Mets Fail in the Clutch, Need to get out of Manuel

Minayal – Denial of the truth by a GM – either disingenuously to the press or, even sadder, they believe the lie. Includes denial of player injuries, trade rumors, manager firings, etc. (From Razzball Glossary, Razzball.com.)

“Jerry Manuel is our manager, will be our manager. I’m very happy with the job that he’s doing…For me to discuss Jerry’s job status after a losing streak is just not right. Teams are going to have losing streaks. He’s our manager and I see him being our manager.” Omar Minaya, 7/22/10

Yesterday, the Mets lost yet another game on the road trip from hell. The Los Angeles Dodgers, who have been as inept as the Metropolitans since the All Star Break, found the perfect antidote for their misery. Hiroki Kuroda, who has been mediocre throughout the 2010 campaign, morphed for one night into Koufax in his prime, giving up 5 harmless hits and one walk in 8 innings of work. Two of the hits, singles by Jose Reyes and David Wright, were eliminated when both were thrown out attempting to steal by Dodger catcher Russell Martin. The Mets are now 1-7 on this road trip; their solitary win against the San Francisco Giants coming about because of an umpire’s gaffe. Three of these losses were shutouts. They have a current 17 inning streak without scoring a run. The Mets had a 24 inning scoreless streak against the Giants last week. New York has not scored more then four runs in a game in 13 games.

The Mets previously lost three consecutive games to the ghastly Arizona Diamondbacks; New York graciously allowed the D-Backs to sweep their first series of the season. The three straight wins allowed Arizona to leap ahead of the Pirates in the battle for the worst team in the worst league in MLB. Of course, the Pirates have not had a winning season since the early days of the Clinton Administration. Prior to the Mets series, the Diamondbacks bullpen had the worst E.R.A. of any relief staff in the last fifty years; according to the Elias bureau; the combined E.RA was well over 7.00. The empathetic Mets hitters felt their pain, and did their share to lesson the ignominy, hitting a combined 1-27 against the Arizona pen. As the saying goes, the Met’s aren’t in a slump; they just ain’t hittin’. Although their recent slump is certainly a team effort, the most egregious batting performance over the course of the season can be chalked up to Jason Bay. Bay is one of the few Mets (perhaps the only Met) who is grateful for the continued presence of Ollie Perez; because of Ollie, no one claims that Bay is the worst free-agent signing in Met’s history. Last night, Bay was given the night off, having suffered through a 0-6 collar in his last game, which included 4 K’s. Bay is now hitting .257, and his 6 home runs are exactly one-third the total of Los Angeles Angels catcher Mike Napoli, who has 18. As the late Yankee announcer Mel Allen used to say in amazement, “How about that!”

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Of course, the standard line is that it isn’t the manager’s fault that the players aren’t hitting; the manager is just the scapegoat for the Mets batters performing as if they were in the midst of the Dead-Ball era. Along with the other standard cliché, Manuel didn’t assemble the players who presently make up this squad. Of course, that was the doings of Omar Minaya, and why Omar has apparent job security is an enigma; perhaps he is Jeff Wilpon’s favorite bridge partner. But that is fodder for a future article.

The truth of the matter is that Manuel is just not a very good manager. He makes numerous decisions during the course of the game which can charitably be called “questionable.” He appears to be clueless in the art of managing his pitching staff, especially his bullpen. His in-game decision making process can most charitably be termed “perplexing.” But worse yet, the ballplayers as a unit appear to lack that fire in their gut; they don’t seem to take losing that seriously. Noticeably lacking are the Paul O’Neill type ballplayer, who would periodically smash his bat on the water cooler on one of those few occasions when he failed to perform in the clutch. Winning teams have these type of ballplayers – in the old days, they called them “Red Ass” ballplayers; Dick Bosman, a pitcher of the late sixties and early 70’s, perhaps best known for losing a perfect game on his own error, used to state: "If you don't hustle when I'm pitching, I'll kick your ass." The Yankees of yore, during their several dynastic era’s, had many of these type players. You didn’t try, you performed. You never took losing well. Several days ago, several players on the Mets were found laughing and making jokes after one of their dismal efforts against the Diamondbacks; one of these was apparently Mike Pelfrey, who shouldn’t have much to laugh about considering his recent dismal outings.. This attitude apparently upset utility infielder Alex Cora, who called out the players for their inappropriate behavior. Who would of thought that Cora would be the Met’s resident Red Ass?

Of course, the Mets of the vintage ’69 and ’86 years had their share of R.A. ballplayers. One of them was Wally Backman; look up “scrappy ballplayer” on-line and you will see Wally’s photo next to the definition. Backman had perhaps the shortest tenure as a Major League Manager in history some years ago with Arizona. Shortly after he was hired, it was revealed that he had held back some significant information concerning his past, including an arrest for a DUI, domestic altercations, bankruptcy, and problems with the IRS. He never had the chance to manage a game. However, Backman has done his penance, presently managing the Brooklyn Cyclones. The Metropolitan fans dream of re-hiring Bobby Valentine, who has been described as Billy Martin without the alcohol; however, it is unlikely that this dream will come to pass. But Backman – who apparently is Billy Martin with the alcohol - has wanted this gig since he retired. He is the obvious perfect choice for the job. Is it a chimera to believe that the Met’s best and brightest (a duo of oxymoron’s, for sure), will for once, recognize the obvious, and give this team a chance to salvage this season before it spirals into 2009 redux? Keep posted.

By: Paul J. Nebenfuhr
MLBCenter.com New York Mets Correspondent

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