Author: Matthew S. Ray
If you’re like me, you fell asleep last night in the top of the second inning with the Mets up 2-1. You woke up at 3:44 AM, turned on the television, and flipped feverishly just to find a crawl with the final score (Mets 9, Angels 6 – thank you MSG Network!) You went back to sleep, secure in the knowledge the Mets had won two straight, Beltran was turning it on, and maybe, just maybe, Willie Randolph had helped right the ship. Hey, a sweep in Anaheim and the Mets would be a game over .500. Maybe things were improving.
And then you turned on your computer at 8:30 and got an instant message from your buddy BZ saying, “The Mets are a joke.” You launched a million web sites to find out what he was talking about – didn’t they win last night? – and when you did, you felt like you’d been punched in the gut. Willie must have felt like he was kicked in the teeth.
For several reasons, the decision to fire Willie Randolph, Rick Peterson, and Tom Nieto is one that casts the Mets upper levels in a wholly negative light. For one, the idea of flying them across the country and dispensing them of their duties in a midnight raid smacks of idiocy, lack of professionalism, and complete disrespect. I’ll say it in no uncertain terms: the three-headed/one-minded trio of Wilpon, Wilpon, and Minaya should be embarrassed by their actions.
The news, reported by several outlets, that the decision to levy the firings was made Monday morning reeks of ridiculousness. Why was Willie allowed to manage the game, and Peterson and Nieto to coach it, when it was already decided they wouldn’t be around for the next one? The brass knew the manager and coaches were on the way out. Why let them go out there, win a good game, get all excited about the team playing better, put them on the bus back to the hotel, bring them into the hotel and take away all the good feeling by axing them on the spot? What message does that send?
Perhaps we should have seen the shameless situation on the horizon when seemingly every single Wilpon-Minaya discussion was leaked to the media, and splashed across the newspapers and airwaves. Sorry, though, there is no excuse for this. None. Willie’s reward for being a classy man, one who stood before the media after every win and every loss, is total humiliation by his now ex-employers. You know what, BZ? This team is a joke.
u went to sleep after the 2nd inning, if u cant watch an entire baseball game u may want to get a new day job
Posted by: MR | June 17, 2008 at 04:02 PM