Well, up until now, I haven't felt compelled to put anything down on "paper" when it came to the New York Mets, as the majority of my thoughts can be found in my post game reports that I share with Matt Dagastino on the New York Mets Audio Minute, over at Lexy.
However, for some reason, as I sit and think about where this team is currently situated, I can't help but to reflect over the last few days about the annual mess that this franchise seems to get themselves into, year in, and year out.
I won't even go into how ownership doesn't know how to produce a winning baseball franchise—at least not yet.
I'll start with Jerry Manuel. My first example starts with the lineup that he is putting out there for the upcoming game against the Philadelphia Phillies, a team that the Mets MUST defeat, in order to remain in contention for any type of playoff berth in the National League.
Here is your bottom of the order, Mets fans: 5)Mike Hessman, 6) Jeff Francoeur, 7)Henry Blanco, 8) Rueben Tejada, and of course, the pitcher hits ninth. Now, as a Mets fan, you could probably pick apart any piece of this equation, but I'll center in on the number five spot, and Mike Hessman.
Now, there's nothing wrong with Hessman, per se. The problem is your potential National League Rookie of the Year candidate, Ike Davis, should be hitting in that spot, and not a career minor leaguer. I understand that Ike may struggle against left-handed pitching, but tonight's opposing starter, Cole Hamels, is no Sandy Koufax. He's 7-8 on the season, and 2-6 lifetime vs. the Mets. Davis should be playing, period.
As Jerry continues to mix and match an often times over-matched lineup, he has failed miserably to find an eighth inning guy to get the ball to the recently incarcerated Francisco Rodriguez.
In the two-plus years that Manuel has been the skipper, he has not found the guy to get the job done. Some of the blame goes squarely to him, and some of it doesn't. Omar Minayatakes a hit, because he failed to bring in that guy to get the job done. Having said that, let's go back to Tuesday night's 6-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies, which was the catalyst for the now infamous FamilyGate, involving K-Rod and his common-law father in-law. Instead of staying with Hisanori Takahashi(who I am not a fan of) to finish the eighth inning—as he pledged to the media that this was “the guy”, Manuel got an itchy trigger finger, and decided to bring in Manny Acosta, who is certainly not proven in New York to be ready for prime time. Subsequently, Acosta gives up the grand slam to former Met Melvin Mora—his third home run of the season—and the Mets lose. What a shock there. We Mets fans know what happened in the clubhouse after that.
Jerry Manuel has time and time again failed to deliver, and he will pay the price at the end of the season. Unfortunately, ownership has made the repeated mistake of allowing Omar Minaya to keep his job through contract extensions, and allow him to make more crucial mistakes, going forward.
In the four years since Game seven of the 2006 National League Championship Series, where the defining moment of Carlos Beltran's Met career still lies, Minaya and this group has failed to deliver a playoff team, as they choked in 2007 and 2008, and wilted earlier than expected in 2009, due to injuries. We all see what's going on this year. So, in those 4 years, the Wilpons, in their sheer incompetence, have issued not one, but TWO contract extensions to Omar Minaya. When was the last time you were rewarded for failing to meet your goals on your job?
Unfortunately, Mets fans—and I have used that word a lot here, it doesn't look as though things are destined to change in the future. David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran have to proven to be players that are All-Star caliber, but not championship caliber. Johan Santana can only do but so much by himself. We have seen the Wilpons make fundamental mistake, after fundamental mistake, and unfortunately(there's that word again), it will continue, under their regime. After all, they are real estate tycoons, who happen to own a baseball team. At the rate they are going, by the time the All-Star Game reaches Citi Field in 2014, they will be paying you to come to the ballpark. Once again, “the ship be sinking.”
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