FLEE WILLIE
The Mets pulled out the series versus the loathesome Yanks, winning games one and three on the strength of good hitting and strong bullpen work. Game two? Strangeness all around. But you know what? I'm not jumping on Billy Wagner here. He sucked, I'm not gonna argue that one. But with his fine performances Friday and last night, I'm looking elsewhere to understand why the Mets kept the broom in the closet this weekend (cue movie "memory music" and briefly fade to grainy, black-and-white shot of Willie Randolph making that pursed lip "Willie Face" in the dugout).
Before getting to that, let me briefly say I know that taking 2-of-3 from the Yanks is no small accomplishment, and I understand that even the greatest teams lose one out of every three games. Got it. But they had all three in the bag, they blew the middle game, every loss counts come September, and -- and here's where the acid starts refluxing, adding to my already astronomical Tums budget during the April-October months -- The Game Was There. Put it in the win column, drop standard quotations on the clubhouse reporters ("We're not thinking about a sweep, we're just looking to get a win tomorrow night"), pop a beer, let Mike enjoy his Saturday. Simple really.
But Willie fucked up.
After one full season and one-and-a-half months, we really have to start calling em as we see em. And I see a guy who earns the respect of his charges, implements a hustling style of play, makes bizarre personnel decisions, and adds bad game management to the resume at that point. I'm not gonna recap all the instances of bad game management this season, but I'll ask you to think of all the times that a Randolph decision to bunt, or a decision not to bunt, left you scratching your head. Nor will I recap the personnel decisions that Willie, Minaya, or both (Willaya, Omillie, Randaya, Mindolph?) have made, not made, made wrong, made at the wrong time. Though I'll ask you to keep in your head the names Heilman, Milledge, Diaz, Gonzalez, Zambrano, Bell, and Valentin. No reminders required for the name Lima. Finally, look back at some of my prior Met posts where I address his errors.
Ok. And then we come to Saturday (cue movie "sad music" and fade to grainy black-and-white shot of Billy Wagner walking off the mound with a stunned crowd of Mets fans contending with screaming assholes in Yankee caps). Yeah, that's the game where they blew the 4 run lead in the 9th. But to fully understand the scope of this debacle, we need to go back to Friday. Yes, like any recent movie with a plot more complicated than boy-meets-girl, or Tom/Bruce/Harrison-blow up-stuff, we have to reconstruct the story in reverse chronological order, ala Memento or The Usual Suspects. We'll call it The Tarantino Rule. Anyway, let's examine the evidence, shall we?
Friday Night: Kudos to Willie for bringing Wagner into a tie game. I know, that should be basic, but a lot of managers would have stuck to the "LaRussa Bullpen Management Rules" there. I'm talking, of course, about Rule #1, "Bring in your closer only when holding a lead," as well as Rule #6(b), "Bring in a left-handed reliever to face a predominantly right-handed line-up grouping, only when wearing sunglasses in the dugout during a night game." To Willie's credit, he not only eschewed the shades, but he brought his ace into the tie game.
The result? A dominant inning of work, incredibly striking out the side on 2 pitches, leaving the Yankee hitters wallowing in their shame, misery, and bodily fluids. Along with Heilman's strong three innings, it was vulgar display of raw power. Then Wright smacked Riviera, Mets won, Mike went to bed happy. All Is Good.
Sunday Night (Yes, I know I went from Friday to Sunday; Tarantino Rule, remember?): With Billy Wagner icing his arm during the game, sucking oxygen, and consulting with a sports psychologist in the bullpen (again, cue up somber music, fade once again to black & white of Wags walking off the mound), Heilman relieved Glavine to start the 7th. But Willie failed to double switch, leaving Heilman due up second the next inning.
Now, at this point, based on these sneaky hints I've been dropping to reveal plot points from Saturday (much like Travolta & Jackson wearing t-shirts and shorts when they return the suitcase to Marcellus early in Pulp Fiction ) we all know that Wagner pitched (badly, and a lot) on Saturday, and with Duaner Sanchez warming up hard, you'd know he was a-vail-a-ble in a big way.
But without the double switch, Valentin pinch hit (drawing a walk, nearly completing his shocking resurrection), and Heilman was done for the night. Oh well, I thought, a two inning save from Duaner ain't easy & it ain't ideal, but I guess that's what we're stuck with. And yet, the strange decisions continued. Having thrown 44 pitches over the previous two nights, we all knew that Wagner -- the 34 year-old guy who lost time to injury in 2000 & 2004 -- was unavailable to pitch for a third straight night against one of baseball's best offenses.
Yet, in entered Sandman. And, fortunately for the short term, he pitched well, saving the game and the series. Let's hope his arm remains attached to his shoulder come September. But now, ominous music pipes through the theater (instead of the opening notes of "Enter Sandman," perhaps we get the opening notes of "Ironman." Which would be a helluva song for any closer, but I digress), and a Title Card comes on the screen reading . . .
