed in that spot.
If Joe B. actually suggested that Petersen should be fired after this season – he has to get his head examined. That’s just ridiculous beyond any belief.
Joe B has proven time and again to be certifiable, which is also why he gets good ratings! ;)
its not a matter of saying if willie gets ejected we wouldve won, but if willie got in the umps face and argued and got tossed the players would see that hes right there with them and that he has their back and that could lead to them maybe sucking it up and going out and performing the next day or the day after that bc they have his back and dont want him getting fired bc the team is collapsing…..im not saying tirades = wins but look what happened after lou pinella had his little display in chicago, and after charlie manuel almost got in a fight with a reporter, i mean both those teams suddenly got a spark and last i checked bobby cox gets ejected fairly often and his team won a couple of divisions in his tenure. The attitude of the team comes from the top if the attitude of the players and the manager are almost opposite that will have an effect on the team as a whole.
Amazing how the loss of one guy can make a difference. I think that one guy is Duaner Sanchez. Sure, it would have been nice to bring Bradford back, but remember we did think that we’d have Sanchez this year. The pen is really one man short. That’s forced Heilman to be the 8th inning guy, something he’s okay at, but is much better positioned as a situational 7th inning guy. It’s forced the dubious Mota experiments, and forced Schoenweiss, Sosa, and Feliciano to be more than matchup guys.
Hopefully, Padilla and Sanchez come back next year at full strength and our pen turns into a monster again. What Randolph and Peterson don’t seem to want to do is a lot of testing of guys to see who’s going to best fill in those holes. Instead of trying new guys in different roles to see if something clicks, they seem willing to continue to bang the square peg in the round hole. Now it’s too late to find some fill in guys from within the organization. We’re stuck.
I still think we’re going to win this division. I think the team that won 10 of 12 is going to come back, we’ll run off a 4 game winning streak, Philly will lose 2 of 4 and suddenly we’ll be 5 up in the loss column and it will essentially be over.
That said, there’s a lot of room for improvement from both the players and management for ‘08 (not to mention October ‘07)
A GM should never ever count on a pitcher for the first year after major elbow/shoulder surgery. That includes Pedro and Sanchez with the Mets, and Muldur for St. Louis. You have to plan for the year as if they are not available.
I agree. I’m sure Minaya thought Burgos would fit in and be a major piece of the pen. We all know how that turned out.
Maybe things would be different if Sanchez actually reported to camp in shape, which he wasn’t. He even apologized for it.
Am I the only one who thinks this is crazy?
How many times do you hear this about a pitcher…
“He’s never pitched in this situation before”
“He’s not my 8th inning guy”
“He’s not used to coming out of the pen”
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH..
There is a ball and home plate and a batter. You try to throw the ball to home plate without the batter hitting it, or without him hitting it hard. What is with this bullbleep about situations. You put the best guy in there to win the game period.
Pelfrey, Humber, Maine…someone has to go to the pen and get some guys out! In 35 years of watching baseball, I’ve never witnessed this kind of night after night bullpen collapse!!!
This probably sealed LoDuca’s fate on whether or not he is coming back next year.
I am not a Willie fan but at the end of the day he has won and if the Mets go on to win the division no manager other then Willie will have won it in consecutive years.
The good news is that the Mets still control their destiny. I find it hard to believe any player on the Mets does not understand the significance of the situation.
I love rick peterson, but let me play devil’s advocate…
… aside from raising Oliver Perez’s arm angle and “teaching” glaving to throw inside more what has he really done?
Pedro coaches himself
Duque coaches himself
Maine blows up every time a play is not made behind him
Perez starts throwing like kaz Ishii against ryan howard
Pelfrey has underpreformed since his terrific spring
Mota is a disaster and pedro needs to call from florida to say his stride is too short
showenweis is a disaster (playing injured is not an excuse)
brugoes was a disaster
sosa is an over-used disaster
heilman only performs when he gets his way
feliciano has gone 3 weeks without throwing a strike
joe smith became a disaster
I know rick sounds great in an interview, but who exactly has he “made” into a better pitcher.
Looked like a genius last year and a dope this year.
Regardless of Perez’s arm angles and John Maine’s lack of focus, they are likely both going to win 15 games each with sub 4 ERA’s. If that scenario was proposed to you in spring training, I’d bet you would have signed up for that in a heartbeat.
Perez won 13 games with the Pirates in 04, why is winning 14-16 with a team that is “far superior” an accomplishment.
