Step 1: Fire Willie Randolph

By Matt Himelfarb
Posted Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Hollywood could not have written a better script. Figuratively speaking, Carlos Beltran ending last Friday night’s game on a called third strike was as symbolic of crushing defeat as, well, champagne in your eyes signals victory.

In a society where we blame supernatural forces as an explanation for, well, something resembling that of holding a seven-game lead with two weeks to go, and ultimately letting it slip out of your grasp, the way Friday’s game ended seemed to mark the beginning of the end the end of any playoff or World Series aspirations; time to focus on Johan Santana and not how we will further plunge into the Phillies' hands. The team was clearly showing fatigue; whatever exuberance had been there Friday afternoon was all but completely drenched.

Yet, at 1:00 pm. on Saturday, Mets fans got a special treat. All the well written columns, radio call-ins, and posts throughout the Mets blogsphere complaining how everything was run and how to fix it was compressed into one ballgame. After being forced to watch Shawn Green take his .550 OPS up against Marlins' lefty Taylor Tankersly late in the game the night before, Lastings Milledge got the starting nod and smashed two home runs into the left field stands. Ramon Castro followed suit of nearly everyone else, going two for five on the day. After a slew of mediocre starts, John Maine compiled fourteen strikeouts on the day--seven in a row at one point--while allowing no runs on one hit and two walks. Jose Reyes was seemingly the only one absent from the grand resurgence of Mets baseball, since even his double that day could not subsidize for his base running blunder earlier on, when he failed to run on a fair ball hit right in front of the plate. Ironically, none of this could have happened had Willie Randolph, always one to stick with the status quo under the plight of a losing streak, became convinced after only 160 games that Milledge and Castro needed more playing time.

But on Sunday, it took just a third of an inning to douse the sold-out crowd at Shea. To be fair, Joe West gave Glavine little nibble room in the strike zone, while surrendering some cheap hits. Even in the following innings, there was ray of hope, most notably when Ramon Castro came within a few feet of a grand slam.

There are, after all, a few ways we can channel our emotions after all this, including yelling at our family members, neighbors, or acting like pre-teens who just lost their playstation privileges. The fact is, we can only do what so many have done before us, which is mourn, and than asses blame.

The person to blame right now is Willie Randolph.

What was once a phrase analogous with instinctive responses from irrational fans is now a question that Omar and company will have to sit and down and think about from now until Halloween. There are of course, other reasons to blame for the Mets' stark collapse; Jose Reyes, Omar Minaya’s system of assembling the bullpen, etc. But for both of those guys' wrongdoings, let’s face it: Reyes is not going to get traded, nor is Omar about to get fired, considering his performance from 2005-2006.

The Mets need to fire Willie Randolph.

Why? It would be of little use should I go back and reiterate what I wrote in the past regarding Lo Duca or Ruben Gotay, or Jorge Sosa, or what my respected colleagues have written beforehand. At the very least, I am not interested in going into specifics. The answer lies under those who continue to support, directly or inadvertently, Randolph.

Ralph Kiner, a respected baseball man, claimed, and I am paraphrasing here, that Willie Randolph deserved credit for getting the Mets to this point, and that he deserved even more should the Mets make the playoffs. On that same night, ironically, both Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez both lamented that the loss of Paul Lo Duca, who was about to be taken out of the game, the result of a hand injury, would mean the loss of his “grit” and his “guts.” Michael Geffner, of The Times Herald-Record, is among those who wholeheartedly support keeping Lo Duca past this year to this day.

Even Bill Plaschke, The Los Angeles Times sports columnist, deserves a mention, who said that he, along with many of the Dodgers' front-office personel, agreed with Jeff Kent’s comments over a week ago, in which he claimed that he “don’t get” why the Dodgers have given so much playing time to Matt Kemp and James Loney, both bright young players, who, in the word of Plaschke, performance is subsidized by “base running gaffes” and “forgotten sunglasses.”

These sportswriters and former ballplayers, while far more intelligent than I will ever be on certain subjects, are just not making the right calls here. There is just too much overwhelming evidence at this point that the Mets, in addition to the Dodgers and the Mariners, failed to miss the playoffs because of the veteran entitliement; the lack of change; the status quo. However you want to define it, it is the old guard that just failed to execute when it counted.

In a brilliant column at U.S.S. Mariner, Dave Cameron touched on this subject, pointing out that Matt Kemp and James Loney, whom Kent’s comments were clearly intended for, have been arguably the Dodgers two best hitters this year, posting lines of .333/.367/.515 and .331/.381/.528 perspectively. Though obviously coming from a Mariners perspective, Mets, Dodgers, and Mariners fans can all draw the same parallel between them as a result of Cameron’s work. Like the Dodgers waited months to insert Loney and Kemp into the lineup in favor of veterans such as Nomar Garciaparra (.283/.328/.371), Juan Pierre (.295/.325/.353), Luis Gonzalez (.279/.361/.434), and Rafael Furcal. (.272/.33/.356.) , the Mariners gave ample playing time to Richie Sexson (.205/.295/.399), Horacio Ramirez (8-7 7.16 era), and Jeff Weaver (7-16 6.20 era), while waiting far too long to promote prospects such as Adam Jones, Jeff Clement, and Wlademir Balentin. And we all know about Wille Randolph’s way of doing things; under the plight of a losing streak or an integral game, just stick with the status quo.

And Cameron’s argument is backed with results; the Mets will not be playing October baseball, Los Angeles is seven games back of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who, not surprisingly, have been backed by young players such Chris Young, Stephen Drew, Mark Reynolds, and even gave a brief callup to Justin Upton. The Mariners, meanwhile, finished 6.5 games back of the first place Yankees in the Wild Card, who, unlike the Mets, replaced veterans with pitchers Philip Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Ian Kennedy.

There is, I am guessing, a sportswriter, such as (and not to signal out anyone but to merely provide an example) Michael Geffner, who are out there reading this column ready to heap a flare of obloquy upon myself and those that support my views in most cases. And that is fine. Because most of them fail to understand that the net roots and the number crunchers are not extremists; we are just progressives. People such as Geffner misguidedly see the return of Randolph or Lo Duca as a reason to breathe a sigh of relief without any serious change in the way the Mets do business from this point forward.

Instead, they will go ahead and blame on, like I said, supernatural forces, curses, the need to train 30-year-old men the “fundamentals” and “the little things,” etc. How important the fundamentals and the little things or even momentum is beside the point; it is just another reason to avoid making any significant changes.

Agree with me or not, but if we do not want to endure collapses and near misses like we just did ever again, than management needs to make a hard turn and start operating under a different philosophy.

There is only one road Mets management can take to do that: Fire Willie Randolph.

 

You can contact Matt at: matthimelfarb@gmail.com