Daily Archives: October 1, 2007
Check out this photo from the Associated Press…
…hey, Phillies fans, get your own expression…
…is it possible to sue an entire fan base for plagiarism…
…speaking of suing people, can the Mets sue Conan O’Brien for defamation of character, considering the following…
…yes, i’m sour grapes…so what of it…
Tagged Phillies |In a MetsBlog.com poll of more than 4,500 fans, now that the 
Mets will not be in the post-season, 19 percent of the people polled will cheer for the Cubs; 14 percent will cheer for each of the Rockies and Red Sox; five percent will cheer for the Phillies; only 4 percent will cheer for the Yankees; less than one percent will cheer for each of the Padres, D’Backs and Angels; and 33 percent of those who responded do not care who wins, citing, “the season is over.”
…the buzz around the new york media this afternoon seems to be that we will all know tomorrow, definitively, whether Willie 
Randolph will or will not be back as manager of the Mets next season…
…from what i can gather, while most media personalities assume willie will be back, and feel he should be back, there is an odd soap opera being played out right now, while willie twists in the wind…
…if you notice, Omar Minaya has yet to officially announce randolph’s future, despite holding court on two occasions since the season officially ended yesterday afternoon…from what i can gather, omar wants willie back, and will recommend so to ownership in a meeting that is probably still going on…the thing is, the decision ultimately belongs to ownership, and not omar…by the way, i thought omar had full autonomy…oops, guess not, because if he did he wouldn’t he just come out and say, ‘willie’s staying.’…however, he isn’t stating that…instead, minaya keeps repeating that he supports willie, and likes willie, etc, and by doing so he is basically letting the public know that if the manager is fired, a) it was not his decision, so don’t blame him if you’re unhappy, and b) if it happens, he does not come off looking like a liar…very political, by the way…
…if you remember, last week i wrote that, the way i hear it, the rift essentially breaks down as follows: any one who played professional baseball, such as omar, appreciate and believe in willie, while those who have never played the game, i.e., ownership, are disappointed in willie’s in-game strategy and blame him for the team’s lack of focus and fire since last year’s NLCS…this is not to say omar has blind faith in willie, it’s just that i sense he believes in willie’s overall approach and he believes he has a winner’s mentality…on the flip side, the team’s other executives only see the results on the field, and they’re essentially freaking out, understandably to some extent, as they’re looking down the barrel of a new stadium, a television network, and a ton of pressure to not blow this…
By the way, in a report for CNN.com, Chris Isidore explains how the Mets will likely lose roughly $15 million in revenue due to not making the post-season.
…either way, they all meet today, and since the playoffs start on Wednesday, if willie is to be dismissed, it more or less needs to be announced tomorrow…and if he’s staying, which i still think he is, they’ll make that announcement tomorrow, as well, probably when minaya appears as a guest on WFAN around 2 pm, so that it comes off in a more casual, less dire way…
Lastly, according to a MetsBlog.com poll of more than 3,100 of the team’s fans, 66 percent of those polled would like to see Randolph return in 2008, while only 33 percent prefer he be fired.
Tagged Willie Randolph |From Mets COO Jeff Wilpon:
To Mets Fans:
Tagged MetsBlog |“All of us at the Mets are bitterly disappointed in failing to achieve our collective goal of building upon last year’s success. We did not meet our organization’s expectations - or yours. Everyone at Shea feels the same range of emotions as you - our loyal fans - and we know we have let you down. We wanted to thank you for your record-breaking support of our team this year…
“Equally important, Ownership will continue its commitment in providing the resources necessary to field a championship team. Omar will be meeting with Ownership shortly to present his plan on addressing our shortcomings so that we can achieve our goal of winning championships in 2008 and beyond…
“You deserve better results…
“Many thanks again for your record-breaking support. “
…so my wife walks in from work and sees me holding my head up while staring blankly at the laptop, and says, ‘My God, you look awful, are you going to just collapse tonight.’…to which i responded, ‘Yes, but, if you don’t mind, can we not use that word to describe it.’…
Tagged MetsBlog |At his blog for Newsday, David Lennon gives a break down of Omar Minaya’s comments about the future of Willie Randolph, 
while players and coaches gathered at Shea Stadium today to clear out their lockers and pack up for the off-season.
In short, Lennon concludes, “Do I think Randolph will be fired? No,” adding, though, that “A slow start next season, with the Mets showing the same signs that doomed them this year, and Randolph could get the hook sooner rather than later.”
