WEDNESDAY’S WEEKLY WILLIE (randolph) WATCH

I’m not interested in talking about Willie’s non-sense about his race, or about how SNY portrays him or about the fans being mad that he doesn’t get ejected, or that he doesn’t have any fire. Willie needs to understand that the only reason Willie is on the hot seat, the only reason we, as Met fans, are screaming that we need a change, and that Willie is at fault here is simply because of the last 17 games of 2007.

Willie was the captain of the largest collapse in baseball history and he didn’t know how to stop the bleeding. I don’t care if he yelled, I don’t care if he hit Castillo 2nd or brought Sosa in the 9th inning, all I care about is as far as I’m concerned, in 2007, Willie failed. Willie let us all down.

Willie got the credit for taking an Art Howe team that was awful to the play-offs, and one hit away from the World Series in 2006. I was all about Willie, I was defending him for turning us into winners. Well since the 2nd half of last year he has turned us into a .500 team, and when you have this much talent, and this type of payroll, that won’t fly.

I want Willie to do one of two things. Either shut up, stop making excuses, manage and win, or yell and fight with the media, show them you are in charge, and manage and win. None of this wishy washy, I was misheard crap, I don’t want to hear the backtracking and all the excuses, nothing is worse than these guys who say one thing to the media then do a total flip the next day and say they didn’t say it…tell the media to go to hell, I’m fine with that, but you better figure out a way to win 20 of the next 30 or nothing else will matter.

I have absolutely no faith that Willie can turn this around, I believe Willie is to passive and he is to sensitive. He is focused on the wrong things and appears to be overmatchined here. Like I said a few days ago the time is up, Willie has to go, and until this team is 10 games over .500 there is only one score I can give Willie.

Willie current score - 0

WEDNESDAY’S WEEKLY WILLIE (randolph) WATCH

The Mets are 17–0 when leading after the seventh inning, they are just 1–16 when trailing after the seventh inning.

hmm...does this tell us that once the Mets are down and out they are done and they don't have much fight left in them, or is that the norm around baseball? Sure they are years where a team will have one of those seasons and have 40 come from behind wins (this year the Mets have 5)but this team is not one of those teams so far this year. Is that the manager's fault? Or do we give Willie credit that he has managed the bullpen and the team so well in the 17 games we are ahead and hasn't blown any of those games?

I don't have the answer, I do know Brian Schneider said yesterday on Mike and the Mad Dog with regards to the clubhouse;

“I’ve been in a few and this is a great one. Everyone is loose. We had a great road trip, faced some top teams. Everyone enjoys each other. This is one of the best clubhouses I’ve been a part of.”

Now I know alot of what these guys say on the radio has to be taken with a grain of salt and I am sure Schneider isn't giving us all the facts, but in truth the one thing over the years we have not heard about Willie's clubhouse is any back stabbing or bickering. While he may not be the best in game manager in the league, and again we've said it 1,000 times, he gives his vets way to much rope, he seems to have a good control over the guys.

Still, this teams needs to win, they need to fight and they need to battle. That's Willie's job, to put the best players he has in situations that yield positive results.

Alot has been said about Castillo and Delgado, and while Castillo is banged up all the time he really is the best option at 2B. Easley can hit, but he is an awful, awful fielder. Castillo is fine as a number 8 hitter giving us solid defense, and Delgado has started to come around and I think will be fine in the number 6 hole.

I fully understand that Willie likes to give all his players some ABs, but I really don't want to see Marlon Anderson in LF, there is no reason to give both Church and Alou the same game off (game 2 on Saturday). But again these are nit picks and after a respectable west coast trip (3-3 vs. Ariz and LA) and a 2-1 series win over Cincy they are only 2 games out and showing some life.

He's finally moved Heilman out of the 8th inning role, but Heilman has always been a strong 2nd half pitcher


Pre-All Star 202.2 4.66 1.28 .252
Post-All Star 193.0 3.45 1.29 .232

so I believe he will have an important role with this team. Barring any total collapse by this team over the next month, Willie's job is safe and the evaluations will continue.

