Sometimes a single play comes to symbolize a whole season. Beltran’s long frozen look at strike three. Castillo’s dropped pop-up against the Yankees. Terry Pendleton. And now, Rod Barajas.
Not that he deserves it, of course. Johan Santana served up that slow, fat fastball to Josh Willingham yesterday. It was Santana, who looks like a shadow of his former self (especially in the concentration department) who was blown out of the first inning by those front-running Washington Nationals. But it was Barajas who took both hits at home plate on the kind of bizarre play only Fred Wilpon’s New York Mets seem capable of – Barajas who was run over not once, but twice, by Nationals runners (the first by hulking Adam Dunn), only to have the play overturned and called a grand slam by MLB review. Barajas with the filthy uniform and the trivia question answer.
And it was Barajas who looked stunned, bruised, battered after the play – neatly summing up the condition of this franchise and its fans only six games into the long season.
While pundits dither over the first base platoon – which will resolve itself when Daniel Murphy comes back (any Mets fan who thinks Ike Davis is right now better than Murphy and his 38 doubles thinks on a pre-K level of baseball right along with Met-hating Mike Francesa) – the team reels from iffy pitching, sloppy play, a dearth of clutch hitting and the lack of a plan.
Jerry Manuel’s admission that the team was ill-prepared to face Livan “Cy” Hernandez was just the latest in a long string of embarrassments for the talent side of this mismanaged franchise. Indeed, it was a firing offense. It’s already time for Jerry Manuel to go – one of those rare early season firings that actually makes sense. Too bad Omar Minaya won’t be right behind him, because if the Wilpons were smart they’d clean house – now. Too much money is at stake. Attendance is dropping. The lovely Citi Field and all the great food options won’t take up the slack without winners on the field. And you can’t give it up in April.
My preferred make-over? Two familiar faces: Bobby Valentine and Ron Darling.
I’m a Valentine fan. He’s our Leo Durocher. Our Billy Martin. The one guy out there with a chance for quick results. Yeah, he’s a loon. But he’s our loon. And given another shot at this, he’ll work his tail off. Will he piss me off with some crazed move late on some festering August night? Yep. But he got the 2000 Mets to the World Series on the back of a terrific infield and not much else.
Darling, I realize, is a choice out of leftfield (or more accurately, rightfield where the Mets bullpen at Shea Stadium was located). I’m impressed with Darling’s knowledge of the game, with his work preparing for SNY broadcasts, with his book, and with his knowledge of pitching talent. I’m also a believer in keeping the ‘86 guys around the franchise. Of all the moves the Wilpons have made in the last year, that’s quietly one of their best. If Darling’s too much of a stretch, I hope they notice that Dan Duquette is still on the sidelines after his 2002 firing by John Henry in Boston. Duquette was the architect of the team that eventually won in 2004, the Stick Michael of the Sawx.
That’s if they can Omar, a fate he richly deserves for a long winter of insisting his team had enough starting pitching. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be the Wilpon way. Yet it’s time to move. The fanbase is shrinking, along with ticket sales. And somehow, I feel we owe it to Rod Barajas.
Related articles by Zemanta
- Mets Fans Biggest Problem (citifieldofdreams.com)
- Aura Apparent (nleastchatter.com)
- Steven Hirsch: Citi Field: One Year Later (huffingtonpost.com)
- Game Recap: Nationals 5 – Mets 2 (theropolitans.com)
- Mets Also Not Getting It Done (faithandfearinflushing.com)
- Johan Flops As Mets Fall 5-2, The Manuel Watch Begins (metsmerizedonline.com)
- Post Game: Nationals 5, Mets 2 (metsblog.com)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_b.png?x-id=fd6e03da-8803-412b-994f-9aaad2470776)