If you said, they both won 17-20 games, as their talent would warrant, I would sign up for that in a heartbeat
Good coaching helps talent produce, it doesn’t produce talent. Perez clearly has always had the talent – but it went out the window in 2005 and basically all of 2006. Peterson obviously saw something that the Pirates staff missed the last two years. You can’t spin it any other way – he deserves some credit for his success.
The same thing for Maine – he could not find whatever it was he needed to find for the Orioles. He became a relatively solid pitcher last year, including a tremendous Game 6 in the NLCS and followed it up with a mostly good 2007. Peterson obviously saw something there.
I’m not saying Peterson deserves all of the credit here, but he deserves some for allowing those two specifically to maximize their talent.
So you wouldn’t have signed up for 15-9 3.60 result for both Maine and Perez before the season started this year? Seriously?
You would have laughed all day if someone even suggested 17-20 wins out of either of them; even with Peterson. It is easy to be negative at this point now that you know they have 13-15 wins.
Like Mister Koo said above, you would have signed up for it. No question.
I didn’t think they would be as successful as they are but they had the potential and Rick Peterson helped both of them, at least in my opinion. Also someone else that deserves credit is Omar for taking a chance with both John Maine and Oliver Perez because if the Mets didn’t have a GM that didn’t take risks, they would be stuck with an overpaid and aging starting rotation.
At least now they have some youngsters at the bottom of the starting rotation. And if Pelfrey can get it together, that’s a good young starting 3 they have there at the bottom. I just hope the Mets can figure out how to get out of this lackluster play because I’m sure they are well aware of it. Whether it’s a team meeting, guys calling out others or they go out together for a game of poker … Whatever it takes, I hope they find a way.
He’s “made” 3/5 of our starting rotation better – Maine, Perez, and Glavine are major reasons why we are anywhere close to a division title.
Heilman was useless until Peterson got here and now he’s a usually dependable arm out of the pen. Feliciano has been good 4 out of the 5 months this year, that’s pretty good production. Joe Smith provided the pen with quality for half a year, a lot more than any of would have hoped.
I wouldn’t call Sosa a disaster – he did find a way to grab 6 wins earlier this year and was a good arm out of the pen for a month. Hopefully he’ll return to that form, but if not, you can’t take a pitcher who had no expectations – then gave us solid production and then reverted back to his “no expectation” level and blame it on the pitching coach.
I’ll be happy to say that Mota and Schoenweis have not worked out at all. Burgos is young – we’ll see on him in the future, hopefully.
So, while Peterson is no God, he’s done a pretty fine job with most of the starting rotation and half of the bullpen – I’ll take that.
Pedro coaches himself. So does El Duque.
But Peterson helped guide Glavine through multiple transformations over the last 3 years.
He’s turned Maine from mostly a ML failure into a bonafide middle of the rotation starter. Same with Ollie.
He’s helped turn Heilman into a very good middle reliever. Same with Feliciano.
Bradford thrived under Peterson both in Oakland and NY.
Bert thrived under Peterson both in Chicago and in NY.
For these successes alone, he should be hailed.
As for the others, Schoeneweis, Mota, Julio, and Burgos were all disasters before they came to the Mets. Peterson is not a god. Just a very good pitching coach.
Pelfrey’s been pitching better. And Joe Smith has been mixed.
No pitching coach can fix every pitcher. If he can help turn a good portion of the staff around, then that’s success.
you guys know if it weren’t for our pitching staff we’d be in third place, right? firing peterson would be incredibly stupid
Since it seems fairly likely that the Mets aren’t going to win the WS this season, I would rather see them not make the playoffs at all so we can be rid of Willie (Ever Learn How To Manage & Lead) Randolph.
pure unadulterated, BS :roll:
Agreed Mook. Sometimes people just seem not to understand how precious and fleeting playoff appearances are. This isn’t the NFL or NBA. We’re not the Skankees or Braves where playoffs are considered a hum-drum birthright.
Playoff baseball with your team in it is the greatest thing in all of sports. It should never, ever be dismissed. Especially for some fantasy about finding the magic manager that is going to lead us to a decade’s worth of prosperity.
