Shannon – Page 45 – The Mets Police

June 20, 2008

>Mussina, The Boss & The Hall of Garvey

>Was watching the Yankee game in picture-in-picture while rocking out to Bruce’s 1975 Hammersmith Odeon concert DVD which is just wonderful. That’s “the Boss” part of this post for those of you not following along.

Meanwhile in the little box I saw something I haven’t seen all year. The starting pitcher, future Hall of Famer Mike Mussina was losing, and yet he came out to pitch the 6th inning. Then the 7th. Then get this, the 8th inning!

Apparently the AL has two rules the NL doesn’t. One is something called a DH. The other is that your starting pitcher doesn’t have to come out before the sixth inning ends. I would have thought Willie Randolph would have been familiar with this technique from his time in the AL, but apparently not.

I was sad that Moose didn’t get the win, but he should start the All Star Game, and he will wind up in the Hall of Fame. I personally don’t think he should be in the HOF – I have created something I call the “Hall of Garvey” for those players that were pretty darn good, but just ain’t Hall of Famers. Keith Hernandez and Don Mattingly are also first ballot Hall of Garveyers.

Somewhere during Rosalita and a Yankee rally John Maine gave up two runs.

June 20, 2008

>The Backman Petition

>My co-writer Cyclones Fan is probably going to disagree, and that’s cool, but this precinct of The Mets Police thinks a Backman petition is silly.

Jerry is the new manager. Let;s support the guy. As much as I enjoy giving this team a hard time, I do want them to win….J-Man is the manager. Let’s let him take a stab at winning the pennant before we run him out of town.

Besides, Lee Mazzilli should be next manager. Wally can be bench coach.

Here’s the press release:

New York, NY (PRWEB) June 20, 2008 — A petition urging the New York Mets to hire Wally Backman as a minor league manager has begun to circulate on the Internet. The disgruntled New York fan base has begun passing the petition around, hoping to convince team ownership to bring the former second baseman back into the organization.

The “Hire Wally Backman” petition cites Backman’s managerial track record and his ability to develop major league players as the main reason to bring Backman back into the Mets organization. Backman was named Sporting News Minor League Manager of the Year in 2004 and has managed current major leaguer players, including Dan Uggla, Aaron Rowand, Conor Jackson and Carlos Quentin.

Backman was a Major League infielder from 1981-1993 and was the second baseman on the 1986 World Series Champion New York Mets. He began managing in 1997 with the independent Catskill Cougars.

“I grew up watching Wally and those great Mets teams and have always been a big fan of his hustle and grit,” says petition creator Michael Curtin. “He has a similar style as a manager — emphasizing communication and inspiring hustle while demanding fundamental baseball. Any team should want guys like that in their minor league system. It just makes perfect sense to bring Backman into the Mets organization.”

….

The Hire Wally Backman Petition can be found online at: http://www.petitiononline.com/backman/petition.html

June 20, 2008

>Stuff That Makes Me Laugh

On the left there, the Jerry Manuel style of management has taken to international soccer. (Thanks Deadspin)
.

Goose Gossage says: “There’s not enough mustard in the city to cover Reyes. He needs to act like a professional. I don’t want this sport to turn into football where they dance after every play. I can’t stand that – the dancing, the laughing – there’s no place for that in the game. He’s not the first great player to play – I wouldn’t even say great because he hasn’t won anything yet.” (thanks ESPN)

And Letterman says, “Willie is pretty good about it. He said he’s looking forward to spending more time at home being booed by his family.” (thanks Letterman)

June 20, 2008

>Nieto's Fault

>I love a snarky post and ESPN’s Page Two has written the definitive piece on Tom Nieto.

The overall numbers say it all. From Opening Day through Monday, the Mets collected 419 singles, but just 124 doubles. The man holding runners up at first base, time and again? That’s right — Tom Nieto. This is not a result of small sample size — in 2007, with “Red Light” Nieto on the case, the Mets hit 294 doubles, but an astounding 1,045 singles. Not surprisingly, the team failed to make the playoffs.

Hilarious. click:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=megdal/080619&sportCat=mlb&campaign=rsssrch&source=new+york+mets

June 20, 2008

>Willie Should Stay Quiet

>Willie should just stay quiet and take the high road. Don’t forget, three weeks ago he was in the middle of a “racism” controversry. The Mets turned him into a martyr. All he needs to do is stay quiet and let Hank & Hal offer him a chance to wave at the All Star Game….Willie would be a returning hero and the Mets would look like idiots.

So stay quiet.

Willie spoke to the News…some interesting things:

Then (Omar) handed me an envelope, a little parting gift, and told me to make sure I reviewed it with my agent, Ron Shapiro.
It was a copy of my Met contract that basically says I better not say anything detrimental about the team, or I might jeopardize the rest of the money I have coming to me.

Boy these Mets are really afraid of what people might say about them or think about them. The more they try to control the message the stupider they look. Do they really think that if Willie came out and called them names it would really turn people into Yankees fans? If the Mets win, they draw. That’s how it is.

As for the “racism” controversy, Willie is remoresful:

The bottom line is that by suggesting that the color of my skin had something to do with how I was judged, I did nothing but sow the seeds of my demise. I kick myself about that every day. It makes me angry – and really sad.

Now the Mets Police were all in favor of a change at manager, and always felt Willie whined his way into the job in the first place. However, this was handled so so so so poorly. All the Mets had to do was fire him on Memorial Day. Now everyone feels bad for this guy.

Even The Mets Police.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2008/06/20/2008-06-20_willie_randolph_opens_up_after_his_recen-3.html