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Sunday, August 16, 2009

The Walking Wounded (like our pride)

B"H

I realize that the Mets' newest addition to the "Walking Wounded" yesterday could be the most devastating of all (though I still point to the stat from last year that the differential between how the Mets did with Jose Reyes vs without Jose Reyes was the biggest differential of any lead-off hitter in the majors). David Wright has been the stalwart of the team, the man who kept on keeping on when others went into huge slumps. And now he's down....

I'm seeing flashbacks from last year. Ryan Church (who was traded to acquire Jeff Francoeur, who I think is a wonderful addition to the team, though I miss Church) was "going gangbusters" until he was hit and got a concussion. Because of the needs of the team, he was rushed back to the line-up and was never the same all season. (I just heard the announcers mention this very thing and that he spoke to Jerry Manuel about this very subject)

In any case, I have to say I'm not a huge "blame the manager" person. I don't automatically jump to say it's the manager's fault when a team isn't doing well. Sometimes it's just that the team doesn't have good players.

But, IMHO, that just isn't the case. Omar Minaya, despite the controversy surrounding him for his unfortunate comment, seems to be getting help when it's needed. Luis Castillo, Angel Pagan, Omar Santos, Francoeur of course, Daniel Murphy, Alex Cora, and Fernando Tatis, just to name a few, have stepped up to the plate, so to speak. The acquisition over the winter of "K-Rod" Francisco (Frankie) Rodriguez has helped to shore up the bullpen (though I still thought it would have been nice to let certain pitchers attempt complete games, though they're the exception these days where they were the norm in the past).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, yes, I liked Willie Randolph (I even liked him when he was a player on the Yankees, and that's going some). Yes, I was sorry that things weren't working out with him. I reluctantly did think changing the manager last year might help the team. But, and this is a big but, I really don't think Jerry Manuel was the person (or is the person) to take that spot. I was never terribly impressed with him as a manager (I did think he was a good -- ok, descent? -- bench coach) and this season I'm even less impressed with him than I was before.

So perhaps it would be nice to see what a different manager with a different style might do. I'm tired of apologizing for the Mets. I'm tired of seeing a good team lose consistently. I still root for my team. But I'm getting frustrated.

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