On June 16, 2008, the Mets were 34-35. In the early hours of June 17, Willie Randolph was fired. On June 16, 2011, the Mets were again 34-35, and Terry Collins is being showered with praise. Expectations have certainly changed.
Collins deserves the praise, and I agree with his comments after last night's game that we should look at it less as a brutal loss and more as the conclusion of a winning road trip (6-4) and the end of a series in which the Mets took two of three from the Braves.
But I miss the days when the Mets were expected to win. When simply getting to .500 wasn't viewed as an achievement.
When there was no question that the Mets would keep their stars. When the only question was which new stars would they seek to acquire.
At least I'm still able to yell at the TV when the Mets lose on a balk. I still have hope for this team.
Things haven't yet gotten to the point they were in late August of 2009 when the Mets lost to the Phillies when Jeff Francoeur hit into an unassisted triple play. By then, it was just the latest in a season-long string of indignities.
This year, at least the management still believes in the team. We'll soon find out if ownership shares that belief.
2 comments:
The difference is, the manager then was an ex-Yanker who was wasn't inspiring his team. Willie was too worried about carrying on clueless Joe's "legacy" of never showing emotion or getting fired up or getting the team fired up. Hey, if you're not inspiring or motivating your team, and they are floundering, then it's your neck on the line.
That and the team was on the way down, being guided by an ex-Yanker, of course. Today the Mets are in a holding pattern, mostly because of dead head Fred, who needs to be "fired" just as much, if not more so, than Willie. But at least there is hope.
The Mets are playing their youngsters now, so next year and beyond will (hopefully) be more productive years for our Mets.
The difference is, the manager then was an ex-Yankee, and the dimwits inside Shea never gave a better man than themselves a chance. And it's not easy to motivate a team when it's full of unmotivated lumps of mashed potatoes.
Terry Collins, who has never proven a thing as a manager (unlike Willie Randolph, who somehow whipped those potatoes to within 1 run of a Pennant), has the Mets roughly where the seriously undermined Randolph had them. Collins gets a free pass because, unlike Randolph, he is in his first season, and the current bunch, with a considerably different roster, hasn't yet proven themselves to be bums (except for Reyes and the post-August Wright, of course).
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