A Manuel for Success

The Mets won their first game under Jerry Manuel tonight, coming from behind to defeat the Anaheim Angels 5-4 in ten innings, a game that may have been the Mets biggest win in two years. Not only was it a come-from-behind win but it came against a first-place team on the road.

There were several heroes tonight, among them Jose Reyes, David Wright, Damion Easley and Billie Wagner, but maybe the biggest hero was the new manager, Jerry Manuel, who the day before had outlined for his team how they would change and why the changes would help them win.

While Randolph was complaining in New York about the way he was fired, thinking it was just a couple of his coaches who were getting whacked, an outcome with which he would have apparently been totally okay, Manuel had already started implementing his plans for success, resting his key players and finding roles for his relievers, helping his team visualize success and outlining how it would be achieved.

Jose Reyes, who had been rested yesterday in Manuel's debut, looked rejuvenated all night and scored the Mets first run all by himself. Carlos Delgado, playing as the designated hitter, hit a home run. David Wright, who had been the DH yesterday, drove in the tying run in the ninth. He also made a terrific one-handed grab of a slow ground ball and rifled the ball to first base to nab the speedy Howie Kendricks, thus staving off a potential Angels rally.

And Damion Easley, who took over at shortstop for Reyes last night and looked bad doing it, failing to cover second in one case, tonight hit the game-winning home run in the 10th. But it wasn't over yet. Billie Wagner found his fastball once again, and shut down the dangerous Angels in the 10th. His fine performance followed another great inning by Duaner Sanchez, who got the win, in the ninth.

Hopefully, this huge win will take the heat off the Mets, at least momentarily, as the writers in New York continue their attack on Omar Minaya, the General Manager, and the way in which Willie’s firing was handled. Certainly a come-from-behind win is something that was seldom accomplished under Willie, who was 3-28 when behind after six innings.

The rotation tonight was as any reasonable person would have expected. Oliver Perez experienced his usual jitters but did complete his six innings allowing just four runs, followed by Joe Smith in the seventh, Scott Schoenweiss in the eighth and Duaner Sanchez in the ninth. Wagner finished up nicely. In short, we saw professional pitchers going out and performing in the roles for which they were acquired.

Willie may have decided to throw in Aaron Heilman again, or Pedro Feliciano, or, who knows, anybody who showed up with a mitt. Although I know the Willie apologists will take issue with still more Willie-bashing, I think it’s justified, given Willie’s response to his firing, a response that has me shaking my head.

Omar’s biggest mistake was that he did not pull the trigger sooner. He also played his hand so very close to the vest that Willie was shocked when the axe finally fell. I think Omar was done in by his own sense of humanity, which prevented him from acting with cooler determination.

His comments regarding the fact that Willie was the first black manager in New York, and that he was the first Latino General Manager in New York, also reveal a man torn between achieving success and sustaining the opportunity he had created for another minority.

That Omar emphasized several times that Willie was “his hire” also is a reflection of his own insecurities, and an extreme reluctance to admit his own mistake. It does not speak well to his confidence in his own position, one that he has coveted for his entire life.

In short, all these factors prevented Omar from firing Willie last year, when many less feeling General Managers would have pulled the trigger, and would have been entirely justified in doing so. That Willie should now express nothing but shock and resentment is entirely unjustifiable. He should have expressed his thanks for the opportunity, a chance that no one but Omar had ever offered him.

There also seems to be a great deal of resentment among the New York press for Tony Bernazard. And why? Because he didn’t get along with Willie! Maybe they should be asking themselves why Willie had so much trouble with this individual, one who has had a great deal of success in various venues in the baseball business.

I think the answer to that question would reveal a great deal about Willie’s inflexibility, his recalcitrance, his refusal to have his beliefs questioned, his inability to function well in an organization. And all or even any one of those characteristics would have contributed to his failure as a manager.

Jerry Manuel in just two days has exhibited managerial talents that Willie never had shown. Manuel has laid out a strategy for getting his team better. Resting key players, especially for an older team, can only help, and it may have already shown its effectiveness. Having clearly defined roles for players, a concept that should have been painfully obvious, was never that under the reign of Willie Randolph.

So let’s move on, New York. Willie was a New York hero as a player, as a Yankee, a great second baseman. He very nearly took the 2006 Mets to the World Series. But he had very little success as a manager after that. Let’s leave it at that for now. More could be said.

I’ll look forward as a Mets fan to a continuation of good baseball, come-from-behind victories and 25 players all uniting behind someone they view as a good manager, a fine tactician and strategist, someone who acts in concert with the rest of the organization and who can extract the best out of a team. His name is Jerry Manuel.