…it sounds like omar continued to say the same thing he told these guys last night, which was as follows…
“The bottom line, Willie Randolph, for me, has done a good job. You don’t look at a person just one year. You look at a person over a couple of years and the change that has happened. I can tell you that Willie Randolph, in the past three years here, has turned this franchise around in a lot of ways…I owe it to sit down with my ownership and tell them what I think, but I’m telling you that I am happy with the work that Willie Randolph has done here for the past few years.”
…the way i am hearing this response, be it last night’s or today’s, is that omar likes willie and will recommend to ownership that he not be fired, but a) that depends on the future direction of the overall team, and b) regardless, the decision is ultimately up to the Wilpons, and so minaya will not comment either way…
Tagged Fire, Mets, Omar Minaya, Willie Randolph |
…the Mets squandered a golden opportunity and we all know it…they know it, too…i suppose what is most frustrating is that the same thing can be said about last year’s team, as well…meanwhile, the window for this specific group of players is almost certainly closed…the future is now uncertain…the team we will see on the diamond next season will likely be very different from its current configuration…and trust me, we will have plenty of time to talk about who they may go after and who they may cast aside…no reason to talk about that now, though…however, it is perfectly reasonable to wonder out loud just how much the cloud of this ‘collapse’ will follow the franchise and the fanbase for years to come…i find that cloud more significant than speculating on any one player or the team’s manager…
…added to by Matthew Cerrone…
…actually, i hope it never goes away…look, it is what it is…it happened…the thing is, how will they learn from this and move forward…i hope the pain of this disappointment sticks with these people for a long while, as long as it motivates them to be better…it’s like the old chinese proverb that says, ‘Failure is not falling down, but refusing to get up.’…i look forward to seeing the continuation of this story arch, which began in the fall of 2004, and is still writing itslef out…
According to Mets.com…
“No Refund will be made on the face value of this ticket, or any applicable service charges, except as expressly provided hereon. In the event the game indicated on the face of the ticket is not played, refunds, if applicable, will be issued as follows:
- All tickets, whether issued through the New York Mets or any other Participating or Non-Participating Club or the offices of Major League Baseball or its Broadcast Partner(s), are AUTO ACCOUNT CREDIT (as indicated on the front), and the only refund available from the New York Mets is that the Mets ticket account of record will automatically be credited in an amount equal to the face value of the ticket and any applicable service charges.
- Tickets to unplayed games will have no value and SHOULD NOT be returned to the New York Mets.
…this made no sense to me…i called the team, and basically it means that you do not need to do jack with your tickets…use them to make paper airplanes and fly them off a bridge…it doesn’t matter…either way, your credit card account will be credited the amount you paid…
The staff at Page 2 for ESPN.com humorously list ‘Forty-four reasons why the Mets suffered perhaps the greatest collapse in baseball history.’
Among the forty-four, they list…
- Everyone knows Tom Glavine hits the wall at 200 innings … why did Willie Randolph try to squeeze even one-third of an inning more out of him?
- Lastings Milledge is no Willie Mays.
- Mr. Met got distracted by his mid-season election to the Hall of Fame.
- Bill Belichick was stealing the Mets’ signals.
- Jimmy Rollins played baseball while Jose Reyes sulked.
…that last one hurts…it hurts because it is true…
As YES recently pointed out, the Mets ERA in during April was 2.96, it was 3.69 in May, 4.20 in June, 4.50 in July, 4.93 in August and 5.11 in September.
…a lot of that is because John Maine and Oliver Perez clearly hit a wall mid-way through the second half…and Orlando Hernandez kept hurting himself…and glavine came apart in his search for 300 wins…but, it didn’t happen to other teams, who also had veterans and young pitchers…and so, if Rick Peterson is going to get tons of praise when a guy like Aaron Heilman drops his arm angle and succeeds in relief, then he has to take the blame when people like Heath Bell are chased out of town, or Brian Lawrence ends up floundering in the starting rotation, and so on…i have no idea if peterson matters either way, but if the team is going to talk him up during success, he has to be out in front during failure…
…people seem to think i love peterson…that is not the case…actually, i am a big fan of peterson the character…you know, the jacket, the clipboards, the mullet, the metaphors, etc…but, as far as his role as pitching coach, i’ve come to learn that these guys are immensely overrated, same as hitting coach…they are useful and effective at some things, and useless and irrelevant at other things, and it all comes out in the wash…in the end, if it is decided that he is hurting the team, either because he is too particular or demanding, then he goes…if willie is given control of the coaching staff, as he should be, and he doesn’t like rick, then rick goes…if it doesn’t matter, or willie likes him, then he stays, but he needs to take a hit either way, because his rentire staff totally fell apart with every game that passed…
Tagged Rick Peterson | ← Older posts
