No, but the 7-2 stretch before the sweep did. The team had its 2 best wins of the year during those nine games, which came immediately following the meeting with ownership, which by itself bought him some time.
You really don't think he's gonna be in the dugout tomorrow night? Wanna bet?
Newsday.com
It's time to restart the Willie watch
Ken Davidoff
12:59 AM EDT, June 11, 2008
After this game, arguably the worst of the Mets' season, you can throw your siren back on your car and restart the Willie Watch.
To open up an important homestand by jumping out to an early, four-run lead ... and then to play so tentatively it seems like you're trying to run out the clock ... before yet another reliever gives up the key hit ... how much more can Mets management suffer before it at least sees if a managerial change can do anything?
Yes, the Mets' 9-5 loss to the Diamondbacks, their fifth straight, was that ugly Tuesday night, Exhibit A to the notion that this team simply cannot move past its Collapse of 2007. Willie Randolph's players displayed a lack of resilience, of aggressiveness, of athleticism, in the game's final seven innings.
This, after all, served as a Golden Oldie from September '07: Get ahead quick, then shut it down so that the opponent can deliberately, undoubtedly chip away at its deficit and ultimately win the game. They're now 30-33 this season.
Mets general manager Omar Minaya, following a long, postgame meeting with Randolph, pitching coach Rick Peterson and bullpen coach Guy Conti, as well as Minaya's assistant Tony Bernazard, insisted that no change was imminent. Ran.dolph and his coaches are safe, Minaya said.
"Nothing has changed from what we spoke about two weeks ago," Minaya said, referring to the Wilpons' May 26 meeting with Minaya and Randolph.
Of course, that's the problem. Nothing has changed. The Mets followed an encouraging, 7-2 stretch with their current streak.
The Mets' weekend at Petco Park was so odd -- all of those close losses, in that pitchers' haven -- that they won over the benefit of this doubter. Surely, I thought, this was just a fluky weekend on relatively unfamiliar terrain.
Yet their return home blew up that idea. This was a choke job of the highest order, by a team that seems to have seriously lost its way.
More bad news for the Mets: They very well might have whiffed on their best chance to win a game in this series. They pounded D-backs starter Micah Owings for five runs and eight hits in 41/3 innings, yet they wound up on the wrong side of the score. Wednesday night, the raw Mike Pelfrey must face National League Cy Young Award favorite Brandon Webb, and Thursday, Mets ace Johan Santana takes on the difficult Dan Haren.
Following the game, in a deathly quiet Mets clubhouse, denial took over the room.
"They found a few holes. We didn't," said Randolph, who must have forgotten Arizona's four homers.
"It's just weird, how we can't get everything working," John Maine said. "One night, it might be the pitching. Another night, it might be the hitting."
Yeah, that tends to be the case with bad teams.
As for Tuesday night, pick a goat, any goat: Maine, who's supposed to be the Mets' third stopper, couldn't slam the door on Arizona after receiving that 5-1 lead after two. He never seemed like he had control of the game, and he was done after just five innings and 101 pitches.
Carlos Delgado looked like he was about to turn 76, not 36, when he dove clumsily after Augie Ojeda's tying single in the sixth inning.
If you thought that the 1-hour, 1-minute rain delay would give the Mets a chance to regain their footing, you were overly optimistic. Joe Smith became the latest reliever to falter in this current losing streak -- joining Scott Schoeneweis, Pedro Feliciano and Billy Wagner -- when he threw an 0-and-2 pitch that Chris Snyder smoked for the tiebreaking homer.
And if you were hoping for a ninth-inning comeback, Duaner Sanchez poured cold water on that escape route, getting smoked for two homers and three runs in the top of the ninth.
Heck, the Mets' best display of aggressiveness and teamwork came when Wagner and Schoeneweis helped the grounds crew secure the tarp, as heavy wind made the task difficult during the rain delay.