We’re Mets fans. It’s always a strugle. We get our hearts rended more often than not. That’s what makes us Mets fans. We suffer, we kvetch, but we should never, ever, root for our team NOT to make the playoffs.
i agree 100%… corey, thank god there are some out there that get it
I’ve been getting it for 2+ seasons, its nice to know that others are seeing the light about Willie.
nothing more even needs to be said, we both know the deal, I’ve also known it for 2+ seasons, and these people that defend willie as if he was a blood relative maybe will realize it when 10 years go by and willie randolph has lead our beloved mets to zero world championships, with a whoopie doo, a few division titles. YAY!
get a room.
Are you actually being serious?
Anytime you can make the playoffs, you take the chance. Maybe you don’t recall, but the Mets have made the playoffs 7 times in their 45 seasons – this is not an every year occurrence.
How many times do people have to reference the 2006 Cardinals to show that any team that makes the playoffs can win the World Series? What exactly did that team have last year that we don’t?
Regardless, even if the big manager change was made – how exactly does that guarantee ANYTHING in 2008? We could have God himself manage next year and that wouldn’t mean that we would make the playoffs. You NEVER know what can happen in a given season. We are 13 days away from making a second straight playoff run – I will be more than happy to go for it right now rather than hoping we’re in this same position a year from now.
Crazy talk.
you have GOT to be kidding me. You WANT your team t miss the playoffs? go home kiddo…
I get the strange feeling that there are some Mets fans who would actually be disappointed if the Mets won it all this year…
i wonder what the team’s record would be if:
*mota, sele, and schoeneweis (all 5+era over the last few years) didn’t replace bradford, sanchez, oliver.
*the bench for the 1st 4 months didn’t include franco and newhan who had no business on a playoff team.
*delgado had his normal 30hr 100rbi season
let me ask a question to those who blame willie:
why hasn’t omar done the following: released mota, sele, lawrence. i bet willie wouldn’t use them if they weren’t on the team.
this just in: 1. franco hasn’t pinch hit since omar released him. 2. willie slammed franco on the way out
i love omar and want him and willie here for a long time (if they blow the division…that would change, but i know that won’t happen)
Thanks for the comment Mr. Randolph!
Exactly. There is plently of blame to go around. Omar, the players, Willie, the fans, which is exactly why the Mets have the worst record in the league…
i mostly put it on the fans. mentally weak. un-supportive. abandon the team when they face adversity :)
it’s a team game. omar, willie, the players are in it together. no individual gets the blame or credit.
I hope it’s gonna be ADDITION by SUBTRACTION for the Post-Season Roster…drop MOTA,SELE and Schoienweis.
Force Maine into the Pen, even Lawrence into the Pen. These guys seem to be able to ONLY concentrate for 5 or 6 innings–well, OK, that’s more than enough for a mid-game relief job. I’d say put Oliver Perez in the Pen, but, I don’t think we’re done with getting a MONSTER performance out of him…he has glimmers of greatness in him, but, he’s effectivly WILD! We need to “take back the plate”—Perez is just the guy to throw some CHIN MUSIC up there. Our opposition is TOO COMFORTABLE at the dish!
Let’s GO Mets! My “aggita” will resolve itself tonight!
Its true Omar really needs to do a better job of Willie-proofing this team.
LOL awesome post…
Despite all of Omar’s screwups (hiring Willie included), the talent on team is better than the way they’ve played.
I wonder what this teams record would be if Willie knew how to strategize, motivate, and stand up for his team.
The strategy part alone has cost the Mets somewhere in the vicinity of 5-7 wins. That would be a nice cushion right now.
baseball isn’t that easy. do you remember the last time the mets had the best team:
1985: no playoffs
1986: ws champs
1987: no playoffs
1988: 1st place. lost 1st round of playoffs
1989: no playoffs
those teams were much better than this team.
The buzzards are circling! First, the calls for Rick Downs’ head. Then Willie’s. Next Omar’s. Now even “The Jacket” is not safe. To the guillotine with them all. Off with their heads. And I thought that defeat was an orphan.
Of course if we win one out of three against the phils (defelice either catches the foul pop, castillo makes contact with the sacks full with no out, etc) then willie is manager of the year. ya know guys…you’re right. I’d rather have Charlie Manuel pulling the strings.
Oh and zen, with all those what ifs, the mets would have won AT LEAST 120 games already and gone down as the most dominant team in decades. JK.
Lets get it back tonite. Let’s hope Johnny Maine is dealin!!
LET’S GO METS!
lol. i was hoping for 162-0. maybe omar can sign bob griese for the bullpen.
Getting thrown out of a game arguing balls and strikes is stupid. Everyone knows you get tossed for that. Lo Duca is a hothead, and I love that about him, but he gets in his own way sometimes.