Saturday: The audience grows hushed, the mood darkens, and the geeky guys who already saw the flick whisper annoying things to their friends like, "Watch for the 9th inning," "Look closely and you'll see that Willie starts to frown in the 8th inning," or "Check out Alyssa Milano." Oh my, where to begin. I guess the 9th inning. Mets up 4. Pedro was lights out. Duaner Sanchez, rested Friday night, threw a 10 pitch eighth inning (yes, that would be "10"), culminating in a double play grounder. His spot was not due up, nor did it come up, in the Met half of the inning.
And in entered Sandman. Say what? Just to review, in case I was unclear: 4 run lead, Wagner pitched a key inning the night before, Wagner might be needed on Sunday & no one knew the manager of a contending team would throw his 34 year-old closer three nights straight, and Sanchez had thrown 10 pitches (yes, that would be "10") the prior inning. And, to recap that additional point, in case you missed it: And in entered Sandman.
I still don't know what the hell Willie was thinking. I'm not gonna talk about Wagner's meltdown. Hey, meltdowns happen, though they seem to be happening to Wags a lot. Nor will I talk about Willie's failure to pull him sooner when it was clear he didn't have it. No, I'm gonna talk about the fact that there was no reason to go to Wagner. No reason.
By bringing him in to "protect" a 4 run lead, Willie all-but guaranteed that Wagner would be unavailable for Sunday's game, or would be at greater risk of injury due to early season overuse; and in the unlikely event that Wagner got into trouble in the 9th, the Mets would enter extra innings with Jorge Julio as the only bullpen option. And that's exactly what happened. Julio pitched well enough, but eventually gave up the go-ahead run. When he threw to first base after Jason Giambi reached on a walk, I knew the Yanks had him. I've never pitched, but I'm guessing superfluous throws to first tell the hitter, "I'm afraid to pitch to you." But again I digress.
To be perfectly clear, I'm not second guessing Willie because Wagner sucked on Saturday. No. I'm first guessing him for bringing him in at all, leading to all the events that followed, or in the case of Wagner appearing in three straight games, what should have followed. If you think the consequences of 65 pitches in 3 days are negligible, let's just say, We'll See come August & September, to say nothing of this week versus the Phils (although Randolph kept Wagner out of the last series with Philadelphia, so maybe he's perfectly set up to do so again).
The Mets are very talented, and baring injury, they look to have what it takes to reach the post-season for the first time since 2000. But with Willie Randolph at the helm, they're going to keep losing winnable games. He's not a good manager, and after 1+ seasons, I'm no longer confident he'll learn the ropes. He played for Billy Martin, he coached under Joe Torre. If he doesn't get it now, he never will.
I hope I'm wrong, but assuming that injuries or bonehead decisions don't sink the Mets playoff hopes before October, Randolph's clueless management is gonna cost the a game in the post-season. And that's just not what you want to see.
Before getting to that, let me briefly say I know that taking 2-of-3 from the Yanks is no small accomplishment, and I understand that even the greatest teams lose one out of every three games. Got it. But they had all three in the bag, they blew the middle game, every loss counts come September, and -- and here's where the acid starts refluxing, adding to my already astronomical Tums budget during the April-October months -- The Game Was There. Put it in the win column, drop standard quotations on the clubhouse reporters ("We're not thinking about a sweep, we're just looking to get a win tomorrow night"), pop a beer, let Mike enjoy his Saturday. Simple really.
But Willie fucked up.
After one full season and one-and-a-half months, we really have to start calling em as we see em. And I see a guy who earns the respect of his charges, implements a hustling style of play, makes bizarre personnel decisions, and adds bad game management to the resume at that point. I'm not gonna recap all the instances of bad game management this season, but I'll ask you to think of all the times that a Randolph decision to bunt, or a decision not to bunt, left you scratching your head. Nor will I recap the personnel decisions that Willie, Minaya, or both (Willaya, Omillie, Randaya, Mindolph?) have made, not made, made wrong, made at the wrong time. Though I'll ask you to keep in your head the names Heilman, Milledge, Diaz, Gonzalez, Zambrano, Bell, and Valentin. No reminders required for the name Lima. Finally, look back at some of my prior Met posts where I address his errors.
Ok. And then we come to Saturday (cue movie "sad music" and fade to grainy black-and-white shot of Billy Wagner walking off the mound with a stunned crowd of Mets fans contending with screaming assholes in Yankee caps). Yeah, that's the game where they blew the 4 run lead in the 9th. But to fully understand the scope of this debacle, we need to go back to Friday. Yes, like any recent movie with a plot more complicated than boy-meets-girl, or Tom/Bruce/Harrison-blow up-stuff, we have to reconstruct the story in reverse chronological order, ala Memento or The Usual Suspects. We'll call it The Tarantino Rule. Anyway, let's examine the evidence, shall we?
Friday Night: Kudos to Willie for bringing Wagner into a tie game. I know, that should be basic, but a lot of managers would have stuck to the "LaRussa Bullpen Management Rules" there. I'm talking, of course, about Rule #1, "Bring in your closer only when holding a lead," as well as Rule #6(b), "Bring in a left-handed reliever to face a predominantly right-handed line-up grouping, only when wearing sunglasses in the dugout during a night game." To Willie's credit, he not only eschewed the shades, but he brought his ace into the tie game.
