Unless the Mets fortunes change dramatically in the next few weeks, the answer to that question is a resounding no. Willie will NOT last past Memorial Day. Mets fans who are still disenchanted from 2007 have already begun calling for his head after barely a week into the season.
One reader says, “Why shouldn’t we believe what we see with our eyes. Nothing has changed… not the attitude, not the intensity, NOTHING.”
A caller to WFAN said the following, “This team is dead from the neck up. They have no baseball instincts and no drive.”
After watching the last three games against their division rivals, I can certainly see why the frustration is mounting so early into the young season. The Mets desperately needed a win against the Phillies after losing their last eight contests in a row to them. They have lost three straight and their only two wins this season came against a team that isn’t even fit to play at the AAA level.
It seems to me like the Phillies and the Braves want it more than the Mets do. They play clean, crisp baseball while we play stagnant and sloppy. They get the two out hits; know when to bunt, and know when to drive the ball.
So far the Mets have shown themselves to be the same exact lifeless team that ended last season in catastrophe. They play tired and laborious baseball. The bullpen can’t be trusted with a lead and have allowed 14 runs in the last 3 games. The starters, save Johan Santana, can’t go deep into a game. They can’t get a clutch hit when they need one. They make too many mental mistakes in the field and on the base paths. Their plate discipline is erratic and their leadoff hitter is batting a buck-fifty.
All too many of the mental mistakes seem to come from the dugout as well. Injuries are starting to mount…Luis Castillo is already aching and Pedro Feliciano is mysteriously nowhere to be found. Pedro Martinez and Moises Alou have already made their absences felt in the dugout. The black cloud that covered the team last season is certainly back.
Unless the following five things happen, Willie Randolph can kiss his sweet ass goodbye.
- Jose Reyes must return to the player he was before being jerked out of a game last season, and disciplined by Willie on national TV. I don’t care what Omar, Willie and all the Mets apologists say, this was when his slide began.
- Randolph must find a way to fix the bullpen and do it fast. They are already ranked last in the league and absolutely nobody can be considered a lock to get the job done.
- The team needs to show more passion and desire on the field. They can start by playing some crisp heads-up baseball. Maybe they can learn a few things from Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins in this series.
- Randolph needs to stop apologizing for his player’s poor performance and start kicking some butt in that clubhouse. His post game press conferences after a loss have become the same old sound bytes over and over again. Crack that whip Willie, the ass you save may be your own.
- Crank that team up in the later innings. Show some swagger and some moxie. Wake those bats up in the latter part of the game. Where is that pizzazz we saw in 2006? Where are those come from behind wins we used to rely on? You better get on it Willie.
When a team goes south and needs to change direction, it falls on the manager to turn things around. I know that the manager is not the one doing the hitting, pitching and fielding, but ultimately it all falls on him. I like Willie, but I like winning too. If things stay the way they are now, the Mets may once again have the worst team money can buy. We as Mets fans, can not allow that to happen again.
