Mike Silva's New York Baseball Digest » Blog Archive » Mets Lose, But Mission Accomplished

Mets Lose, But Mission Accomplished


By Mike Silva ~ April 17th, 2010. Filed under: Mike Silva, New York Mets.

The Mets may have lost yesterday, but fans should take solace in knowing the team fulfilled the objective of their general manager:

“St. Louis is always tough. If we can win two out of three, that will be outstanding. If we win one, I’ll take it. We’ve got Jose [Reyes] back, and once we get [Daniel] Murphy and [Carlos] Beltran back, we can compete with everyone else.” – Omar Minaya in Sports Illustrated

As a matter of fact, the ballclub has, with the exception of only a couple of games, “competed” this year. Unfortunately, a few unlucky plays and bad breaks put them at 3-7 instead of 7-3. The fans are going to be pretty angry with this team when they return home, but really they shouldn’t be.

Jerry Manuel talked about how Oliver Perez needed to “keep them in the game” last night which, of course, he did. I was tired of Willie Randolph towards the end of his tenure. He was stubborn with his team and dour with the press. The one thing he always emphasized was a focus on excellence. He talked about winning each series and making statements at certain times. The goal was to win a title and nothing less was acceptable. He would lose the team for other reasons, but never would encourage them to accept mediocrity.

This management team not only has given the club reasons to quit in the past (the whole we aren’t good enough mantra last June), they have provided aid and comfort for underachieving. If I played for the New York Mets there would be no reason to be upset with yesterdays result. I competed and still have a chance to take one game in this series. Think this sounds crazy? My general manager and field manager said it was ok.

Ask yourself this: in the long term is this right philosophy to have? Do you want young, impressionable players, like an Ike Davis, growing up with this type of environment? How much longer could stars like David Wright and Jose Reyes enjoy playing here? Remember, they will be free agents sooner, rather than later. Even if this team has money to spend will they turn down similar money elsewhere just to “compete in New York?”

Forget about making statements, winning series, or doing more with less. Those were for losers like Bobby Valentine and Willie Randolph. Heck, did you ever hear Steve Phillips say we should just compete?

Don’t get mad at this team because they have accomplished exactly what has been asked of them thus far this year.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com
Mike Silva
View all posts by Mike Silva
Mikes website

Post to Twitter Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Facebook

Tags: , , , , , , ,

«
»

3 Responses to Mets Lose, But Mission Accomplished

  1. GravediggerHebner
    April 17th, 2010 at 11:25 am

    I think you’ve parsed this out perfectly – don’t be mad at the team. I love the team, I root for it no matter who is on it, who manages it, or who the general manager or owner is.

    I am mad at the owner, the general manager, the manager and his coaches. But not the team.

    It’s not the team’s fault that the Wilpons bought it, that they then hired Omar Minaya to run it, that they may be compromising Minaya’s ability to do that through meddling, that they may have handcuffed their ability to enhance the team through their own financial incompetence, that this group deemed Manuel an acceptable manager or Dan Warthen an acceptable pitching coach, that this group deemed Mike Jacobs, Frank Catalanotto, Jenrry Mejia and Gary Matthews Jr. players worthy of being on a major league roster at the respective stages of their careers.

    The fault for all those things lies elsewhere, not with the 25 guys who put on the uniform, and I’m not mad at those 25 guys, just at the people who put them there.

  2. RonOK
    April 17th, 2010 at 3:36 pm

    I am having a hard time following the point of this article.

    Are you being sarcastic by calling Bobby Valentine a loser?

    ” …. Forget about making statements, winning series, or doing more with less. Those were for losers like Bobby Valentine and Willie Randolph ….”

  3. Steve
    April 18th, 2010 at 1:42 pm

    Hit the nail on the head again Mike. Please save these quotes from Omar – they should be compiled, such as the one from 2008: “St. Louis won the World Series in 2006 by winning only 83 games, so we have a shot too.”

    The lack of vision and ambition has killed the Mets since the Wilpons took over and you have to look at the top for setting direction. The Wilpons are perfectly comfortable with winning 85 games a year as the Mets would stay in contention and draw 3 million fans.

    I’ve loved the team for almost 35 years but I’ve come to the conclusion that many Mets fans are the biggest chumps in baseball, accepting second class status and an ownership that can’t get it done.

    Wake up Met fans, this is not Minaya’s problem. As long as the Wilpons own the team it could be another 50 years before a world championship.

Leave a Reply