June 12, 2008

Rosenthal As Perplexed By Willie's Moves As We Are! / Alou to DL Again???


In his latest post at Fox Sports, Ken Rosenthal offers the following on Mets' manager, Willie Randolph, and his moves regarding Mike Pelfrey and Billy Wagner from last night's game:

Randolph made two more decisions Wednesday night that drew scrutiny from Mets management, according to major-league sources.


First, he allowed second-year right-hander Mike Pelfrey to start the ninth after Pelfrey had thrown 110 pitches.


Then, after a leadoff single by Stephen Drew, Randolph summoned Wagner, even though statistics suggest that Wagner is far better starting an inning than when summoned in the middle.


Rosenthal goes on to look at Billy Wagner's success at the start of an inning versus coming in during an inning, which is relevant to Ed Budd's post that will be up right after this one.

Even though the Mets won the game last night, Pelfrey was robbed of the win and Willie's managing is comparable to Joe Torre's last Friday night, at a game I attended- not a favorable comparison, by the way. Last Friday, Dodgers' pitcher Hiroki Kuroda threw a complete-game, 3-0 shut-out, and Torre let the pitch-count go by the wayside in order for Kuroda to get the morale-boosting complete game shut-out. Willie should have forgotten the 112 pitch-count for the evening, as he let Pelfrey bat the inning before and either should have pinch-hit for him at that time or left him in the game even after he gave up an inning-lead-off single. Big Pelf needed the shot in the arm, and instead the Reynolds homer almost lost our sixth in a row. Not a great way to reward Pelf's hard work, and it can't endear Willie to the team.

One last thought on Willie, from Rosenthal:

"The players have the look of, 'Hurry up, let's get this over with. If you're going to fire him, fire him,'" says one rival scout who saw the Mets this week.


"There's not the desire to save the guy's job. They realize the guy is going to go. It's like, 'Hurry up, let's turn the page."


Omar, make it happen already, for the players, for the season, and to take Willie out of a situation that he's better than; let him keep his dignity as in spite of how we feel about his managerial decisions, he will always be a first class person.
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Apparently. Moises Alou is headed back to the Disabled List for the THIRD time this season- at this point, Omar MUST make a deal for a full-time outfielder, as the hodge-podge that is Endy/Tatis/Aguila/Anderson is responsible for filling 2 outfield spots while Church and Alou are DLed. Xavier Nady, please COME BACK!!!!

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