Santana Bad butJerry Manuel Worse

I couldn’t be more disappointed.

The Mets lost to the Phillies 11-5 last night after Johan Santana handed in the worst performance of his career, looking more like Jamie Moyer than did Jamie Moyer. Santana’s fastball had nothing, his changeup wasn’t much different from his fastball, and his control was non-existent.

I had a bad feeling about this game after I saw the lineup. In the biggest game of this season, the Mets played it as if it mattered not at all. The energy-sucking guys were back in the lineup, Tatis and Matthews, replacing the hot rookie Ike Davis and Angel Pagan, who had just begun to hit. It was as if Manager Jerry Manuel was letting Philadelphia know that this game just wasn’t that important.

It’s really a shame.

No matter how bad Santana was , I’m putting this loss squarely on Jerry Manuel. The lineup he put together was stupid, especially given the situation. He didn’t seem to care if his team lost and his players followed his lead. Wright hit a 3-run shot and Barajas homered too but it only mattered for an inning or so as Santana and Manuel quickly gave it all back.

I’m tired of watching Tatis and that infuriating uppercut swing of his. Matthews is just horrible. He doesn’t look right in a uniform. He doesn’t look like an athlete. He doesn’t perform like an athlete. He’s batting .139. Tatis is batting .212.

There’s a word for the way Manuel approached that game last night….chicken. Manuel played it like a gentle mother, having her boy avoid those big guys on the block. Just walk the other way. Don’t go near those people.

I know that Matthews supposedly plays better defense than Pagan. I know Tatis has more experience than Davis, but what about the feeling of the team? What about combativeness?

I want a fighter leading my team. Billy Martin wouldn’t have played Matthews or Tatis last night. He would have played his starting lineup. So would Piniella. So would Leland. So would Girardi. So would Randolph. (And it kills me to say so).

I’m disgusted with Manuel’s over-thinking in critical situations. There must’ve been a reason to leave Santana in the game last night, after he walked a 47-year-old pitcher. Nine out of ten managers would have taken Santana out immediately…..do not pass go….do not collect $200.

Manuel didn’t want to embarrass his ace. He embarrassed him more by leaving him in. Of course, there was nobody warming up so there really was no alternative. After a double, two singles and two walks, there was still no action in the Mets bullpen.

Once again, it was a gentle motherly type of decision. Most managers act more like fathers, fathers who understand the importance of winning over the niceties of saving face for your starting pitcher, fathers who’d have recognized that it was a big game, one for which you put in your best lineup.

Before this series even started, I maintained that the Mets were the more balanced team. And they are. But Jerry Manuel, in his infinite wisdom, didn’t take advantage.

His counterpart in the Phillies dugout, Charlie Manuel, acknowledged his weaknesses, avoiding his thin bullpen, allowing his 47-year old pitcher to hit with the bases loaded in that incredible fourth inning. If the pitcher made an out, the Phils would still have been down by two runs. But Charlie Manuel avoided that bullpen of his, at all costs, even that of losing the chance to take the lead.

That the Mets were playing their second team made Charlie’s decision easier. Moyer had been mowing them down. Surely Moyer was a good choice to face that weakened lineup until his arm fell off, or until his fastball dipped below 70, whichever came first.

You can pitch around a National League lineup, especially one with only six hitters in it. Taking Davis and Pagan out of the lineup left the Mets with only 3 real power threats, Wright, Bay and Francoeur. Pitching carefully to just three batters beats having to do so against five.

That was a bad loss, any way you look at it. Santana was awful. He’s the ace. He walked a 47-year old pitcher with the bases jammed. Even after that, the Mets still led by one. Santana was obviously rattled.

The Mets bullpen had shown that it was one of the best in the league. Just about any choice from that bullpen would have been a better one than that of leaving your rattled ace on the rubber in that raucous atmosphere of Citizens Bank Park.

As bad as Santana was though, Jerry Manuel was worse. He had no pitchers warming up. So that fantastic bullpen, with strikeout pitchers in it like Takahashi didn’t get an opportunity to face Victorino, whose grand slam put the Mets down by three, or Polanco, who singled before Utley’s two-run shot to right that put the final nail in the Mets coffin, a coffin designed and meticulously constructed by Jerry Manuel.

It’s a shame too because this was a key game. The Mets playing the importance of the game down doesn’t make it so. Manuel’s bad decisions both before and during the game cost them dearly, and the Mets may lose a few more games due to the letdown.

It was a huge loss. It was a 2-game swing in the standings. Instead of being 1 ½ games up, in first place in the NL East, they are now ½ game behind. All the good things about this season were largely erased last night, the holding together of Maine and Perez, the outstanding performances of Pelfrey and Niese and the bullpen, the sparkling play of Francoeur and newbie Ike Davis.

Jerry Manuel played his backups and made a bad pitching situation much worse. Never has a Mets manager been so thoroughly out-managed, not that I can recall.

Sometimes good things can come from a loss. This is not one of those times.

Are Maine and Manuel Strangling the Mets?

It’s a quarter to three, yada yada yada yada dee dee dedee dee. It’s a perfect time to write sumthin’, the Yanks are outclassing the Rangers (again), the Mets are coming off a ridiculous win, and I even have the Cubs game going, from WGN. The Cubs are hosting the pitiful Houston Astros but I’m not really sure the Cubs won’t be just as bad. They often are.

The Mets play tonight, of course. And, after using up their entire pitching staff, they’re handing the ball to John Maine, with instructions to go deep into the game. It is with deep trepidation that I visualize this upcoming contest, the totally pissed-off Cardinals against John Maine on a Sunday night.

Of course, I’ve read that Maine is angry, angry at a number of things…himself, his manager, and the cruel world, I’m sure. Imagine the nerve of Mets management to question his role in the starting rotation! Sure! He had a bad spring and a couple of horrible starts thereafter but, gee whiz, three years ago, he won 15 games.

Has John Maine awakened? That’d be really nice to see. Now, please understand, I’ve mutilated John Maine in this column for quite a while now but that doesn’t mean I don’t wish him well. Nobody’d be happier than I’d be if he goes out tonight, throws bullets and violent sinkers the whole night and shuts out those dangerous Redbirds, Pujols and Holliday and Ludwick.

But it’s hard to imagine. The fatal difference between Maine and Perez is that Perez has talent. Maine just has that slow fastball, the dinky breaking stuff and well, that’s it. Perez finally showed what he could do the other night. He pitched into the seventh inning, allowing just one run over that span. He didn’t have his perpetual bad inning. He was just great.

When was the last time John Maine had a good outing? I’m looking it up right now. Omigosh! He pitched 7 innings of 1-run ball as late as October 2nd of 2009! But before that start, he pitched only sparingly and, from the beginning of June to the mid-September, he didn’t pitch at all, a victim of shoulder problems related to off-season surgery he had in 2008.

I’ve watched him pretty closely since then and haven’t seen that pitcher, the one who baffled Houston batters back in October. And, while I have some compassion for a player with a medical problem, I also understand that this is the major leagues. You need some luck and grit to withstand the rigors of a professional career.

If a player doesn’t have either, there are a lot of jobs a guy with a bum shoulder can do….insurance, beer sales and the like. I don’t need to see that guy take the mound every fifth day for the team I’m rooting for to win. If it takes anger to get this young man out of his doldrums, so be it. If even that doesn’t work, I’m sorry but see ya later. Maine’s already made a fortune. He’s listed on the roster as making 3.3 million this year. A lot of folks could live on that.

So….welcome to a sense of urgency, John Maine. Let’s see what you can do, armed with that anger and not much else to date.

Meanwhile, that 20-inning affair was pretty scary, from the standpoint of future prospects for the Mets. Their hitting was just awful, as bad as their pitching was good. Too many batters take the beautiful meatball pitches for strikes, then flail away at balls thrown in the dirt. I’m talking about Jason Bay, David Wright and Jose Reyes, but the same could be said for many other Mets, all of them really with the exception of Jeff Francoeur.

If it’s Jerry Manuel and Howard Johnson, the hitting coach, who are responsible for this “take” direction, it’s totally misguided for this particular team. These are more free-swingers. Turning free swingers into disciplined batters isn’t that easy. Somebody as smart as Manuel should realize that.

I’ve been against the tide, it seems, with respect to Jerry Manuel. Most Mets fans have had it with him, just based on his record supposedly, but I suspect they really just can’t stand his intellectual bent. And, while I still favor keeping him as manager, I am beginning to have my own doubts about his team’s demeanor in general.

If Manuel is forcing a bunch of free-swingers to show a whole lot of discipline in every at-bat, it is he who must shoulder the blame when that team doesn’t score any runs. When your most valuable acquisition strikes out four times, as Jason Bay did last night, then that is also a reflection of that batter’s direction.

Last year,from the beginning of spring training, Manuel’s thrust was towards his team hitting to the opposite field. David Wright had his poorest season ever, particularly with respect to his power numbers. Wright had just ten homers in 2009, after successive years of having had 27, 26, 30 and 33 homers.

