FanNation - The Republic of Sport

6/22/08

What a difference a week makes.

Following a doubleheader split at the hands of the Texas Rangers, the New York Mets headed westbound with manager Willie Randolph, who upon boarding that plane was given what he believed to be some mild reassurance that by flying west his job would be secure for at least the immediate future.

Well, the Mets won on Monday night, defeating the Angels, leading most, including Willie, to believe that having won 3 of 4, no major changes were on the horizon.

Of course, following the game, at 3:14 am eastern standard time, the Mets released a statement via electronic mail that Willie Randolph had been fired, along with pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto, whlie Jerry Manuel would be taking over, along with three coaches from the Mets' triple A affiliate from New Orleans, Ken Oberkfell, Dan Warthen, and Luis Aguayo.

With the new regime in place before Tuesday's second game of the series, the Mets came out with Johan Santana on the mound, and looked as passionless and lifeless as they had throughout much of this season under Randolph, and lost to John Lackey and the Angels.

Manuel was tested early on in that game, as Jose Reyes reached base with a single, but came up lame and had to be taken out of the game by his new manager, very much against his will.  While leaving the field, Reyes did his best impression of a 5 year old  being told that a trip to Toys 'R' Us wasn't going to happen.  He threw his helmet, untucked his uniform and angrily returned to the clubhouse. 

The Mets' fortunes would improve the following night, with a gutty 9th inning comeback against Angel's closer Francisco Rodriguez, as David Wright delivered a clutch two out base hit to tie the game giving K-Rod only his second blown save all season.  After Damion Easley homered in the top of the 10th, the Mets would take two of three, and head to Colorado with some good vibrations.

After an impressive Friday night victory, and Pedro Martinez taking the mound in game two of the series, morale was up and hope was riding high, as the Mets looked to put themselves in position to potentially sweep the weekend series.

After 4 brilliant innings, Pedro seemed to run into a brick wall, giving up 6 runs on 7 hits in the fifth, failing to finish the inning and failing to keep the momentum going for a team that all season has seemed to take two steps backward for every step forward.

Case and point, after sweeping an abbreviated two game series in Yankee Stadium last month, the Mets traveled to Atlanta and lost both ends of a doubleheader including an embarrassing loss to former teammate Tom Glavine, facing his old club for the first time since authoring that forgettable atrocity of a performance in the final game of 2007.  The Mets went on to lose all four games of that series, and the positive feelings from their weekend success in the Bronx became a distant memory.

Fortunately, the team responded today, with Mike Pelfrey pitching.  Pelfrey was solid over 5 2/3 innings, not allowing a run and earning his second victory in as many starts.

Heading home for 3 games against the last place Mariner's and then 4 games with their cross town rivals (including the make up game at the Stadium as past of the two stadium double header Friday), the Mets have won three consecutive series, making it 6 of their last 9 while moving within 3.5 games of the first place Phillies.

It should be interesting to see what sort of reaction the team and their new manager receive from the home crowd, appearing at Shea for the first time without their recently canned former skipper.

Fans had been calling for Randolph's head for weeks during home games, showing their displeasure in the form of signs and constant booing.  It was the nature of Randolph's firing that caused such an uproar from fans (myself included), not really the firing itself.

As a result, Manuel and the team should be the recipients of cheers, having finally resolved their managing situation for the rest of the season, not to mention the fact they have won 6 of 9 and have moved closer to first place then they've been in weeks.

That being said, this team has done nothing to give fans the idea that they are capable of putting together an extended winning streak, as their inconsistent play continued to plague them this weekend, coming up with only two hits through 8 innings and leaving the bases loaded in the ninth on Saturday on their way to losing 7-1 to a pitcher who hadn't registered a victory since the beginning of April.

Winning at least two of three against Seattle is essential, and that starts with Johan Santana going to the mound against M's ace Felix Hernandez tomorrow night. 

With the Yankee series looming, the Mets have the opportunity to really turn the page for the first time all season, however unless they are able to break the habits they seem to have fallen in since the last third of last season, a 37-37 record right now is nothing to get overly excited about.

Take 5 of 7 this week, including 3 of 4 against the Yankees, and maybe we can start to discuss if a corner has indeed been turned.

Until then, lets keep that Kool-Aid on the shelf.