Thursday, May 01, 2008

Oh Good, Team Harmony!

You know, Billy Wagner should really have his own blog.
BallHype: hype it up!
Posted by Metstradamus at 4:09 AM
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21 comments:

I.M. Forme said...

for once the 'goat has it right. i'd throw ollie under there myself if he hadn't beat me to it.

5:49 AM
Anonymous said...

I am pleased to hear Wagner's reaction. I am glad that someone gives a hoot about this awful play that we've been seeing. Willie had them come out early for extra fielding practice a few days ago, but some of this has to come from the players as well. Billy has given me a cause for optimism now, which I needed after yesterday and with an off day today.

7:52 AM
Anonymous said...

Billy is dead on right. Even in their wins - 5 of which came against the Nats - they looks half-dead. Let's face it, they're playing bad baseball.

Never thought I'd say this, but I think it's now time to consider firing Willie. Nice guy, and he probably doesn't deserve it, but he's not getting through to Reyes or Perez. They're immature and may need a real disciplinarian to get on track.

9:10 AM
Anonymous said...

typical lib trashing others for his own team's failings. Libs never understand duty, honor and loyalty.

haha. i love it

10:54 AM
The Metmaster said...

Right on, Unser. This comatose managing style of Randolph's has to end. He is clearly incapable of energizing or inspring this team. What I saw of Reyes in the last 36-hours was shocking. The Mets were lucky to win the first game against the Pirates. Late in that game Reyes came within an eyelash of being doubled off second going back to the base standing up instead of sliding, and then he nonchalants the grounder leading off the 9th that resulted in the Pirates tying the game. Yesterday's antics not covering second during the rundown play in the second inning was a joke. Good for Wagner speaking up the way he did. Its been rumored that Omar has way too much presence in the Met clubhouse, and that players bypass Randolph and come to Minaya. If that's the case then Randolph needs to grow some stones and tell Omar that the clubhouse is the manager's domain and to butt out. I really do not like what I'm seeing from this team so far. Yeah, it's early, but you would have thought that they would have wanted to completely erase the September flop by coming ut of the gate strong.

11:02 AM
sheaitaintso said...

It's about time somebody on the Mets was pissed off. Three cheers for Wagner. Great picture, by the way. LOL

11:02 AM
SS said...

He was right. Losing 13-1 or 87-1is the same thing. Stay out there and eat innings. The manager might want to understand how to manage a losing game, and it's time someone hold infield practice.

1:00 PM
MetFanMac said...

Finally, a Met who actually acts pissed off about failure!
But I thought that "throwing under" the bus implies unfair criticism; Perez deserved every bit.

1:18 PM
sheaitaintso said...

I think it was Phil Mushnick in the Post who wrote a few weeks ago that he expected Wagner to say something that some other teammates would find inappropriate. Truth tellers are never too popular, wherever they're found. Apparently, OP said that he didn't take issue with what Wagner said. I'll give him credit for that much. But, that ain't much.

2:08 PM
katherine said...

At the risk of sounding like, "I'm the only one who's allowed to criticize Oliver Perez", I will say Billy should not have done what he did.

First of all, did Billy's teammates call HIM out when he blew that 4 run lead against the Yankees in the 9th inning last year? No.

Secondly, did Billy criticize his buddy Tom Glavine for his catastrophic and inexplicable performance in 2007's last game? No.

Thirdly, one of the reasons the bullpen was so tired going into Wednesday night's game is that Billy himself blew the save in the Tuesday night game!

5:02 PM
Anonymous said...

I agree with the last comment. There is a lot for Met fans to be upset about...however the cheers for Wagner just reflect the raw negative emotions of the fanbase. It was negative coming into the season and has just accelerated with poor, sloppy play. Airing laundry in the press is NEVER the way to go. Will this help Perez? No. Will this bring the team together? No. Perez will check out. Delgado has already checked out. None of this is constructive.

Look. Everyone wanted Torre's head last year after a miserable start through the Tyler Clippard game at Shea during Memorial Day weekend and they came back to make the playoffs (for the 13th or 14th year in a row I might add). Stop the crying about Willie. He is Minaya's guy until year end and he is not going anywhere. If they don't make the playoffs with this team, the four year experiment is over and its time to rebuild. Minaya may go out with the change himself.

Someone drew the parallel the other day that Met fans are acting like Sox fans during the curse (i.e. expecting that something horrible is going to happen at every turn). I believe that right now that there is credibility to this and that the Met fanbase is most negative out there. After the worst collapse in regular season history so fresh in minds, though, who can blame them?