I don’t think it was Citi Field, and I don’t think it was just an accident. I think it was an obsessive direction towards hitting to the opposite field. This year’s obsession seems to have turned towards “good” at-bats, taking pitches, as many as two strikes in certain situations. While the other teams batters get three swings each, our Mets only get one. I’m pretty sure that would affect not just their stats at the plate. That general strangulation could carry over into the field and into the clubhouse.

There are signs of a team malaise, at least at the plate. The Mets are making every opposing pitcher look like Christy Mathewson. It’s not only because they’re not good hitters. It’s getting obvious that even the good hitters are turning bad.

So get off it, Jerry, or Howard, or whoever else may be responsible for this strangling approach to hitting. Too often that first pitch is hittable.

No Time to Panic

Okay, the Mets are stinkin’ out the joint but at least there’s Phil Mickelson. And that pilot who landed in the Hudson River with all passengers totally fine. There are lots of contemporary heroes. But don’t look for any at Citi Field.

Oh sure, things looked great after that first game. Johan pitched a gem. I haven’t forgotten that. But then there was Maine. Maine did the same thing he always does, disappoint. But what the hell, I expected that. And the Mets came back in that one, to tie it at 6, but the scoring was illusory as they did it with walks, and some truly horrible Marlins relief pitching.

Then Niese went out and pitched great but the Mets bats weren’t really there. Pagan and Francoeur got a couple of hits each but the rest of the lineup got just four more. Still, to that time, the Mets were just 1-2, and maybe it was just good pitching from the Marlins that got them.

But then Pelfrey looked better than expected, and showed a nice new pitch in his repertoire. So things are looking up, I think, when Pelfrey starts in the future. The Mets bats were back too, with new catcher Rod Barajas banging two homers and Jeff Francoeur continuing his hot hitting with two homers of his own. Now the Mets were even again, with a 2 and 2 record after four.

Crazy Ollie was up next though, another John Maine, only crazier. Perez had a typical Perez performance but he did go 5 2/3 giving up just 4 runs. And Igarashi, Perpetual Pedro and new guy Jennry Mejia gave up just 1 hit over the last 3 innings. Mets bats weren’t there again, however, except for Francoeur . Even with that though, they could have won and lost only because they got robbed by a great fielding play. So they could have been 3 and 2. Only bad fortune made them 2 and 3. And Santana would be going the next day.

But Johan threw some bad pitches and gave up a big homer to Willingham. The Mets bats produced just two runs. They got those two runs from a most unlikely source too, from Mike Jacobs, who will hit a homer once in a while, but more often will pop up or fan completely. Francoeur once again had a multi-hit game but with less actual effect, as things turned out.

So the Mets are 2 and 4. Manager Jerry Manuel assumed responsibility later on, needlessly I thought, but what the hell, what difference does it make when you’ve got guys like Mike Jacobs hitting behind Jason Bay, or Gary Matthews? Come on, would you pitch to Bay? If you would, what kind of pitch would you be throwing?

Let’s recap though. The Mets lost two games by one run and one game by two runs. The pitching really hasn’t been too bad. But Matthews and Mike Jacobs aren’t the answers. Angel Pagan should play center, not Matthews. And Tatis could play first, if you really want a lineup. Here we go…Reyes, Castillo (or Cora, they both have similar games), Wright, Bay, Francoeur, Barajas, then Tatis (playing first) and Pagan batting eighth, just to get some speed at the back of the order.

The Mets are currently 18th in batting average among the 30 MLB teams, about the same in runs scored, but significantly better in on base average. They’re pretty bad in slugging pct and home runs as you’d expect. What this all indicates to me is that they need some power (they need Beltran back pretty badly) obviously but they could improve things a lot with a better lineup. And that lineup doesn’t include Matthews or Jacobs.

I don’t understand their thinking. Didn’t any fantasy player know that Mike Jacobs and Gary Matthews were real reaches? Did they really think Gary Matthews was a significant improvement over Angel Pagan? Did they think Mike Jacobs was going to be more consistent? And how long are they going to stay with these guys? Sure, Jacobs hit one out yesterday, but with him, it’s a roll of the dice, loaded dice against the roller.

The Mets have been unlucky too, I might add. Yeah, they lost three games of four by tight margins, but they’ve also been victimized by nice plays and they haven’t had much luck at third base defensively, with Wright unable to come up with hard ground shots to the third base side twice that I can remember. Tatis can’t really play a nice third base either. So put him at first.

But there’s no reason to panic. For Manuel to say they weren’t ready isn’t really accurate to my mind. They were ready. They just aren’t good enough hitters as a group to hit Livan Hernandez, who pitched a beauty of a game. He apparently was “up” for the game, facing his former teammates, for most of whom he’s pretty familiar.

Francesa is saying this afternoon that Manuel is feeling the heat, that he needs a good start, and that after six games, pressing the panic button indicates your job is in jeopardy. And maybe that’s true. Jerry says a lot of stuff, including yesterday something about revelation that was particularly pithy, I thought.

Rather than feeling for his job though, I think Manuel was just trying to take the heat away from the players, some of whom have really been pitiful and most of whom have been average. Maybe he’s taking responsibility for that stupid lineup he’s been putting on the field. Maybe he’s protecting Minaya, who, if there is a culprit in these proceedings, should really be at fault.

The roster is unbalanced really, with too many outfielders and not enough corner infielders. With this team, to have either Pagan or Matthews on the bench while guys like Jacobs and Tatis are in the lineup, is not really sensible.

And yes, I know Daniel Murphy’s coming back to play first.

Jose Reyes Batting Third?

Jose Reyes batting third?
My first thought is that it takes his legs away, his biggest asset. So no matter what else may be good about it, it’s a bad idea. Sure, he might be able to hit .300 in a good year. And yes, he could probably hit for power a bit. And he had no problem driving in runs from the leadoff spot when he had the chance. And it’s true that he doesn’t walk very much so his on-base average suffers. And even Jose Reyes can’t score if he doesn’t get on base.

What that means to me is that he’s only a good leadoff hitter, not a great one. He only played sparingly before 2005 and after 2008. From 2005 to 2008 though, he scored 99, 122, 119 and 113 runs. . So how mediocre is that? Not very. Could he have scored more if he walked more often? Absolutely. But he averaged mid-sixties in the RBI’s department for those years from the leadoff spot. How might that number be reduced if he were not such a free swinger?

Reyes also stole a lot of bases in those years, averaging about 65 per year. Although runs scored is the most obvious stat affected by stolen bases, the stolen base also has residual effects not necessarily so obvious in the box score, all of which have to do with the underlying asset that makes the stolen base possible. That is speed.

Speed drives the opposing pitcher crazy, putting added pressure on him to keep the runner close. It also makes him throw more fastballs, making it easier for the next batter to hit. I can’t quantify it as those stats aren’t even kept (it would be impossible to determine it, what would the next batter have hit without Reyes on base in front of him) but his speed adds to the number of runs produced and scored by those following him in the order, not just the next batter but every batter who steps to the plate while Reyes is on base before him.

So Reyes is one hell of a leadoff hitter because he has speed, not just as determined by his on base percentage. Batting third, many times there will be somebody on base in front of him. Reyes will still have his legs, of course, but it won’t matter…he won’t be able to use them.

In exchange for the loss of all this chaos on the bases and turbulence in the pitcher’s psyche, we get a number 3 guy whose batting averages over those same 2005-2008 seasons were .273, .300, .280 and .297, marginal at best for a number 3 guy. So we’re trading a good to great leadoff hitter for a poor number 3 hitter.

None of the above takes into account the enjoyment that Reyes’s type of game has on the fans. Games will only be almost as enjoyable. Instead of leading off the game with a ball of fire, we lead off with…..whom? Luis Castillo? Angel Pagan? Somebody please get me a bag; I’m going to be sick.

This faulty thinking is really the first time I can recall thinking that Jerry Manuel over-manages. Even when he was changing relief pitchers every third of an inning, I figured he had good reason. He had all these situational pitchers and nobody who could get guys out from either side. Even when he put such an emphasis on hitting to the opposite field last year, a move that may have screwed up some successful swings (see David Wright), I figured his approach really couldn’t cause much harm. (I think it actually was helping Beltran before he went down with his injury).

But this move is just not well thought out, which really isn’t like Manuel at all. My hope is that it’s just a ploy…the old “if you don’t walk more, I’m going to bat you third” ploy. Whether this will have any influence on the oblivious Reyes at all is highly questionable. I think Jose is really untouchable as far as being influenced too much by anything, much to the dismay of Mets fans sometimes.

What the possibility of this move does do though is dampen my enthusiasm for both the season in general and the Mets in particular. I used to be a Minaya-Manuel guy. I’m not so sure of that anymore.

Pulling Out All The Stops

A lot was made of two big NY-Philly games occurring on the same day in the same venue. But there was only one game that was played like a big game. Only that terrific World Series Game 4 will be remembered. The Yankees won it 7-4 and they took it from a very determined Phillies team that in the end were only one relief pitcher short of tying the Series at 2’s.

