The Mets' inability to perform up to expectations is no sin in and of
itself. It is their arrogance in continuing to perpetrate the belief
that they are among the league's elite teams, all evidence accumulated
over the last two years to the contrary, that is truly unforgivable. -
Wallace Matthews, Newsday, Sept. 23, 2008
About a month ago, the New York Mets were playing very good baseball.
So good, in fact, that Mets' VP Tony Bernazard decided to end his
embargo of the nasty New York Media to talk with NY Daily News
columnist John Harper. So for whatever reason, whether they needed to change leadership to
shake off the effects of last September's collapse, or the new manager
has made some personal impact on players such as Delgado and Jose
Reyes, the Manuel Mets barely resemble the Randolph Mets.
Bernazard feels it's no coincidence. Although he avoided specific discussion of Randolph, his praise of Manuel seemed to be a commentary on the old manager as well.
"You have to have the pulse of the team," Bernazard said. "You have to be prepared and you have to communicate with your players. Jerry does all of that."
Except, in the end, they looked just like the Willie Randolph Mets. Scoring just five runs in the final three-game homestand of their season, with destiny in their own hands. Inexplicable and head-shaking bullpen moves and the blank look of depression infecting an entire clubhouse.
Reports indicate that no one will feel the brunt of consecutive collapses to the Marlins, since Minaya and interim manager Manuel are close to getting their extensions. The Mets' move to Citi Field will likely be the only major change to this team's reality.
You disagree? Well, you shouldn't be, because if you heard Minaya's postgame comments, everything is beautiful is Met-land:
"This team did an unbelievable job in getting us to today," Minaya told reporters after Sunday's game. “I thought that the players, when you look at what they had to overcome to get us to today, it's a credit to everyone in that room to be able to get us to (the fans) in the beautiful facility of Citi Field."
Nothing like a passionate reaction to a terrible loss. But then again, this is the New York Mets.
When asked about whether the Mets need to make wholesale moves this offseason, Carlos Beltran said the position players were “fine”, but the “bullpen needs to be addressed”.
More interestingly, SNY commentators Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez all agreed that “major changes needed to be made”, and Hernandez and Darling went so far as to suggest that a Pete-Rose type players would be needed to jolt this team into a winner.
It remains to be seen if the Mets have the will and the desire to make such a move. We have all winter to find out.
After the game, when Omar was referring to the core group of players on the team, he said "They have done what they need to do two years ago (2006)"
It's good to know that the goal of a $150+ million payroll team, composed of high priced free agents is to make it to the playoffs.
The other comment Omar made was that he was proud of the team after they battled injuries all year. Hmmmm... who would have thought that a 40 plus Alou, a God only knows plus El Duque, and a almost 40 year old closer would have had injuries.
The Mets' inability to perform up to expectations is no sin in and of
itself. It is their arrogance in continuing to perpetrate the belief
that they are among the league's elite teams, all evidence accumulated
over the last two years to the contrary, that is truly unforgivable