Why should Willie “protect” Lo Duca in that situation?
I’ve watched just about every game this year, and I don’t get the impression that Willie doesn’t defend or protect his players. He just chooses his spots. Lo Duca should learn from his mistakes and hold his tongue. He’d help the team more that way.
If he’s upset at Willie over the perceived lack of defense by Willie, that’s no indication of what the rest of the team feels.
Name one spot where he chose to support his player?
I’m not going to re-watch games here to pick spots. Watching the games over the course of the season, I just don’t get the sense that he doesn’t defend his players. I’ve never thought to myself: “Willie should be out there arguing” when he’s not.
I guess I’m just not buying into the idea that in order to motiviate his players, a manager must occasionally throw a tantrum. We don’t need a hothead manager, and I don’t see how it would help a team win games.
Are you saying that Willie should have gotten himself thrown out for arguing balls and strikes?
Answer B kills me. This what me worry attitude about there lead has been driving me crazy. This is like somebody who gets a job offer for a huge salary, buys a big house and then gets fired a few weeks later while they are stuck with the huge mortgage.
Answers A & C are not much better. Like Bill parcels says a team IS as good as its record. part of being a good team is execution and for 149 games the team has not executed consistently, are they better than the last 4 days yes, but that is irrelevant will they be 3 wins better than the Phils the next two weeks. Since May the answer is no.
You have to look at the law of averages too. The Mets lost 5 in a row or whatever it was, and the Phils have won 6 in a row give or take. How long can a hot streak go? Another 13 days? If that were the case, then the Phils would finish out the season 19-2. And are the Mets gonna stay cold for 13 more? The Phillies are due for a letdown and the Mets are due to snap out of it. There’s still a 3 game lead. The worm will turn one more time before it’s all over.
Watching this team gives me the most helpless feeling and i can’t stand it. I feel like the fans are the only ones who care about this team and the players could give two craps whether they make the playoffs or not. I just want to stick my hands through my tv and grab willies stoic face and shake him yelling “TALK TO YOUR PLAYERSSSSS!!!!!” what will this POS be saying when we were 5 games out with one game to go…’we just gotta take this one day at a time, i have confidence in my players, no need to talk to them i guess well just get em next year.’ like matt said THIS was they time to rattle the cage and its just disgustingly sad that duc’s is the only one to do it. he should be a player manager
IF they lose today, do they make the playoffs?
i mean you still have to say yes even if philly wins bc of the should be easy schedule…but if we’re 1.5 up tomorrow its going to be catastrophic.
Regardless of what happens this year minaya still to me deserves more of the blame just like he deserves more credit than willie for last yr…he MUST make moves this winter, this offseason is not a “spare parts” type off season where we look for the missing link we need a huge chunk of chain, bullpen, OF, starter, 2Bmen, C, please dont limit yourself to latin players either omar since dunn and rowand are both free agents and i know rowand plays CF but the almighty $ can change that in a flash.
I can see the Sillies making a push for Andruw Jones if the Yanks don’t get him, maybe Rowand will play right field at Shea instead of the CBP?
Or get Burrell to replace Alou, since at least he won’t kill us anymore (not sure of his FA status)
i could see Burrell coming to the Mets and batting 210 with 16 HR’s and 65 RBI with a season shortened by injuries….DISASTER! lol
Throw the ball, hit the ball and catch the ball, seems simple enough. If they can do this they will win 2 of 3 against the Nats and the Fish in the next 4 series, and we won’t have to worry about Filth-adelphia.
This is from Mets.com (today) and is all you need to know about why Willie is the wrong guy to be managing this (or any other team):
This is the middle-of-the road reaction to the pennant race that Randolph spoke about before the game on Monday: “If we smell the roses and sip some champagne, so be it. If not, that’s life.”
A day earlier, one of the Mets said: “We play at the temperature of the manager. I know Willie cares a lot, but he’s not showing it much.”
ick…that does bother me a lot…
If they know he cares then why does he have to show it? Its a team leaders decision to flip the dinner table. Not the manager. They can police themselves and should.
He doesn’t even care if they make the playoffs, this is not about flipping tables.
If you really believe that, then you have some serious issues.
WOW. I get the feeling that Willie wants out, and his players want out from him too. This is gonna get bad
Yeah, if that’s accurate, it’s a step beyond “even keel” and into “who cares?” Not a good comment from a manager. That comment makes it sound like he really doesn’t like his players enough to invest emotionally in their success or failure.