To get it out of the way, let me first say the football Giants were awful in the afternoon game. They have no pass defense. They have no cover guys, they have no defensive line and they have no Steve Spagnuolo anymore. They do have a defensive coordinator with not much nerve and not much imagination. So the Giants lost. The score doesn’t even matter. The Eagles scored at will.

The first intriguing thing about the Yanks-Phils Game 4 was the starting pitching matchup. The Yanks pitched their ace, C.C. Sabathia, on 3 days rest. The Phillies pitched Joe Blanton, their regular guy in the rotation. Phils Manager Charlie Manuel can’t be faulted for not starting his ace, Cliff Lee, as he had never pitched on just 3 days rest before. And the Phillies had beaten Sabathia in the past.

And, if the Phils had managed to survive Game 4, they’d have had their ace going on normal rest in a Game 5, and they’d have likely been up 3-2 in the Series 9 innings later. So the move made sense, I guess. But while it made sense, it seemed to me the game meant more to the Yankees. They were going all out to win. They were pulling out all the stops. The Phillies were doing business as usual.

As things turned out, of course, the game didn’t hinge on the starters. Blanton wasn’t as tough as was Sabathia but he managed to give up just four runs after six full innings. And, when C.C. left in the seventh, immediately after Chase Utley banged a long solo home run to right, the Yanks were still up 4-3.

Damaso Marte managed to get the Yanks out of the seventh and Joba struck out the side in the eighth. There was just one problem. Before he struck out the side, he gave up a tying dinger to Phils 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz. So the game rested on those ninth inning pitchers. The Phils selection was their closer, Brad Lidge, even though Ryan Madsen had just finished pitching a very nice eighth.

Lidge looked just terrific for 2/3 of an inning. It was Johnny Damon who did him in. After taking some pitches and fouling off some pitches and pretty much wearing Lidge out, Damon stroked a single to left. It was an at-bat that a few players mentioned after the game, one that will probably be remembered fifty years from now when youngsters in the stands today discuss the 2009 World Series. Lidge was never the same after Damon.

Lidge then had to face Mark Teixeira, which would have been bad enough. But then Damon stole second, and, as the Phillies had shifted their defense to the right hand side for Teixeira, Damon popped up from the keystone and stole third too, as nobody was covering the bag.

Lidge was a mess now because he couldn’t really use that slider of his that bounces in the dirt with a runner on third. So he proceeds to hit Teixeira with a pitch. Of course, with the Yankees lineup, things never seem to get any easier. Now he just had to face Arod, he of the many post-season homers and rbi’s.

Arod didn’t disappoint either, smacking a double to left that scored Damon with the eventual game-winning run and a hustling Teixeira went first to third. It was academic after that, but Posada drove in both Teixeira and Arod anyway. The game was all but over as they handed a 3-run lead to Mariano Rivera.

But it was a classic World Series game. Jeter and Damon were workmanlike in putting the Yanks ahead and Joe Blanton was cool as he managed the Yankees through the first six. Utley’s at-bat versus Sabathia in the 7th was a beauty and his homer seemed to give the Phils momentum even though they were still down a run. Then Feliz’s shot to left off Joba in the 8th to tie the game at last could have spelled the end for the Bombers.

But even before that, there were unusual things. I mean, how often do you see Ryan Howard steal a base? How often do you see any quick pitches, not just one but two for strikeouts? How about all those meetings on the mound with Sabathia? What gamesmanship was employed by both sides, and Posada and Sabathia were definitely playing with Werth’s mind when they struck him out with two men on. Once again, it was the Yankees who were pulling out all the stops, even the psychological ones.

Charlie Manuel’s supposed reliance on hunches wasn’t so evident for this game. He seemed to be doing everything strictly by the book. He pulled Blanton after six for no particular reason. The move to Chan Ho Park didn’t seem particularly wise as Joe had been pretty much coasting. That Park got them through the seventh isn’t really my point.

Ryan Madsen was pretty good in the 8th too, but that didn’t stop Charlie from pulling him for Lidge in the 9th, probably his last disastrous and fateful move in this Series. Lidge couldn’t handle the adversity Damon threw his way. No, I didn’t see many hunches being played by Manuel last night.

The Yanks go with Burnett on 3 days rest now and, even with Lee going for the Phillies, I expect the Yanks now to finish this one off in 5. The Yanks are playing to win, pulling out all the stops. The Phillies, with as much talent as they possess, are playing by the book.

Is This the Bottom?

Let’s see, first base, um, we have no first baseman. I mean, Murphy played the position, and very nicely too for his first time, or any time, but he doesn’t hit like a first sacker. Second base? Well, Luis Castillo is ok, I guess; doesn’t do much with the bat though. Shortstop? Well, nope. We have no shortstop. Jose is hurt and Cora is hurt. At third we have Wright and in center we have old reliable Mr. Beltran.

Who played left and right fields? Argh, who cares? Whoever they were, either Jose Pagan or Ramon Martinez or Church or any one of seemingly countless little guys with bats in their hand. The catchers do nothing either. Castro has been very boring, Schneider’s always hurt. Omir Santos has nothing.

This has got to be the bottom. Even if the Metsies managed to pull this last game out, things would still have been pretty grim. Only the pitchers have made things look respectable, but right now the Oakland A’s or the Giants look like Murderers Row compared to this horrid lineup of pushovers.

Well, it was the Dodgers, I guess, and they have pretty good pitching, to say the least. But things don’t get any better. Now our local heroes head out to Boston. It’ll be Johan Santana against Dice K coming off the DL in the opener and that might be the only possibility of an advantage in that series.

After the opener, hopefully a win, then it’ll be Pelfrey against Beckett and Redding against Wakefield. I can’t wait to see these cream puff Met batters try to hit Wakefield’s knuckler. If the Mets can win one of the three, it’ll be amazing.

Talk radio is driving me crazy too. Nothing like rubbing it in. Nothing like hearing how bad Minaya’s doing and Manuel’s doing ad infinitum. Manuel especially is taking a beating, and he really doesn’t deserve it, not with this lineup. I thought he could have batted Sheffield in the 9th cream puff number nine but, you may have guessed, Sheffield hadn’t taken batting practice as he was not feeling well.

This is excruciating though, I must say. Listening to all these Yankee fans, pretending to be Mets fans, calling in to THE FAN to urge Minaya to pick up Nick Johnson at first base. Nick friggin’ Johnson. The only guy who ever thought Nick Johnson was anything special was Brian Cashman. He was deluded enough to think Johnson was better than David Ortiz.

And speaking of Big Papi, he finally broke out of his homerless slump tonight by putting one over the wall in centerfield. So our boys will have him to worry about too. It wasn’t enough that they had Bay and Youkilis killing the ball, along with all the other real live threats in their lineup, Ellsbury, Drew, Lowell, et al.

Geez, maybe this isn’t the bottom after all. Maybe we won’t even take one game in Boston. Santana did get knocked around a bit in his last win. And Dice K, if he’s returning off the DL, has probably regained his form; otherwise, why bring him back?

Well, I guess it’s high time to look at the bright side. There must be a silver lining somewhere, or maybe just a copper lining. Church can’t be as bad as he looks, can he? He can only get better, going from horrible to mediocre would be nice.

And Daniel Murphy, judging by his debut at first base, really may have found his spot, which can only help him at the plate. Feeling comfortable is one of the keys to hitting. You have to be relaxed. You have to feel good about yourself, much as all those steroid abusers feel before crushing another dinger.

And Sheffield will be back Friday. He’ll make that lineup a little deeper. Reed really isn’t that bad. Ramon Martinez will have gotten that first game out of his system. That’ll give the Mets honest-to-God major leaguers at every position. Let’s not think about depth at this juncture.

And maybe after winning 11 in a row, maybe a huge swing back to the depths was in order with the universe.

But what happened to hitting the ball to the opposite field? Church NEVER tries it. Neither does Tatis. Neither does Castro. And they look foolish trying to pull outside pitches. They deserve benching, but the Mets can’t afford to bench anyone and still have major leaguers on the field.

But a change is needed. And not in management, in players on the field. I’ve seen enough of Church for sure. Dump him, just as he dumped the Mets the other night. I’m tired of seeing his sorry butt on the field, and even more tired of having people feel sorry for him. He’s a bad player. Get rid of him. Get another outfielder.

And while we’re at it, why not dump Schneider too? He obviously doesn’t play too much anyway. Sore fingernail, sore butt, give me a break. El Dumpo for him too. Undo that trade made for Lastings Milledge and LoDuca. Boy, do I ever miss LoDuca.

The good news, though, is that this can’t go on forever. And there are some good things happening in other sports. Hey, Orlando beat the Cavs in one hell of a Game 1. The Knicks and Nets will both get some pretty nice basketball players in the draft.

And if that’s not good enough for you, you can always check out Mark Sanchez in the latest GQ. WOOHOO!!