11:19 PM
Jaap said...

whilst I agree with the credibility issues Wagner has about the underperformance of Perez, it has to be said by somebody and since Willie isn't keen on opening his gob other than to recite uninspiring Howeisms then who is left to do so? Omar, who put this collection together? Another off-key and nonsensical rant from Owner boy? Collectively the Mets will have to find themselves but thus far they are certainly exhibiting all the traits that caused their downfall last season and that points squarely to the manager.

1:01 AM
Anonymous said...

wagner's been awesome so far this year - and ollie himself admitted that he deserved criticism so I think this is largely a non-issue. It would be nice to see David show a little more passion and stop being so political.

1:02 AM
Gonzo said...

Wow, you would think this team was 10 games under .500 by the reaction of Wagner and the comments here. I'm not trying to kill you for your opinion (Yes, there's a but coming)...

But, why kill Randolph? Sure he's as milquetoast as they come. All he does is write the lineup card and sit back and watch. Why kill him for doing nothing when it's the players you are angry with? Why does Randolph have to energize players to play well? If Reyes plays sloppy and doesn't hit well; if Delgado strikes out again with med on base; if Beltran again doesn't get the clutch hit, why is this Willie's fault?

Lastly, why is Wagner, the last person who should be blasting teammates, the one who is blasting teammates? Does Wright/Schneider/Beltran ever open their mouths? It seemed to me Beltran wanted to take a bigger role in the clubhouse by giving his "We're the team to beat" speech. Yet his mouth is shut at a time like this?

Help me out Mets fans; I'm not as informed as you on the day to day of the ballclub.

1:54 AM
Metstradamus said...

Gonzo,

I may be able to shed some light on this ... and I've been one of the guys who tends to blame the players for not performing rather than the manager for not motivating them to perform. But here's my theory:

We know that Randolph isn't the greatest when it comes to X's and O's, but his strength has always been getting the most out of his players by being able to communicate without ranting and raving. Think Herman Edwards as the Jets head coach (sorry if you're not a football fan and the reference escapes you.)

When you have players like Reyes and Beltran (especially Reyes), who are way more talented than they are showing, the question becomes: Where is this great motivation that Randolph supposedly has? If his bullpen moves are suspect, and his lineup changes are suspect (returning Castillo to the two hole when Church was tearing it up during the last Met/Phillie game at Citizens Bank) then if Randolph's strength ceases being strong, then what exactly is he doing right?

That's my theory as to what the fans might be feeling at this point. I think it's pointless to change managers during the middle of the season, especially with a veteran group such as this. This isn't Bruce Boudreau taking over a young Washington Captials team at Thanksgiving and leading the Caps to the playoffs. I don't see a managerial change during the middle of the season doing a lot of good. After the season? Let's talk.

4:31 PM
Metstradamus said...

Oh, and sorry if you're not a hockey fan and that reference escapes you.

But from what I said in the last comment, I ask all of you ... am I close to the target there?

4:32 PM
Anonymous said...

I got it Metstra. So probably sometime in August, Omar will get rid of Willie and replace him behind the bench with himself. A la Lamoriello.

9:03 PM
Gonzo said...

Metstra, Yes I understand your take. Thank you for clarifying that. The Mets should be fine. No need to panic yet, today is the 20th game of the season. I know it's tough when the Marlins have a better record, and they should be in the basement, and the Mets are just under .500.

And Yes, I get your football and hockey references. Looks like you're a Jets fan. Care to talk about some Rich Kotite?

10:27 PM
Anonymous said...

Church in the two-spot, Reyes on base and scoring in the first inning, Wright doing his thing. This is the way this team is meant to work. BYAWWWWWWWW!!!!


btw Gonzo, appreciate your input. finally a phils fan that doesn't act a fool. Except, Wagner's pitching great, and does have a proverbial leg to stand on right now other than the 1 blown save last week.

1:23 AM
Metstradamus said...

Thanks Gonzo, I just had a flashback of Vance Joseph trying to cover Tim Brown, and Bubby Brister getting a shovel pass intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Like I'm not tortured enough. Thanks.

I wonder what Rich Kotite is doing now ... probably having the same flashbacks I am.

2:02 AM
Metstradamus said...

And mudville9, I actually had a fleeting thought today involving Lou Lamiorello taking over the Mets ... if nothing else he'd take great care in replenishing and making sense of the farm system like he did for the Devils ... he was once the Providence AD (and hired Rick Pitino) so he's gotta know something about baseball, right?

2:05 AM

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