The result? A dominant inning of work, incredibly striking out the side on 2 pitches, leaving the Yankee hitters wallowing in their shame, misery, and bodily fluids. Along with Heilman's strong three innings, it was vulgar display of raw power. Then Wright smacked Riviera, Mets won, Mike went to bed happy. All Is Good.
Sunday Night (Yes, I know I went from Friday to Sunday; Tarantino Rule, remember?): With Billy Wagner icing his arm during the game, sucking oxygen, and consulting with a sports psychologist in the bullpen (again, cue up somber music, fade once again to black & white of Wags walking off the mound), Heilman relieved Glavine to start the 7th. But Willie failed to double switch, leaving Heilman due up second the next inning.
Now, at this point, based on these sneaky hints I've been dropping to reveal plot points from Saturday (much like Travolta & Jackson wearing t-shirts and shorts when they return the suitcase to Marcellus early in Pulp Fiction ) we all know that Wagner pitched (badly, and a lot) on Saturday, and with Duaner Sanchez warming up hard, you'd know he was a-vail-a-ble in a big way.
But without the double switch, Valentin pinch hit (drawing a walk, nearly completing his shocking resurrection), and Heilman was done for the night. Oh well, I thought, a two inning save from Duaner ain't easy & it ain't ideal, but I guess that's what we're stuck with. And yet, the strange decisions continued. Having thrown 44 pitches over the previous two nights, we all knew that Wagner -- the 34 year-old guy who lost time to injury in 2000 & 2004 -- was unavailable to pitch for a third straight night against one of baseball's best offenses.
Yet, in entered Sandman. And, fortunately for the short term, he pitched well, saving the game and the series. Let's hope his arm remains attached to his shoulder come September. But now, ominous music pipes through the theater (instead of the opening notes of "Enter Sandman," perhaps we get the opening notes of "Ironman." Which would be a helluva song for any closer, but I digress), and a Title Card comes on the screen reading . . .
Saturday: The audience grows hushed, the mood darkens, and the geeky guys who already saw the flick whisper annoying things to their friends like, "Watch for the 9th inning," "Look closely and you'll see that Willie starts to frown in the 8th inning," or "Check out Alyssa Milano." Oh my, where to begin. I guess the 9th inning. Mets up 4. Pedro was lights out. Duaner Sanchez, rested Friday night, threw a 10 pitch eighth inning (yes, that would be "10"), culminating in a double play grounder. His spot was not due up, nor did it come up, in the Met half of the inning.
And in entered Sandman. Say what? Just to review, in case I was unclear: 4 run lead, Wagner pitched a key inning the night before, Wagner might be needed on Sunday & no one knew the manager of a contending team would throw his 34 year-old closer three nights straight, and Sanchez had thrown 10 pitches (yes, that would be "10") the prior inning. And, to recap that additional point, in case you missed it: And in entered Sandman.
I still don't know what the hell Willie was thinking. I'm not gonna talk about Wagner's meltdown. Hey, meltdowns happen, though they seem to be happening to Wags a lot. Nor will I talk about Willie's failure to pull him sooner when it was clear he didn't have it. No, I'm gonna talk about the fact that there was no reason to go to Wagner. No reason.
By bringing him in to "protect" a 4 run lead, Willie all-but guaranteed that Wagner would be unavailable for Sunday's game, or would be at greater risk of injury due to early season overuse; and in the unlikely event that Wagner got into trouble in the 9th, the Mets would enter extra innings with Jorge Julio as the only bullpen option. And that's exactly what happened. Julio pitched well enough, but eventually gave up the go-ahead run. When he threw to first base after Jason Giambi reached on a walk, I knew the Yanks had him. I've never pitched, but I'm guessing superfluous throws to first tell the hitter, "I'm afraid to pitch to you." But again I digress.
To be perfectly clear, I'm not second guessing Willie because Wagner sucked on Saturday. No. I'm first guessing him for bringing him in at all, leading to all the events that followed, or in the case of Wagner appearing in three straight games, what should have followed. If you think the consequences of 65 pitches in 3 days are negligible, let's just say, We'll See come August & September, to say nothing of this week versus the Phils (although Randolph kept Wagner out of the last series with Philadelphia, so maybe he's perfectly set up to do so again).
The Mets are very talented, and baring injury, they look to have what it takes to reach the post-season for the first time since 2000. But with Willie Randolph at the helm, they're going to keep losing winnable games. He's not a good manager, and after 1+ seasons, I'm no longer confident he'll learn the ropes. He played for Billy Martin, he coached under Joe Torre. If he doesn't get it now, he never will.
I hope I'm wrong, but assuming that injuries or bonehead decisions don't sink the Mets playoff hopes before October, Randolph's clueless management is gonna cost the a game in the post-season. And that's just not what you want to see.
posted by Mike at 6:31 AM
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