Jose Reyes - Hogan's Goat

When I was 17 years old, I was stopped by a particularly belligerent Bayonne cop because a tail light was out, and then when he found I didn’t have the registration handy enough for him, he said that I was “fugged up as Hogan’s goat”.

Not being Irish, I never really understood how insulting the cop was trying to be. Who was Hogan? Was he an idiot? And what about his goat? Maybe Hogan was okay but his goat was just a mess.

Notwithstanding the fact that I never fully appreciated the depths of this insult, and probably never will, the imagery has stuck with me, and I think of Hogan’s goat whenever somebody does something totally stupid or for a person who seems oblivious to everything and everyone around him.

Do I have to even say it? You know who I’m talking about, right? Is Jose Reyes Hogan’s goat or what? Here’s a guy who runs like a deer. When you look at Jose, you think of the FTD logo, the winged foot. He can hit a baseball too, when he’s not trying to hit a home run.

And he can play that shortstop position like all the greats you can think of, Omar Vizquel, Luis Aparicio, Ozzie Smith….Jose could play with any of them. He’s got great range, quick reflexes and a gun for an arm.

You could almost say he’s a five-tool guy, hits for average and at least some power, has a great arm, runs really fast and has great fielding ability. With a smile that would light up old Broadway, he delights us when he cruises around the bases like lightning, or makes a stop deep in the hole and then guns that runner down with that bazooka.

He’s probably good in the clubhouse too, he certainly helps to light up the dugout. He’d probably be considered a good team guy too as he’s the first to congratulate a teammate. You could even add that to his credentials. What personnel guy would turn down Jose Reyes? He’d have to be deaf, dumb and blind.

It’s that sixth tool he’s really missing. Like the Wizard Of Oz’s scarecrow used to sing….if I only had a brain.

Ah well, he is who he is. A fatal flaw, that last one though.

When he hits a double that should have been a triple if he hadn’t admired his long drive for so long out of the box, or, even worse, when he then gets caught between 2nd and 3rd base to singlehandedly destroy an inning, you just shake your head.

After all, there he was again on third base, dancing down the line, trying to entice that balk, and he very nearly did. But, alas, it wasn’t to be and the Mets lost again to the Braves, giving them the three-game series, seeming to prove once again that they’re the tougher team, the team that doesn’t beat itself.

Besides, he wasn’t alone to blame for the loss. If you were looking to assign the horns to anyone (there’s that goat again), you could give them to Putz, or even to Beltran, or anybody else who didn’t perform, as long as you except Fernando Tatis and Gary Sheffield.. They were really terrific in defeat.

But, for those who believe that winning is the only thing, those folks are beginning to realize that truth can sometimes wear a wry face…or is it just their crooked eyes? Can they be right in their perception that the Mets always lose when Reyes throws an inning away?

Some are now thinking of potential trades for Reyes. For Reyes sets the tone for this Mets team, and the tone is all wrong. He’s the leadoff hitter, the spark plug, but seemingly more often than not, he’s a fouled spark plug, one that shuts the whole engine down.

It’s beginning to become an old story too. How many years does a team have to lose before a realization sets in, the one that says you might win with these guys, but the odds are against it. A loss to the Phillies was almost acceptable, if only because that team has a lot of talent, and they are acknowedged to be a tough team, a team with hard-nosed guys, whatever that means, a team with that elusive edge.

But the Braves do not qualify. The Braves don’t have nearly the team that Philadelphia has, nor do they have the talent found on this Mets team. They don’t have good pitching and they don’t have the same quality lineup. They’re a team that the Mets should beat.

And, too often, the finger can be pointed to that crazy leadoff hitter. If he had only not gotten caught, if he had run coming out of the box, if he hadn’t overshot the bag with that slide, if he hadn’t juggled the ball, and on and on and on.

It’s interesting too that Jose’s problems can’t really be addressed in the same manner that you might address another player’s flaws. Jose has proven that over the years, certainly with Willie Randolph and not so much with Jerry Manuel only because Manuel is shrewd enough to recognize that Reyes cannot perform as well under pressure, or at least he has not performed well under pressure in the past.

Some of you might now ask, “But isn’t that what it’s all about?” And you would be right. Unless this fouled spark plug can somehow be fixed, the Mets may never win a pennant, never mind a World Series.

It’s my belief that the change in Jose will come, but it is a change that will have to occur from within. He has to realize himself that he has not played on a winner yet, and has to accept his own responsibility for that fact.

Mets fans can hope that this required introspection doesn’t happen years down the road after he’s been traded for players of lesser value and even less fun.

The Answer - Playing Smart Baseball

Let ‘em play. It’s May 4th, for Pete’s sake. All the brilliant sports-riders know best, of course. The Mets have no heart. The Mets have no edge. The Mets have no pitching. Oliver Perez is a bum. Gimme a break already.

Let’s go through the field and evaluate what we have:

1B – Carlos Delgado – we may not have him for the year as he’s nicked up right now, but who’d you rather have than Carlos #1 (or Carlos #2 depending upon your point of view). Carlos is a hitter’s hitter, who records every at-bat in a log. How scientific is that? What players do that? Is this a guy who needs an edge?

Tatis has been his backup. He’s only recently started to hit the way he can hit. I look forward to seeing the old Fernando again, either in left or right fields, or first base. Dan Murphy can also spell Delgado in a pinch. From what I’ve seen ths far, he may be a better risk at first than in the outfield.

2B – Castillo and Cora – Castillo has been pretty good so far and Cora, in his limited playing time, has really shown me some flash in the field. There are a lot of second basemen who hit better but I’ll take fielding consistency at this position and we’ve got that, at the very least.

3B – David Wright – once again, who’d you rather see there? He’s shown some great fielding lately and, while he hasn’t hit in the clutch yet, you can say that about a lot of players, including Texas Rangers star shortstop/third baseman Michael Young. He’ll get better in the clutch, and I’ve seen improvement since he’s been moved out of the three spot, which he couldn’t and shouldn’t be forced to handle, not when Carlos Beltran is on the team.

SS – Jose Reyes – once again, who’d you rather have? Jimmy Rollins? No thanks. Hanley Ramirez? Not me. I want to see Jose vacuuming up everything in the hole or to either side and running like crazy. He does need to recognize the game situation though, and he looks as if he’s trying.

C – Ah, now here’s a sore spot. Three catchers means you really have no catchers. Schneider just isn’t really good in any area. I haven’t seen anything from him, which is why we see so much of Castro, who’s always got a reason for not playing, it seems. Now we’re getting to see Omir Santos, and I’ll take him over the other two any day of the week. So there’s hope at catcher. If he can keep it up, Santos is the answer.

CF – still once again, who’d you rather see in center than Carlos Beltran? Great fielder, great hitter, good speed, and only occasionally seems to be sleep-walking. Time off may be the answer to that quirk, but not too much please, just enough to give him that “edge”.

LF – okay, here’s a bit of a problem, but it’s getting better. Murphy shows some signs of calming down in the field and hits the cover off the ball. Sheffield spells him and he’s a great hitter, but you can downgrade him to just good lately. All in all, they’re an entertaining duo. You’ll get excitement from both of them, but sometimes good and sometimes bad.

RF – Ryan Church just doesn’t do it for me. He doesn’t hit in the clutch, he only occasionally seems to hit at all but he fields the position really well. He doesn’t seem to come through, at least not this year, and I’d love to see anybody else in the lineup rather than him. One reason Beltran had no steals until recently is that he was followed in the lineup by a totally oblivious Church. No edge here at all.

SP – Okay, now here’s a problem being addressed. Santana and a bunch of non-producers has been the story but there are some encouraging signs lately from both Mike Pelfrey, John Maine and Livan Hernandez. The only recent dud is crazy Ollie, which might turn out to be a mistake of Pavanian proportions. Stay tuned.

RP – Putz and K-Rod have been lights out, for the most part, but then there’s Sean Green, who really hasn’t been getting it done lately. Maybe the answer for him is less usage, not more. But these young guys filling out the pen show a lot of promise, moreso than, say, the Yankees have in their pen.

Mgr – Jerry Manuel’s my type of manager. Smart with a good personality for handling all the different types you find on a baseball field. Once again, who’s better? Sciosia? Valentine? Girardi? Come on. You won’t get Francona, one of the only managers who might be better, but he’s a Manuel-type anyway.

So there’s very little reason to complain, given the makeup of the team. It’s a very tricky business. If Omar did make any mistakes, it was signing Perez and making the trade for Church and Schneider for LoDuca. Of all the myriad moves he’s made over the years, that’s not really much to whine about.

The players have to just start playing as smart as the manager. Reyes can’t over-run bases and get thrown out, Beltran can’t take a play off by not sliding, Wright has to take a different approach with two strikes or with men on base. And Manuel has to keep his prodigious baseball savvy in check . Sometimes the answer is the obvious one, not one that only a genius could even conceive.

But it’s all fixable. The most serious problem nobody talks about is the problem with Delgado. Even without him, however, the Mets should be okay, with enough pitching and defense to win a lot of games.

