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During his weekly appearance on WFAN, Willie Randolph didn’t down play the importance of beating the Phillies, but he did reiterate that they are just like any division rival, adding, “We need to play better against those guys and we will.”
Later in the interview, he said, “We don’t like losing to the Phillies, we don’t like them at all.”
…none of us do, willie…none of us do…
According to Randolph, he is aware of the fan’s frustration based on talk radio and from the booing during yesterday’s game, adding, “We just gotta play better and that will take care of itself.”
Randolph says he took Oliver Perez out of yesterday’s game because he was struggling at the time, adding, “I wasn’t mad at him as some reports said, I had to do what was best for the team at the time, and it worked.”
Regarding Aaron Heilman, he said, “I gotta trust him. Right now he is my eighth-inning guy…Don’t wanna mess with him.”
Regarding Jose Reyes, Randolph said, “He’s gonna catch fire and have a good year. He had a strong spring. It’s only six games. He’s just a little jumpy. He wants to redeem himself for last season. He’ll settle in and have phenomenal year for us.”
Lastly, asked if the team is feeling any pressure based on how last season ended, he said, “I don’t sense that in the clubhouse…I think we feel like we would like to get off to a good start so we don’t have to answer those questions. So, maybe there’s a little urgency in our minds but I think we’ve turned the page.”
…thanks to the great Peter Wade for the quotes…
To listen to Randolph’s entire interview, go to WFAN.com.
I really liked Willie’s comment letting us know that the Phillies are disliked. There may be a pulse in Flushing.
shut up and win. I’ve been in a bad mood all day after that game yesterday.
Oddly enough, and I’m not sure why, but that did make me feel a little better. Please don’t let me down again tonight….
What the hell is this:
2 Innings: 6 BBs, 1 run, 0 hits, 6 LOB = 2008 NY Mets
Timely hitting — a concept unknown to the Mets
when are the Mets gonna find me?
Can we officially forget about El Duque now? He’s pretty much done.
If you’re going to start calling people “morons,” you’d better have good points to make, which you don’t.
Willie’s move to bring in Smith was a good one, and it did work. Smith, notwithstanding your claim that he pitches better with no one on, got out of the jam with no one scoring. You seem to think you know all the Mets’ pitchers tendencies, yet you overlook the fact that Perez has repeatedly imploded in precisely the situation he was in during the sixth. Willie did the right thing in removing him. He played to win, in other words.
Smith did start the seventh inning (with nobody on, obviously), and you haven’t explained whether he should have been removed when Dobbs was announced as a PH to lead off the inning, with two switch-hitters following.
The main problem yesterday was Feliciano’s unavailability.
While I don’t think that Icedrake could do a better managerial job than Willie and shouldn’t go calling him a moron, I don’t think that the points he makes are bad.
Yes, Feliciano’s unavailability hurt the team, but I think that the underlying problem with this team is that it has no leadership. I love Wright, he is my favorite player on the team, but he is not leading this team right now. It’s not Reyes. Isn’t Beltran. It probably should be a guy like Delgado, but it isn’t him, either. Bad things happen to this team on the field, and there is nobody in the locker room taking them to task for it after the game. Obviously it isn’t Randolph, he just get done telling you that he thinks everything is gonna be alright.
In my opinion, guys like Marlon Anderson and Damian Easley will ultimately make or break this team. And it really has nothing to do with anything they do between the lines.
We need to make a trade. Not Martinez for Harden, even though Martinez isn’t going to fix this team, either. We need to trade for a guy who is going to waltz into the locker room after a loss like yesterday’s and pound his fist in the post-game jello mold.
I’m OK with all of that, I was referring specifically to the tactical decisions yesterday with the BP.
I basically agree that we really need a couple of guys who won’t stand for losing.