"We have a good team," a relaxed-looking Minaya said afterward. It's becoming increasingly difficult to believe that. And to think that Randolph will finish the season as the manager.
Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.
It's time to restart the Willie watch
Ken Davidoff
12:59 AM EDT, June 11, 2008
After this game, arguably the worst of the Mets' season, you can throw your siren back on your car and restart the Willie Watch.
To open up an important homestand by jumping out to an early, four-run lead ... and then to play so tentatively it seems like you're trying to run out the clock ... before yet another reliever gives up the key hit ... how much more can Mets management suffer before it at least sees if a managerial change can do anything?
Yes, the Mets' 9-5 loss to the Diamondbacks, their fifth straight, was that ugly Tuesday night, Exhibit A to the notion that this team simply cannot move past its Collapse of 2007. Willie Randolph's players displayed a lack of resilience, of aggressiveness, of athleticism, in the game's final seven innings.
This, after all, served as a Golden Oldie from September '07: Get ahead quick, then shut it down so that the opponent can deliberately, undoubtedly chip away at its deficit and ultimately win the game. They're now 30-33 this season.
Mets general manager Omar Minaya, following a long, postgame meeting with Randolph, pitching coach Rick Peterson and bullpen coach Guy Conti, as well as Minaya's assistant Tony Bernazard, insisted that no change was imminent. Ran.dolph and his coaches are safe, Minaya said.
"Nothing has changed from what we spoke about two weeks ago," Minaya said, referring to the Wilpons' May 26 meeting with Minaya and Randolph.
Of course, that's the problem. Nothing has changed. The Mets followed an encouraging, 7-2 stretch with their current streak.
The Mets' weekend at Petco Park was so odd -- all of those close losses, in that pitchers' haven -- that they won over the benefit of this doubter. Surely, I thought, this was just a fluky weekend on relatively unfamiliar terrain.
Yet their return home blew up that idea. This was a choke job of the highest order, by a team that seems to have seriously lost its way.
More bad news for the Mets: They very well might have whiffed on their best chance to win a game in this series. They pounded D-backs starter Micah Owings for five runs and eight hits in 41/3 innings, yet they wound up on the wrong side of the score. Wednesday night, the raw Mike Pelfrey must face National League Cy Young Award favorite Brandon Webb, and Thursday, Mets ace Johan Santana takes on the difficult Dan Haren.
Following the game, in a deathly quiet Mets clubhouse, denial took over the room.
"They found a few holes. We didn't," said Randolph, who must have forgotten Arizona's four homers.
"It's just weird, how we can't get everything working," John Maine said. "One night, it might be the pitching. Another night, it might be the hitting."
Yeah, that tends to be the case with bad teams.
As for Tuesday night, pick a goat, any goat: Maine, who's supposed to be the Mets' third stopper, couldn't slam the door on Arizona after receiving that 5-1 lead after two. He never seemed like he had control of the game, and he was done after just five innings and 101 pitches.
Carlos Delgado looked like he was about to turn 76, not 36, when he dove clumsily after Augie Ojeda's tying single in the sixth inning.
If you thought that the 1-hour, 1-minute rain delay would give the Mets a chance to regain their footing, you were overly optimistic. Joe Smith became the latest reliever to falter in this current losing streak -- joining Scott Schoeneweis, Pedro Feliciano and Billy Wagner -- when he threw an 0-and-2 pitch that Chris Snyder smoked for the tiebreaking homer.
And if you were hoping for a ninth-inning comeback, Duaner Sanchez poured cold water on that escape route, getting smoked for two homers and three runs in the top of the ninth.
Heck, the Mets' best display of aggressiveness and teamwork came when Wagner and Schoeneweis helped the grounds crew secure the tarp, as heavy wind made the task difficult during the rain delay.
"We have a good team," a relaxed-looking Minaya said afterward. It's becoming increasingly difficult to believe that. And to think that Randolph will finish the season as the manager.
Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.