But they have to play (and manage) smart baseball. We haven’t seen much of that. They seem to have reverted to the form they had in Willie Randolph’s last days, which is to say they’re doing just enough to lose.

Turn the Page !

What’s next? So Arod was doing stuff way before he said he was. So Sean Green isn’t Superman as a reliever. So JJ Putz isn’t Batman. So the Yanks will keep Joba in his starting role. So Jerry Manuel won’t bunt when he’s supposed to, so Wright can strike out at the worst possible times.

I don’t think I can overreact anymore. You just have to tell yourself there’s a lot of stupidity out there, and real heroes are as rare as hair on a cueball, especially in New York.

Jerry Manuel is really getting me down these days. Too much thinking. Way too much thinking. Especially when everything he does turns out wrong. As many things as he did right last year, he’s almost made up for it this year.

Whether he plays his feelings or the percentages, it just comes out wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Snakebit had no meaning until Jerry. Here’s a guy who just has too many options. He’s always playing the wrong card.

But here’s the good news. Things have got to get better. A person can’t be wrong all the time, although Willy came close last year. At least Manuel has a sense of humor and reasons for his actions. He’s open and honest and all those things one likes in a person, if not necessarily in a manager.

So I’m just going to wait all this bad stuff out. After all, Beltran’s starting to slide again, Tatis just hit a dinger, Delgado should get well again, Wright can’t look like a buffoon for months at a time, can he?

Things will settle down. Murphy looked great the other day on that sliding, whirling, hurling double play. And yes, he slipped again but geez, that could happen to anybody every other day.

I can’t really complain. Everything the Mets have done over the last year had been ok by me. Getting rid of Randolph, getting relief pitching, not dumping Castillo, not getting the big bat, keeping Oliver Perez. I was happy with all of that.

Be careful what you wish for, I guess. That’s all you can say. Eventually things will right themselves. Eventually they’ll stop leaving all those men on base. That’s been the real killer so far. That, and some very bad starting pitching. Oh, and then the relief pitching went south too. But who’s worried?

Maybe I should just stop paying attention for a while. It’s not as if baseball is the only sport around. Heck, the Kentucky Derby is Saturday, the NBA playoffs are going strong, the NHL playoffs are as exciting as ever, even if we have to watch with no New York/New Jersey representation.

The Jets took the football world by storm, moving up to grab Sanchez. The Giants picked themselves up a nice receiver to replace Burress, and then when they realized they still hadn’t really done that, they picked another guy who actually looks and plays a lot like Plaxico. And, just for consistency, they got themselves another pass-rusher.

Surely, with all this other stuff going on, I could afford to give the Mets a break. You’d have to agree that they’re an entertaining team to watch. And it’s beginning to look like this new CitiField should suit them just fine. I could live with lots of triples and fewer home runs. The Mets have the speed for it, and a bunch of flyball pitchers too.

And, as this is written, it’s still April. Everybody and everything in baseball gets a break in April, the slumping batters, the lousy pitchers, dumb managers, sloppy fielders, runners who don’t hit the dirt when they’re supposed to….excepting only steroids users and ticket pricers, especially if they work for the Evil Empire, now more than ever showing their true colors, mostly the colors of money.

There are still about 140 games to play, a whole heckuva lot of games. I’m literally going to turn the page, the April page on my Mets calendar that features an 8 by 11 photo of David Wright. I can’t stand to look at it anymore, thank goodness for May. May features Jose, and I can imagine him banging out another triple.

The Mets just need to turn the page too. Forget April. Forget all those lost opportunities. Forget Shea. Forget the bad pitching. Forget the record and the standings. Just look ahead. It should be easy.

There have been so many good things. Santana’s phenomenal pitching, the bats banging out lots of base hits, the good relief pitching, the seasoned manager who’s seen a little bit of everything. It’ll turn around.

The law of averages demands it.

All About the Leaders

t’s tough to think about sports with any degree of seriousness on September 11^th. I’m always taken back to my living room, watching a newscast with some morning coffee. They first said it appeared a private plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. Then they discovered it wasn’t a private plane at all but a commercial airliner.

And, as I watch, already horrified, another jet crashes into the tower. Three people from my town were killed, including a good friend of my daughter. And there is no World Trade Center.

In the aftermath, our leader vowed to get the people responsible. Then he assigned the responsibility to a country he hated, and, what a coincidence, Cheney was a key figure in the mistaken notion that Iraq was producing weapons of mass destruction. So off we went to war for no reason, killing Iraqis and a lot of Americans too.

Seven years later, we have no clue as to the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. We’re assured people are looking though. The economy is horrible, nobody can sell their house, and the dollar is doing its best impression of a peso. Oh, it’s pretty tough to get a job too. Maybe that’ll curtail the flow of illegal immigrants.

We have only two “legitimate” candidates for President. And, once again, the prospective Vice Presidents are far and away more impressive than the Presidential candidates. There’s something wrong with our picture.

Leaders determine a great deal in life, and in the sports world too. We of course have seen the Mets take on new life since Jerry Manuel took the reins. Willie Randolph was a great sportsman and a nice man. Some say our President shares those traits. Wasn’t he reading a story to a class of children during the attack on New York City? Wasn’t he addressing a nice group of Republicans when Katrina slammed into New Orleans?

How does this tie in with the world of sports, you may ask? Well, the only bridge I can construct is leadership. Bad leaders accumulate losses and good ones rack up the wins. And teams tend to take on the character of the leader. Our country seems arrogant and hurtful and even stupid to the world right now. We must hope….. no, pray, that either candidate will be better….. much better.

As much of an influence, though, as a good solid leader can have on a baseball game, and a baseball team, that influence pales in significance compared to that of the head coach in professional football, and major college football too, for that matter.

The days when a quarterback could call his own plays are gone, of course, almost beyond recall. (Not for me but for many of you, I’m sure). The head coach puts together the game plan and usually calls each play. But, beyond that enormous influence, he also determines the type of players a team will acquire and dictates their behavior on the field.

It’s the worst thing that ever happened to football. A team can have a great passing quarterback such as Kurt Warner, for example, and he’ll be forced to run the football until his team is almost hopelessly behind.

Conversely, there are countless stories of the great running quarterbacks, such as Michael Vick and Vince Young, who are shackled to the pocket by coaches more interested in their system than winning, or, too limited mentally to figure out that the system that worked with their previous team won’t necessarily work with the team they have now.

The best coaches adapt their styles to their personnel. That is why Bill Belichick can win with overpowering defense, or win with an overwhelming passing attack, or win with a hard-hitting running attack. He adapts his style to his personnel, unlike Mike Martz and the new genius in Arizona.

Another mark of good leaders is that they can adapt to changing styles of play and new ideas that work. That is why we are seeing a lot more emphasis already this year on rushing the passer. The Giants’ convincing win over the supposed team of the century was accomplished by maintaining a constant stream of pressure on Tom Brady. The better teams with the better coaches will copy that style this year. And already this young season, we’ve seen Tom Brady get hurt and Peyton Manning fail to beat the Bears.

It seems to me that this new philosophy will prove a very dangerous one indeed for the quarterback population. Vince Young is hurt too, and maybe mentally as well as physically, if Coach Fischer can be believed. Fantasy footballers especially will feel the pinch when the better quarterbacks go down. Will Romo be next?

But the better coaches will already have been thinking about adaptations. More screens and draws maybe, more quick releases; the running backs who can catch the ball should see an increase in their usefulness and productivity, as will the Wes Welkers of the world. Especially against teams with the big pass rush, those quick hitters will be the only way to survive.

We might see teams loading up on quarterbacks, or see them feature better backups or perhaps younger backups. We’ve certainly seen already an adaptation to the injury factor with the almost universal switch to dual running backs. We’ve already seen the better teams, and smarter teams, put a more pronounced emphasis on the offensive line, at least if their increasing salaries is any indication.

Whatever changes are incorporated into the game, though, it’ll be the head coaches with smarts and imagination who will carry the day, and the season, as Belichick has, and Parcells, and a few others, if perhaps to a lesser extent. In a way, Parcells’s style or system already incorporates the injury risk factor, calling not only for big linemen but also for big linebackers and even a big secondary.

Sports emulates life and it’ll be a different type of season. Leadership will determine the winners, and the losers too

Of Real Men and Weakness

Shawn Merriman had some big trouble with his knees. ACL, MCL, whatever….it was serious. Merriman had been feeling pain in his knees since 2006. Yet the man still wanted to play. He was panned far and wide for his decision, by players, coaches, former coaches, TV analysts, doctors….the whole gamut of people and professions who’d have anything to say on the matter. I say “Good for you, Shawn”. At least you tried to keep playing.

Billy Wagner, upon being questioned as to how his son Will felt about his Dad not playing ball anymore, broke down a bit, trying to hold back the tears for not being able to provide that same cool Dad he had always been, at least not for a while.

Jerry Manuel confronted Jose Reyes in his coaching debut, he changes ineffective pitchers, he threatens established players with “rest”, he plays the guys who produce while giving everybody every opportunity that he can to do just that.