There are a lot of really good, winning players on this team. I think they can handle Willie’s comments and move on. But it is disturbing that would come out of his mouth at this point.
it’s not accurate. it’s not on mets.com
willie did say; however:
“We’ve got to find a way to turn it around,” Randolph said. “We will,” he promised.
http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20070917&content_id=2213538&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym
Its not on Mets.com? Really?
Then why does it appear about 2/3 of the way down this page:
http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070917&content_id=2213534&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym
the two quotes are on the website. you’re right.
what was the context of those conversations? what were the questions?
i gave a random quote too:
“We’ve got to find a way to turn it around,” Randolph said. “We will,” he promised.
what does it prove? that one guy doesn’t like willie. i bet there are a couple more.
right here. i just don’t understand how you guys continue to defend this guy to the death. can’t you see it yet? he doesn’t care if they win it all or not, because hey, thats life!! his players sure do see it, and they sure are playing like it too. turn the page. no big deal. before long, it is taken literally and translates into how a current game is played. it really is offensive to me that other mets fans do not see it.
willie has been in 1st place for the majority of his career. a hell of a lot more than you’re use to. he understands pennant races.
i’m not defending him to death. i’m being fair and reasonable. there are 85 of 100 posts slamming the guy. nobody’s allowed to say anything positive? the team is in 1st place. are you that shocked that the manager would have a little support. i guess with all the world series the mets won in the last 20 years…
davey johnson was a good manager and one 1 world series and 2 divisions with a much better team
Willie was a good player, no doubt. But there were a bunch of guys on those Yankees teams that you would sooner point to as the reason why they won.
As for his coaching days, he was a terrible 3B coach with the Yankees.
Just because he was a good player does not mean it translates to managing.
yet he was selected yankee captain (like jeter) not the other players
terrible 3b coach. based on what? you’re hatred for him. give me statistics that show more guys were thrown out with him.
for those that don’t believe the ‘getting tossed to help the team’ stuff, there’s a strategical advantage to it- willie goes out and takes the heat after a bad call so the player can stay in the game. this is stuff earl weaver talked about- the manager gets himself tossed because that’s the only way to get the point across without hurting the team. and in the mets case, getting willie out of the dugout isn’t gonna do anything but help. instead, after paulie gets tossed, after a disgusting job by the home plate umpire all night, he walks out, talks to the umpire, makes a stupid ‘aw, that’s ridiculous’ type of face and walks back to the dugout.
this isn’t the yankees. we’re good, but we’re not that good. joe torre could take a nap in the dugout during every game, pick the lineup out of a hat and the yankees would make the playoffs. and now the players are finally admitting to it, that this even-keel stuff is doing nothing. just a really telling interview and quote, and i really doubt lo duca is alone in this.
it’s like anything, if you over-use it, it loses its strength or importance. if you say ‘i love you’ to someone everyday it has no impact after a while. if you drink a six pack everyday, pretty soon that ain’t gonna be enough.
as for baseball, if you say ‘turn the page’ after every loss, it loses meaning. if you get tossed out everyday like bobby cox, your players just giggle at you when you’re fighting an ump.
it seemed to serve them well last year, but this even-keel stuff doesn’t work for the players anymore.
and less importantly, it’s annoying as a fan. i’m jumping up and down in my room, furious after that marlon anderson strikeout and the show-up reyes strikeout, and the guy that’s supposed to care about this team the most might as well be asleep.
This is all amazing. If he didn’t care why does he clap or react when they make a smart play, move the runner, get a big hit and ultimately win the game. If he didn’t care maybe he shouldn’t come out and greet his players.
There are 162 games in the season and it is not the time yet for him to react. Believe me, this guy comes from winning. He likes to win and more than anything he wants to win ON HIS OWN. Not in the shadow of Joe Torre or Reggie or Thurman Muson. On his own, with his team.
You guys are bonkos if you think hes packed it in. They STILL HAVE A 2.5 game lead. They wont lose tonight but if they do, lets just see how he reacts. What he says to the press and what he says to his players are completely different. ONE player made a comment about him. Maybe TWO. Thats out of 25. I think his players know his expectations and they are very high.
Torre has never given into the media hype and neither will he.
They will win tonight.
Everyone stay away from the ledge, stay away from sharp objects and wait until the 27th out is recorded for the nats (and no it aint going to extra innings) . We have the team we have sked we have the lead. RELAX.