"Willie, You're Doin' a Heckuva Job!"

And so it was, on the twenty-sixth day of May, 2008, New York Mets ownership and general management sat down with Willie Randolph for two hours to discuss his team's sub-.500 record for the past year despite a $140 payroll, a 1-6 trip against division rival Atlanta and injury-riddled, last place Colorado, his baseless accusations of racism against the media and fans, and game after game of shoddy, listless, lifeless, and mistake-ridden play.

Eventually, GM Omar Minaya emerged from this meeting to address the assembled media, and expressed the only conclusion one could possibly reach from these facts:

“Willie Randolph is our manager. There is no limbo. He’s the manager…and I hope he is our manager for many years to come.”

Wha-what-WHAT?!?

Of course, following this pronouncement, Willie's boys went out there and rallied behind him the only way they know how:

A shoddy, listless, lifeless, and mistake-ridden 7-3 loss.

Strike up the band!

***

Some thoughts on some atrocious baseball this weekend:


(1) Apparently Carlos Delgado is getting a little prickly with the media:

Asked to answer the part of the question regarding Randolph, Delgado told Heyman, “If you wanna be an ass, I can be an ass too.”

No, Carlos, you just PLAY like ass. Jesus, when can we cut this useless pantload? Every day it's a competition to see which is worse, his bat or his glove. Just get this cancer out of here and move on. If the Blue Jays can afford to eat Frank Thomas's contract, why can't we afford to eat Delgad-awful's? I don't understand it.

(2) Here's the script for about 93% of the Met losses in 2008: (a) Take modest 1-run lead for first 2-3 innings; (b) Blow lead, often with defensive blunder; (c) Let other team pad lead; (d) Shut everything down - no rallies, no fight, no nothing. Shut. Everything. Down. I've never seen a sadder brand of baseball in my life. When the other team grabs a one-run or two-run lead in the 5th inning, it's not just "over" in the way people say "it's over" in a half-kidding kind of way. It's actually, literally, "over." Done. Finished. Change the channel. Perhaps there's a way to let us forfeit these games once we give up a lead, so our players will be nice and rested for 2009?

(3) Some have suggested that Omar belongs on the hot seat instead of Willie. I, personally, don't see it. Yes, he's made some mistakes (Bannister-for-Burgos and the absurd Castillo contract stand out), but c'mon, man: he's put together a team with David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana, Billy Wagner and John Maine, and orchestrated what looks like an absolute raping of the Nationals with the Church/Schneider for Milledge deal. And this somehow is a team that now doesn't even COMPETE, let alone win? The Mets have terrible fundamentals, they don't hustle, they give away at-bats, and they generally play stupid, lazy and disinterested baseball. These sorts of things, in my opinion, fall in the manager's lap. It's time for a new voice.

Finally, Flitgirl said something interesting during the game yesterday. Taking note of my less-than-stellar mood, she remarked "see, this is why I'm not a sports fan."

And you know what? I thought about it for a second, and she had a point. Why do I put myself through this torture, year after year after year?

And then I realized something.

This is why.