Carlos Delgado refused another curtain call for another two homer day, saying it’s not the right time, this after smacking about a bazillion home runs since the middle of July, not to mention the singles and doubles he’s had with the game on the line.

Carlos Beltran worried about his knee but still played on in centerfield. David Wright worked with his batting coach when his production fell off and went 2 for 4. Ryan Church shook off his concussion and his slow start after his return by smacking a home run.

LaDainian Tomlinson had the nerve in last year’s playoffs to sit when he knew his knee would not allow him to be an effective player in the biggest game of the year, this despite knowing the heat he’d take for sitting.

Jake Delhomme came back from his injury to throw a dart for a TD pass with zero seconds on the clock. Willie Parker came back from his injury to wipe out the Texans in his first game back. Larry Fitzgerald practiced his blocking to make way for his running backs.

Okay…enough. But these are real men. They try as hard as they can. They try to get better. They have the courage to take the big hit. They have the humility to turn down any unseemly adulation. They use their brains to the fullest. They maximize their resources. They motivate. They have human feelings. They also have human failings but overcome them.

What they don’t do is whine. What they don’t do is say, “look at me, please look at me some more, let every camera be focused on me”. They either don’t brag or, in very few cases, they back up a brag. They play hurt if they think they can be effective, or they sit if they know they can’t produce, damn the consequences. They have the confidence through practice to produce when the game is on the line.

Then there are the weaknesses in men and organizations, only too easy to pick out.

Chad Johnson is a perfect example, a borderline lunatic…. I don’t really care that he changed his name, but the reason was bad. Muhammad Ali had his reason. Anthony Dorsett had a reason too, even if it was specious reasoning. Any reason other than focusing all eyes on himself would have suited me. And yes, I know the team ignored his contract demands.

Then there are group weaknesses, specifically team weaknesses, that persist year after year. It’s frustrating as a fan of football to watch the Detroit Lions fail year after year to do anything to improve their situation, and not just the Lions, but also the Oakland Raiders, the Houston Texans, and those Chad-full Cincinnati Bengals.

It has to be assumed that for these teams that consistently fail, there is a group lack of character, and it is easy to infer from this that the weakness is right at the top of the organization.

In the Lions’ case, it’s the Ford family, stubbornly refusing to change an obviously blundering joke of a General Manager, who for years drafted only wide receivers, then changed coaches on both sides of the ball. Never though has he thought to pick up any offensive linemen.

Then of course there is Al Davis, who drafts skill players year after year and has a penchant for glitz, more glitz and cornerbacks. Lately they’ve drafted the best quarterback and then the best halfback in the draft. But Al’s team has been an embarrassment for a few years now. This team couldn’t block the Rutgers Newark boys choir. (I don’t know that there is one. If there is, there may be some tough singers on it).

They say the game has passed Al by. I’d have to agree. Gene Upshaw’s death reminded me that the Raiduhs used to have a GREAT offensive line. Former long-time Raider coach and current TV personality John Madden has consistently expounded on the significance of the offensive line in books and on the air. C’mon Al, take a hint.

Then there are the Houston Texans. They made a veritable basket case out of David Carr. Only now as the Giants backup QB are we able to see what Carr could have been if he hadn’t developed the happiest feet since Fred Astaire. A number of prognosticators actually like their chances this year. But after their frightfully inept performance against the Steelers, it’s hard to see them contending for anything. Ever.

All may not be lost though. I mean, look at the Chicago Cubs. They haven’t won the pennant since 1945! But now, led by sweet Lou Piniella, they’ve got some real men of their own. Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano and others almost too numerous to mention. All that and pitching too.

I think we’ll all be seeing the Chicago real men meet the Mets real men in October. These are two teams that shucked the obstacles standing in their way. If they can just get there, they’ll both be ready to go.

Arms and Feet.....and Inches

Every time I looked up, it was a Mets arm making a big play. Carlos Beltran cutting down a runner at the plate, Endy Chavez doing the same but to second baseman Damion Easley, David Wright diving to his right to snare a hard ground ball, springing to his feet and gunning to Delgado. And relievers....there were relievers everywhere, and all doing their job.

Yes, the Mets cemented their hold on first place in the NL East by edging the tough Brewers in Milwaukee last night by a score of 6-5 in ten innings. But it wasn't easy. And they didn't do it with starting pitching either, although rookie Jonathan Niese did just enough to keep his team in the game.

But Jonathan, who looked so very good in the first three innings, came apart in the fourth. Five straight hits sent him to the dugout without retiring a single batter. But no worries, out came Nelson Figueroa to put out the fire in the fourth. Just to show it wasn't a fluke, Nelson pitched a scoreless fifth as well.

Figueroa would be the first of a veritable parade of Mets relievers, six of them to be exact. Duaner Sanchez followed with a scoreless sixth, Brian Stokes gave up only one hit in the seventh and eighth. Then on came the specialists to pitch the ninth, Feliciano to handle the big guy, Prince Fielder and another lefty, and Smith to handle the right side.

Of course, the Mets weren't doing anything either against the Brewers relievers either. In fact, after the third inning, the Mets bats were virtually silenced by Manny Parra, the starter, and then Guillermo Mota, the slowest relief pitcher in the world, not his velocity, but the duration between one pitch and another. Then fireballing Eric Gagne retired the Mets in the eighth before Salomon Torres survived the ninth but not the tenth.

In the tenth, David Murphy came through once again with a pinch hit single to center, and he moved to third base on a very strange play. Jose Reyes's bunt was fielded nicely by catcher Jason Kendall but his hurried throw to first was to the inside of the bag and arrived at exactly the same time as Jose did, thus enabling Reyes to dislodge the ball from Fielder's mitt.

Endy Chavez then hit a sacrifice fly ball to right field that scored Murphy with what would become the deciding run. But not before some more cardiac arrest for Mets fans in the bottom of the tenth. Ayala looked brilliant in striking out former Met Mike Cameron and was somewhat less imposing when Bill Hall just got under one for a long fly ball out to Tatis in right.

Then the real fun started. The Brewers had still one more gigantic guy on their bench, a fellow named Nelson who creamed an Ayala delivery to right field for a 2-out double. The very scary Gabe Kapler then walked, making this reporter very happy indeed.

This brought up Rickie Weeks, who had homered in the first, had hit 3 more singles throughout the course of the game and who had scored two of the Brewers runs.

Rickie appeared to have done it one more time when he stroked a hard liner to Wright's right that was foul by about an inch. Big sigh for Mets fans. Rickie couldn’t come through one more time as Ayala struck him out on a ball that just dropped a foot into the dirt. The Mets had escaped once again.

Although the Mets made all the plays they had to last night, I have to say the Mets were lucky last night too. Lucky because of the baserunning blunders of the Brewers. Both runners thrown out didn’t use their feet to slide, opting for the ridiculous arm slide to the side of the bag. It may work sometimes but it didn’t last night, and, as Keith Hernandez pointed out, it should be put on the shelf.

So there were the arms the Mets threw at them all night long, the feet the Brewers could have used, and the inches by which the possible game-winning hit was foul. Taken together, it seems as if that’s quite a lot of good fortune to befall our locals on one night.

But the Mets keep rolling. They don’t hit half the night and come up roses. In the first game against the Brewers, Reyes made a silly attempt to steal third and was thrown out. That was the kind of play that signaled the end for the Mets under Willie Randolph.

Not so for Jerry Manuel. Not so far anyway. He keeps making all the right moves. It’s bordering on eerie already. He has nurtured and cajoled and made seemingly countless trips to the mound these past few weeks and somehow keeps coming up roses. But I’ll take it.

I’ll take the trips to the mound along with the miraculous fielding turnaround, and the hot hitting from Delgado and now Beltran. I’ll take the platoon in left of the kids Murphy and Evans too. And the defensive replacement of Chavez in left field. And the better pitching from Oliver Perez, and the same for Pelfrey and even Santana.

I’ll take it all because we Mets fans had to experience the excruciating losses under Willie. You’ll never convince me that this improved play in all aspects of the game by this Mets team is just good fortune finally finding its way into the Mets dugout. No, these successful moves are all too calculated. The will to win is right out there for everybody to see. Manuel will make the moves he has to.

Tomorrow, this passion play resumes with Perez going against a Brewer pitcher who has been “lights out” for the last month, a fellow named Dave Bush. It should be very interesting, but if there’s a rabbit waiting to be pulled out of a hat, I’ve got to think the hat’ll be blue.

So Low and Solo - Kudos to Good Coaches

Never did a coach in ANYTHING have it so wrong. Former U.S. soccer Coach Greg Ryan last year removed the goalie who got them to the 2007 World Cup semifinal and replaced her for some ridiculous technical reason with Briana Scurry, a good player too, but one who had pretty much rode the pines throughout the entire U.S. run.

Of course, Scurry gave up four goals and the U.S. lost their World Cup semifinal to Brazil, but that was the least of the damage. The decision ultimately resulted in bad feelings all around for the team as Solo understandably voiced her strong opinion that she would have stopped those goals.

