Santana does Manuel no favors
The Mets really could have used a win in the first game of the Jerry Manuel regime, but unfortunately, Johan Santana didn't have it. And once the Angels had scored four runs, you knew it was over. Tatis at third? Reyes gone in the first? Easley at short? C'mon!
The real news of the day were the press conferences with Omar and Manuel, the former an exercise in tap dancing in the guise of honesty and the other a refreshing introduction of a guy who's already been here a couple of years.
Minaya did his best to take ownership of the firing, insisting it was his call alone, but we think he doth protest too much. If he made the decision Monday night after a win (the team's third in four games), why would he need to tell Willie "right away" to avoid the news leaking out? If Omar was the sole decision maker, who else would know to leak it?
Evidence suggests he was either told straight out to fire Willie or it was strongly suggested to him by ownership, most likely Jeff Wilpon, who is getting absolutely hammered in the press now. He has become the James Dolan to Fred's Chuck Dolan. Sad, but true.
If Jeff indeed coerced/forced Omar into the move, then of course other lackeys would know about it, which is why it was being reported as early as Saturday.
In any case, the Mets are taking a beating over it, and rightly so, but the silver lining is the move could actually be a good thing. Manuel's presser showed the new boss to be straightforward and candid while making it clear that baseball matters stay in the clubhouse and aren't to be bandied about in the press, which should make his players happy. In all, I got a very good vibe from Manuel, who made it clear that he wants to be the permanent manager.
Manuel was tested immediately when Reyes got hurt in the first at-bat of the game. Reyes, wanting to stay in the game, behaved badly on being removed, throwing his helmet and shunning Manuel. I believe Gary Cohen called it 'petulant.' But Cohen noted later -- after Reyes was seen in the dugout smiling and more or less hugging Manuel -- that if Manuel could make his point, take Reyes out, and have the shortstop understand the reasoning and apologize for showing him up -- then that's a huge positive, even though the team lost.
Can't imagine the same scenario playing out with Willie.
The real news of the day were the press conferences with Omar and Manuel, the former an exercise in tap dancing in the guise of honesty and the other a refreshing introduction of a guy who's already been here a couple of years.
Minaya did his best to take ownership of the firing, insisting it was his call alone, but we think he doth protest too much. If he made the decision Monday night after a win (the team's third in four games), why would he need to tell Willie "right away" to avoid the news leaking out? If Omar was the sole decision maker, who else would know to leak it?
Evidence suggests he was either told straight out to fire Willie or it was strongly suggested to him by ownership, most likely Jeff Wilpon, who is getting absolutely hammered in the press now. He has become the James Dolan to Fred's Chuck Dolan. Sad, but true.
If Jeff indeed coerced/forced Omar into the move, then of course other lackeys would know about it, which is why it was being reported as early as Saturday.
In any case, the Mets are taking a beating over it, and rightly so, but the silver lining is the move could actually be a good thing. Manuel's presser showed the new boss to be straightforward and candid while making it clear that baseball matters stay in the clubhouse and aren't to be bandied about in the press, which should make his players happy. In all, I got a very good vibe from Manuel, who made it clear that he wants to be the permanent manager.
Manuel was tested immediately when Reyes got hurt in the first at-bat of the game. Reyes, wanting to stay in the game, behaved badly on being removed, throwing his helmet and shunning Manuel. I believe Gary Cohen called it 'petulant.' But Cohen noted later -- after Reyes was seen in the dugout smiling and more or less hugging Manuel -- that if Manuel could make his point, take Reyes out, and have the shortstop understand the reasoning and apologize for showing him up -- then that's a huge positive, even though the team lost.
Can't imagine the same scenario playing out with Willie.
posted by Gaspo @ 9:36 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home