Jerry Manuel is fed up with the lack of production from his offense and he has decided to shake things up for this afternoon’s game against the Cardinals.
A frustrated Manuel said, ” Things aren’t working right now. I need to give our hottest hitter, Carlos Beltran more at-bats.”
Well wake up and smell the coffee Jerry…
I’ve only been advocating that Beltran should be batting third for the better part of a year now. It’s an indictment on Wright that with two table setters who have on-base percentages of .400, he has just five RBIs. Ugh…
Manuel was clearly frustrated by the team’s “dead from the neck up” performance in last nights 5-2 loss to the Cardinals.
Apparently Manuel just figured out that there’s only a few days left before his “It’s only April” excuse runs out of steam and panic begins to set in. Don’t worry Jerry… It won’t be long before the “It’s only May” excuses start rearing their ugly heads in many Mets circles.
Jerry Manuel finished his presser with these pointed remarks at David Wright.
“I just don’t think that David is quite right in his approach right now. He’s still trying to find out what he’d like to do and the comfort level. Wright’s problems aren’t limited just to situations with runners in scoring position”, Manuel said.
So how does Wright feel about all of this you ask?
“He’s the manager, I’ll hit where he tells me to hit,” Wright said.
One other change you’ll see today is “would-be” leftfielder (by name only) Daniel Murphy, riding the pine while Gary Sheffield gets a start instead. This is not a demotion for Murphy, Manuel said, “it’s just some time off so he can think about things”. Like for example…
1. Walking and chewing gum at the same time.
2. Balancing a book on his head while doing the Electric Slide.
3. Using his glove for other things besides manicuring the outfield grass.
4. Not taking power naps when he’s taking a lead at first base.
I applaud all of these very sensible moves and I truly hope we see some good results arising from them.