Virtually the entire team turned against Solo. Only a few stayed in Solo’s corner, one of whom was the woman who scored the winning goal in overtime against Brazil in the Olympic gold medal matchup. She is none other than New Jersey’s own Carli Lloyd from Delran.

The score was 1-0. That it went that far and that long was due almost entirely to Hope Solo, whose save after save after save turned back the athletic Brazilians. After the match, even the Brazilian soccer coach lauded Ms. Solo. And her U.S. teammates finally relented in their sworn enmity to her as they all celebrated their gold medal.

I’ve read that Solo’s fine performance was her redemption. I don’t think so. Was it her vindication? Yes. Absolutely. But she needed no redemption in my eyes. She had always been the hero of the melodrama, she and the young women like Carli Lloyd who stayed with her.

If one had said it was the U.S. soccer team’s redemption, I could have gone along with that, if only it hadn’t taken them so long to see the light. Too many of them, in siding with a coach, initially no doubt to save their own skins, and then staying with their petty convictions all the way to the Olympics final, earned my total disrespect, and their victory really does very little towards earning my understanding, never mind forgiveness. In a way, they didn’t deserve such a positive result.

But I am extremely happy for Hope Solo and her compatriot, Carli Lloyd. They both came up big when they had to. And although the rest of them obviously played a large part in that great U.S. victory, I can’t help feeling that some of them just went along for the ride. Most of them just did what was easiest.

Too much is made of team unity, especially in the light of ridiculously harsh circumstances. A young woman who had just lost her father and who had to give up her conviction to win one for her homeless Dad, had to watch hopelessly as her replacement allowed ball after ball into the net. How many of us in those same shoes could have held their tongues?

There should have been some glimmer of understanding for Hope Solo, the best goalkeeper in the world. And the people who run the Olympic programs should have some recourse in the event that a coach seems to lose all perspective.

Sometimes a coach loses the forest for the trees. In a sport such as soccer in which every game means so much, there should be the ability for the Olympic organizers to rescind an awful decision before it can impact the big game. Ryan’s hopelessly misguided decision impacted the entire women’s soccer program for a full year.

One coach with a surprisingly good grasp of the forest is Jerry Manuel. Mr. Manuel proved that again Thursday night with his handling of Pedro Martinez. Pedro had pitched well for 5 full innings before getting knocked around a bit in the 6^th. But Manuel had Pedro pitch the 7^th as well, and Pedro obligingly retired the three batters he faced.

And in the 8^th, Manuel had Pedro face the first batter with the intention of replacing him whether or not Pedro retired that hitter. Done to eliminate any need to have to play the righty, lefty game with relievers down the stretch, it is the kind of thing Manuel has done over and over since he took the reins from Willie Randolph.

It’s the simplest of things yet proves to the players that the manager’s head is always in the game; that it has a very good chance to win as long as that guy is at the helm. It’s the kind of thing Willie seemingly never thought of, or perhaps the kind of thing he thought would have been over-managing a situation.

Willie always seemed to think his guys would win the game, that all things considered, in the end, the best players would prevail, and he had the best players. Such a strategy may have worked for those strong Yankees teams of yesteryear but it never seemed to suit these Mets, either the 2007 or 2008 variety at any rate.

And, after the game, Jerry went out of his way to praise the efforts of David Wright, for his great plays in the field, not just his formidable bat. And, rather than harp on the mistake David made on the basepaths, Manuel just joked that he had been in no-man’s land; that he wanted so badly to score.

Coaches and managers mean so much in sports. And not just for their tactical moves either. It’s way more than that. Every player has to believe in the manager’s concern for the outcome, his ability to make it so, and for his genuine humanity.

So kudos this evening for the 2008 U.S. soccer coach, who had the foresight to convince his team that Hope Solo should be one of them. His name is Pia Sundhage. Don’t ask me to pronounce it.

And the same for Jerry Manuel, who makes all the right moves, or most of them anyway. (Just today I heard John Heymann say that Manuel wasn’t a LaRussa or a Scoscia. Maybe it’ll take a World Series to change his mind).

One More Chance

You can’t beat the Olympics for poignancy, for pathos, for drama. One chance. That’s all you get for gold. A body of work means nothing. As opposed to professional baseball, a sport for which it’s all in the body of work, and individual failures can and usually are overlooked, especially if your team manages to be successful.

Never were these truths more evident than last night, when strange mishaps befell favorites in the 100-meter hurdles and 400 meter run while a decision on a start value in the balance beam saved gold for one of my favorites in these Beijing Games. And, thousands of miles away, the Mets won another with an assist from one of their formerly vilified relievers who got still one more chance.

I almost cried for Shawn Johnson as it became evident that the little pixie would win her first gold. For a few minutes there, I thought that the beautiful Nastia Liukin would edge Shawn out again in the balance beam competition.

To be honest, Liukin’s performance looked better to me. But it didn’t carry the difficulty value of Shawn’s. So Shawn finally took gold after winning three silvers. With gold for both U.S. roommates, they can now draw lots for who gets to use the shower first. Now there’s a picture.

But even if Shawn had fallen right on her pretty little head, her failure wouldn’t compare to that of the favorite in the 100-meter hurdles, Loli Jones, whose heel clipped the penultimate hurdle hard enough to make her stumble, thus enabling the other young women to pass her by.

She said later that she knew she had the lead, and she was going hard, and the hurdles were coming back to her so fast. One can only imagine how quickly those hurdles were coming to her as she sped over them like Mercury on mescaline.

There was the 400 meter, and a great start for Sanya Richards that may have brought on a fateful cramp. Whatever the cause, it spelled gold and silver for two others but just bronze for Sanya. And weeping in the wings as the full realization of her misfortune overwhelmed her.

There was the renowned Chinese hurdler who had been regaled by his countrymen for months before straining his Achilles so badly that he couldn’t make it much past the starting blocks, producing still another poignant moment for the world and NBC.

One chance every four years. Most competitors get a chance at two Olympics, three at the most if they are lucky enough to catch that first one at an early age. Or if they happen to be named Dara Torres, who at 41 has defied all the rules for some time now.

For most of the athletes in track and field, gymnastics, swimming and many of the other sports contested at the Games, they get one shot at fame, and, if they’re lucky, fortune.

I’m quite sure we’ll be seeing quite a lot of all the gold medal winners in the years to come, not just Mr. Phelps, Ms. Liukin and Ms. Johnson. They’ll peer at us from newspapers, the sides of buses and in TV ads hawking everything from slippers to perfume. (In fact, for the roommates at least, I’m quite looking forward to it).

But we shouldn’t get too overwrought about the losers’misfortunes either. They’ve enjoyed the process of getting to these Olympic Games, I’m quite sure. They haven’t enjoyed every single practice maybe, but in the aggregate, through all the time and money and injuries, they’ve had the time of their life. In fact, for almost all of them, it is their life.

And it’s a pretty good life. It’s most certainly a clean life and usually a simple, uncluttered life, one in which money becomes secondary. Most of the good ones hold a job, of course, but they never let it occupy their thoughts too much. It never becomes an obsession. If an employer asks for overtime, they soon find something else. Or, if nothing else presents itself, they can always become personal trainers.

Of course, they’ll never become millionaires, as they would have if their specialty had been baseball. In baseball, athletes are judged on their body of work. Through 162 games, year after year, they get the opportunity to either excel or fall flat on their faces.

For my favorite team, the Mets, their relief pitchers are the perfect examples for the multitude of opportunities athletes can truly get. For Aaron Heilman, Scott Schoeneweis, Duaner Sanchez, Pedro Feliciano and Joe Smith, the opportunities keep coming.

More often than not, they fail. But, through a curious mixture of management and luck, each one of them isn’t allowed to fail long enough to lose the game. So, in a most curious way, I guess they have been successful. After all, the Mets are still in first place in the NL East, even if Jerry Manuel is looking a little grayer every time I see him.

Last night we got to see still another reliever the Mets added to their game of musical chairs in the person of Luis Ayala. Luis was magnificent last night, which means he’ll be terrible next time out if the Mets fortunes hold to the same pattern.

Scot Schoeneweis was Manuel’s closer of choice last night. And he provided a most uneventful ninth inning. Whether he’ll get to see another ninth inning soon is questionable, of course, but he’ll undoubtedly get some more opportunities, for better or for worse. As will each of the other Mets downtrodden relievers.

But as long as the book of charms Manuel is consulting seems to be working, I hesitate to complain. If form holds, this relief corps will fail as often as they succeed in their mission, but when they do fail, it won’t be a long-lasting failure. Jerry won’t have it.

One thing is sure though. Unlike these Olympians, they’ll get at least one more chance, and probably one more than we’d like.

Just the Right Touch

As this is written, I recollect Michael Phelps touching that wall .01 seconds ahead of the Serb and Nastia Liukin doing more things right than all her competitors. Of course, in Olympic competition, there are ample opportunities to witness athletes reaching back for more, calling on reserves they knew they had because they'd done it before, not because it's easy but because they want to win.