Courtesy of Matthew Cerrone:

Last season at this time, the Mets had nine come-from-behind wins and were 17–1 when leading after the seventh inning, and 3–11 when trailing after seven.

In 2006, at this time of the season, the Mets had eight come-from-behind wins and were 18–1 when leading after seven, and 1–10 when trailing after the seventh.


WILLIES WEEKLY SCORE - 61

WEDNESDAY’S WEEKLY WILLIE WATCH

Willie, Willie, Willie.

Let’s look back at the week Willie had.

Last Wednesday evening Willie threw John Maine out there against the Nats and sat back and get a strong pitched game to go along with a 4 run 5th inning and this one was never in doubt. Ryan Church batted second and had 2 hits and a HR and the week was off to a good start.

On Thursday we went 14, and I give Willie credit with this one, everything he did worked out well, as the bullpen was solid, he got a few clutch hits and the Mets were 8-6 for the year and 2-0 for Willie’s week.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday we went into Philly and any manager is going to look smart when Santana and Perez were as dominating as they were and Ryan Howard is swinging and missing all weekend and Jimmy Rollins gets 2 ABs (don’t get all excited Corby, those are AT BATS, not abs). For the second time this year though, Willie pulled Ollie after 5 2/3 scoreless innings having not given up a run, but the bullpen was strong again as 6 relievers got the final 19 outs and Willie and the Mets were 4-0 for the week.

Sunday was a game that, although we were down 4-0 and never had the lead, still feels like it got away from us. Castillo failed at getting down a bunt (I know it’s not Willie’s fault that this flawed player is our second baseman for the next four years, and Wednesdays are not the time and place to address this, but his short comings need to be looked into soon) and Chase Utely may the second best player in the NL (behind David Wright) but taking 2 out of 3 is a sussussful series in my books. Doing it against Philly on the road is even that much more of a bonus.

Now we go to Monday and Wrigley field. In a tight game Willie goes to Aaron Heilman in the 8th, and after a Reyes error and a hit batter it’s suddenly 7-1 and we now have lost 2 games in a row. I can’t have this. Maine pitched well, and so did Zambrano, and I know the Cubbies are hot, but I can’t have this. Raul Casanova can’t hit, he’s done as far as I’m concerned and I’d rather see Joey Appio manning 2B and batting second than Jose Castillo these days. I understand Willie has to get Heilman on track, but HE MUST keep him out of close games until Heilman can get 3 outs in an inning without giving up some runs.

The Mets are 8-1 this year when Church and Pagan bat 2nd and 2-8 when Castillo bats 2nd. Every time I look at the line-up I continue to Carlos Delgado in the 5th slot. Willie needs to STOP treating all the veterans like they can do no wrong; he needs to make everyone accountable regardless of how long they have been in the league. Whatever success these players had with Toronto or Minnesota or with the Middletown Elks are meaningless to me.

I’m generally very easy going with managers and coaches (the exceptions being Rich Kotite and Jeff Torborg), but Willie’s rope is getting short. I don’t see him doing anything to fire this team up, I don’t see him motivating these players, and while I know Willie can’t control someone getting a clutch hit, or making a key play, he can hold them accountable for failure, and this is something he does not do. I can't have this, I just can't have this. It's unacceptable.

The week started off 4-0, and ended 0-3.

4-3 for the week and 10-9 for the season.

4 out of every 7 gives us 93 wins for the year, which isn’t bad, and quite possibly would get them at least a wild card, but unlike last year, Willie can’t keep doing the same things over and over again, and just hope things just get better. The rope is getting short, and Willie is not getting the job done.

