Wake Up Willie! Wake Up Mets!

Okay - enough is enough! I have heard all of the Willie apologists I am willing and able to tolerate, and I won't keep my tongue quiet. I loved Willie the player, as he was the only Yankee I ever really enjoyed watching and meeting. I respect Willie, the man, a graduate of Tilden High in Brooklyn, where Jon and my dad's both graduated from, and where he learned humility and generosity as a person. I can no longer tolerate Willie, the Mets' manager, after the past week of lackluster, uninspired play.

Look at the Bronx - Joe Torre, never known for his game strategizing, is having the managerial season of his career, as his team went from looking like an also-ran in the first half of the season to playing the best ball in the majors in the second half. He's been unafraid of throwing his young pitchers into the mix, both for lack of initial depth and need as much for the necessity of injury replacement, but either way, at least these youngsters are getting exposed to a pennant drive and are actually coming through. It is an indictment of our organization that either the young pitchers we have, Mulvey, Pelfrey, Humber, et al, aren't able to pitch some extra innings at a time when they are truly needed (and, on top of that, other teams still don't have enough info on them to create the "book" on how they throw), or that Willie won't get off his "veteran-high-horse" and allow some younger players to have a chance during a pennant drive, unlike his former mentor, Torre. Either way, this has to be addressed now, not next season, as either our young pitchers can contribute, as we think they can, or they can't, and we have to go in another direction.

Willie has this team looking and playing scared, and while it's true that he doesn't hit, doesn't pitch, and doesn't field, it's also true that he sets the tone for the team, and right now he is acting scared, standing alone in the dugout, looking like someone marching to his own execution. Team leaders like David Wright and Paul Lo Duca are angry, and if they are admitting that we're having a hard time with "execution," as Joe D from Mets Merized wrote in his excellent post earlier today, then there is nothing more damning towards the job that Willie is doing than those comments.

I'd like to be able to tell all of our readers that everything's going to be okay...I'd like to be able to tell myself that, too! However, the way Willie has run this team all season, with losses that should have been victories throughout the season, with line-ups juggled for no apparent reason, with a reluctance to play young pitchers, as well as burning out early-season bullpen stalwards Feliciano and Smith, amongst many other things, Willie has shown that he doesn't have what it takes right now (not ever, just not right now) to run this team.

Believe me, more than anyone, I pray that somehow this season is righted, in a hurry, and that motivated teams in Florida and Washington don't knock us out of a race that was ours to win all along...with Wright coming into his own, Beltran showing great fortitude and Pedro coming so far back when so many said he wouldn't be able to, it would be a horrible shame to have the season end in the fashion it's heading right now...it would be worse if it ends like this and Willie began next season as our manager again...much to chew on, my friends, much to chew on...

I feel like Gene Mauch is laughing at us right now, and the Phils are getting their revenge - ugh!

Do I still believe? I ALWAYS believe!!! Right now, it's just that much harder...so let's all continue to be positive, because anything else at this time isn't going to help our situation...and let's pray for our team to wake up NOW, before it's too late!!!!