Given the opportunity, these types of competitors will win. In professional baseball, the type of effort I'm talking about is witnessed very seldom on a seasonal basis but you can see individual efforts that approach a true hundred percent once or twice each night, sometimes by great players but sometimes by those lesser talented guys who are just tired of losing, or tired of seeing their names in the papers in a negative light.

In 162 games, the duration of the baseball season, you really can't expect to see that kind of effort every night. You CAN expect to see it more than once in a while though. You DO see it practically all the time from some of the greats; I'm thinking of the Mariano Riveras of the world, the Ernie Bankses, those players who really love the game itself and revel in their ability to play it.

More often than not, though, in baseball, you see guys going through the motions, and you hope that will be enough to carry your team through July and August and get you into a position to win in September. The good teams manage the situation with finesse and just the delicate touch needed to carry 25 different personalities to the promised land, which is the playoffs in baseball.

Just the right touch. In 162 games, it means having that touch just a few more times than the opposition. It’s the touch that keeps good players playing well, and great players playing great. And sometimes, in just the right situation, it’s the touch that gets mediocre players to play over their heads.

Does Joe Girardi have it? Joe Torre? Jerry Manuel? Yeah, I think they probably do. Did Willie Randolph have it? I don’t think he did. At least, not in the time he had to demonstrate it.

That touch can sometimes be interpreted as heavy-handedness. When Jerry Manuel honestly talked about having to do something to win games after Monday night’s excruciating loss to the Pirates, even proposing to use starters in relief situations, it appeared heavy-handed to his relief staff, a staff that seemed to be sleepwalking for quite a long time, a staff that was proving to be one of the worst in baseball, a staff that didn’t seem phased by their mounting ERA’s or even the team’s mounting numbers in the loss column.

But they DID take notice of Manuel’s comments. They took considerable offense. They had a meeting with raised voices, the loudest voice ironically being one of the worst offenders, one of the veterans, one of the guys who was successful as recently as a few years ago, but hadn’t done much last year in the Mets collapse, and had done perhaps less as this year’s team was falling into oblivion.

Manuel’s comments were made Monday night. Since then, they’ve won four in a row, and the relief staff has never been better. They had every opportunity to lose Tuesday night’s game but Pedro Feliciano did the job. On Wednesday, they weren’t needed. On Thursday, after a shaky start by Joe Smith, Duaner Sanchez saved the day. And last night, Sanchez and Heilman triumphed again.

It doesn’t matter that the teams they beat were Washington and Pittsburgh. Wasn’t it Pittsburgh who beat them Monday night? Wasn’t it Pittsburgh who rose from the dead against a relief staff too bored with itself to appear to be even trying?

Just the right touch. Are those relievers still peeved with Manuel? Probably. I don’t care. If it takes a left-handed attack on their self-esteem to get them going, that’s not Jerry Manuel’s fault. The Mets as this is written are back in first place again.

It’s very difficult to say what that right touch is exactly. It’s the touch that got Delgado going, that got Reyes playing smarter, that got Perez pitching to his ability, that got more players to play hard, to have fun, to take pride in itself and start winning games.

The right touch; it’s ideas like roles for the pitching staff (until the relievers seemed not to want ANY role), like rest for some of his core veterans, like staying with hot bats, like giving his team a lift with minor-leaguers showing promise. But that’s not all it is either.

It’s visualization too, as Manuel speaks of another long run of wins he feels his team can put together, or a run of good at-bats that Delgado can put together. It’s praise out of nowhere for deserving guys like Beltran and Reyes. It’s praise such as that that gets Reyes to snag that ball in the hole last night; that gets Beltran to charge that ground ball through the infield and fire home to nail that Pirate at the plate.

The right touch. It’s all of the above and probably some other things too, more ethereal qualities such as inspiring confidence just in the thoughtful way he answers questions, or inspiring loyalty in the way he rewards deserving players and sits the rest. It’s a commitment to winning with guys who will get him there, not just filling out a lineup card with guys who’ve been there before.

Thoughtfulness, flexibility, sincerity, commitment….and just the right touch, usually applied at just the right time.

It’s a long season. There’ll probably be times when even this manager may seem to be sleeping, as I’ve thought on a few occasions this year, occasions when he could have walked a batter to face a pitcher, for example.

More often than not though, Manuel will do just what’s needed…. with just the right touch.

No Relief In Sight

The Mets and Yankees both got to celebrate wins last night and, no doubt, either Joe Girardi or Jerry Manuel may have taken the opportunity to enjoy a cigar, but not because either of them had a closer. Actually, Girardi had a great one who failed for once and Manuel had a setup guy, a lefty specialist who succeeded for once.

The results were the same, of course. Pedro Feliciano made sure the Mets one run lead held up in the 9th, while Arod and the X-Man powered home runs in the 12th to save the Yanks and Mariano, who experienced the ignominy of giving up a 3-run homer to Delmon Young in the 9th to blow the save.

For the Mets and Manuel, it was another nail-biter for sure. After each of the first two outs was recorded in that ninth inning and while their stud rookie Kunz was warming up in the bullpen, Manuel agonized as to whether to leave Feliciano in there.

What a choice, a talented rookie or a hard - luck lately veteran, one who had given up more than his share of home runs in his crazy season. The victory moved them to within 1 game of the Phillies, who lost a tough one to the Dodgers.

For the Yankees, it was a nice breather that provided them an opportunity to showcase their sluggers in extra innings and keep pace with the Rays and Red Sox, even though the trusty Mariano finally did have a bad day. That Arod and Nady both came through for them in that 12th inning should jump-start their Minnesota trip and provide the impetus they need to survive this road trip.

Even though the Mets are much closer to the Phillies than are the Yankees to the Rays, somehow you still have to like the Yankees chances just as much. After all, the Yanks have a closer, arguably the best one in the league, Papelbon and F-Rod notwithstanding. The Mets closer, Billy Wagner, is still on the DL, and it's kind of iffy what kind of performances he'll be able to deliver upon his return.

<>While the Yankees can breathe a sigh of relief and look forward to a game like last night’s not happening again for a long time, the Mets can only look forward to more of the same. Of course, the Yankees have a quite different problem, a lack of starting pitching, something the Mets have in abundance.

So pick your poison, either enjoying a lead for six or seven innings only to lose versus trying to catch up to your opponent for the entire game. While simple arithmetic would seem to favor the starting pitching, after all, seven good innings should be better than just two or three good innings, it doesn’t seem to be working out that way.

<>Of course, the Yankees do have a better lineup, what with Arod and Abreu and Nady and Damon and um, anyone….anyone… While in most years you’d have to add Jeter to the list and Matsui and Posada too, this is not one of those years.

Of course, the Giambino still powers them over the wall too, but, all in all, you don’t get that feeling that the Yanks are capable of piling it on as they had in the past, maybe because they’re behind a lot of the time. Of course, last night they had Mussina going, good old Moosie, their only really effective pitcher this year. Wang’s gone, Joba’s hurt, Pettite hasn’t been Pettite-like and um, Giese? Don’t make me say “Pavano”. Or Kennedy for that matter.

<>All that being said, however, their losses haven’t been as excruciating as have those of the Mets. That Pirates loss of Monday afternoon was so painful to me, I can scarcely talk about it. Neither could Manuel. That relief staff has been more than just bad.

And, by all appearances, there is no relief in sight. Billy will probably be back, and hopefully, he’ll return pretty close to form. I personally think Duaner Sanchez can come back stronger than he has shown, especially in big spots, much as he did on Monday before he was relieved after a couple of nice innings.

<>And, even as pedestrian as the others have been, if they can just move from bad, bad, bad to only middling, that would be a boon to the Mets chances. Let’s face it, there isn’t much talent available out there in the market, and, if there were, you get the feeling the Mets wouldn’t pursue it.

One gets the distinct feeling that it will be the next GM who pursues anyone new. Much as the Knicks and James Dolan made Isiah live or die with the talent that he put together, so it seems the Mets have put the gauntlet to Omar Minaya. I wish I could say that it’s unfair. But there have been too many acquisitions that have just not produced at all.

<>Of course, if the Mets can somehow pull through, a distinct possibility still, I’m sure Minaya will be retained. If Pedro can stay healthy for the rest of the year, the Mets starting pitching is just a shade short of awesome. Their plug-ins in the lineup have been creditable and there is Wright and there are Beltran and Delgado and Reyes.

I would say to Manuel, though, that it is getting late. If Pedro has gone six and says he can go more, stay with Pedro; the same for Santana and the other fine starters, Perez and Pelfrey and Maine.

<>If Sanchez gives you two good innings, stay with Sanchez, at least until he shows signs of weakening. With a relief corps as questionable as this one, can you really afford to NOT play the hot hand and stay with that hot hand until it turns cold.

It’s time to do a little thinking outside the box. All those rested arms will avail us nothing if we never get to the promised land.