WILLIE’S CURRENT SCORE = 59

WEDNESDAY’S WEEKLY WILLIE WATCH

I certainly understand that a baseball season is a marathon and not a race. Having been a fan of the Mets now for 35 years (and no I wasn’t a fan of some other team for the 20 years prior to rooting for them), I fully understand there will be ups and downs, and it’s silly to take the team’s pulse after every game.

So as disappointed as we were this weekend when Santana and Perez couldn’t get the job done against the Brewers, it’s equally unrealistic to fell joy and elation this morning after what was probably their best overall performance of the season last night as Big Pelf had his second solid start of the year, Reyes got 4 hits, Wright drove in 5 runs and Sanchez pitched a solid 9th.

I’ve always said as good at Wright is, and as important as the middle of the line-up is, when Reyes plays like he played in 2006 and most of 2007, this team is a totally different team, if he can finally shed whatever it has been that’s been holding him back the last 6 weeks or so, dating back to September 2007, this will all be moot and the Willie Watch will be more about us watching to see when they clinch rather than watching to see when they choke.

I still miss the fire, and this team needs a leader, and at this point I have to point to Willie to be that guy. I know we have no idea what goes on behind the scenes, and I never hear a player moan or complain about Willie publicly, but again, he is the head, he makes all the moves, he needs to get wins, and he will be held accountable.

Wednesday’s on this blog are all about Willie, so what has changed since last week…not to much, although I will say I was happy to see a little switch last night with Castillo batting 8th, and church in the 2 hole, plus coming off a strong game last night, and not having any specific blame on Willie for the last weekend, I’ll give Willie a little boost today, but the watch is still very much in effect.

WILLIE’S CURRENT SCORE = 67

WEDNESDAY’S WEEKLY WILLIE WATCH

I am by no means one of those reactionary, crazy, clean house at the drop of a hat type of guy, and I am not saying the Mets need to fire Willie Randolph if they lose the next two games to the Phillies, but I just feel like I’m watching the same bad movie, night in and night out, and Willie’s lack of change is something that needs to be monitored.

Again, I fully understand that at any point in the season a team can lose 4 out of 6, and if you are 45-30 it doesn’t feel so bad, but what I don’t like is that we are seeing the same things that doomed us in September last year, and nothing is being done (at least from what the fans can see) to change it.

Willie Randolph has preached calm, and I’m all for the one day at a time, don’t panic approach, but I tend to think, after not panicking last year, and seeing the team collapse, that that approach isn’t working.

On the other hand, if Willie switches his message and goes crazy, shows some fire and starts to treat every game like game 7 of the World Series, and they still lose, well then what?

The bullpen has not been very good no matter when or who Willie brings in, but I also wonder if they are not being put in a position to succeed. I feel Willie keeps using the same guys in the same roles with the same (awful) results. I don’t know what the right roles for some of these guys are, but I know that by doing the same thing over and over again, and just expecting Heilman and Schoeneweis to suddenly do well is NOT WORKING. Something needs to be done with these guys other than letting them face the same situations day in and day out that they are failing at.

Where is Jose Reyes? I can’t blame Willie for this guy’s disappearance act, but a lot of the blemishes of the bull pen sure would go away if they came in games with a 7-2 lead rather than a 3-2 lead.

The starting pitching is good, but with that said, Willie can’t have a quick hook (Oliver Perez came out of the game after 5 2/3 ip and 92 pitches while he still hadn’t given up a run). I tend to trust a tired Ollie a lot more than this “well rested” bullpen.

I know Willie is a regular reader of this blog. So it is officially going to be WEDNESDAY’S WEEKLY WILLIE WATCH. Every Wednesday we’ll reassess Willie and the state of this team and discuss whether or not Willie’s time is up. Unless this team just stops winning altogether, I’m all for giving Willie 40 games to see where we are before he season gets to far away from us, and I have no desire to fire Willie yet, but let Willie know, the watch has begun. Currently I am giving Willie a score of 65 out of 100. Once that score falls below 50, it’s time for a change.

WILLIE’S CURRENT SCORE = 65