Double Game Thread 5/20: If We Sweep the Mets, We Could Get Willie Randolph Fired!
It’s no secret that Mets fans don’t like Willie Randolph. Tim Marchman, New York Sun, May 2: “It’s Time to Fire Willie Randolph.” Newsday, May 16: “Randolph’s job has to be in jeopardy.” The imaginatively named blog Fire Willie Randolph, May 16: “Mid-May and the Team has Quit.” Willie’s response, as Metsblog’s Matt Cerrone paraphrases the Bergen, NJ Record: I’m being framed by SNY.
The Mets have won more games than we have this year, but their Pythagorean record is worse, Pedro Martinez is talking retirement, Carlos Delgado and Luis Castillo are probably done, and their pitching rotation drops off considerably after Johan Santana and the overachieving John Maine. (Funnily enough, Mike Pelfrey is pitching better than Oliver Perez.) And, after pitching 173 innings of relief the past 2 years, Aaron Heilman’s arm appears to have finally fallen off.
The Mets have always been an obnoxiously despondent fan base, and they are characteristically vulnerable right now. The Yankees are doing even worse, and of course about the Knicks nothing needs to be said — since the Giants won the Super Bowl, New York’s best sports news has been the firing of Isiah Thomas. So if we can deal them a good knockout punch, we may actually be able to get Willie canned.
I did another Q&A with Jessica Bader at Take the 7 Train about the Mets series. Hope you like it.
Update: Braves 6, Mets 1
Well, that was easy. Glavine even laid down a good sacrifice bunt. I hope we treat Claudio Vargas with similar disdain tonight.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 11:14 am and is filed under Uncategorized.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
THE AUTHOR
RECENT ARTICLES BY DIVISION RIVALS
ARCHIVE
RECENT ARTICLES BY DIVISION RIVALS
SPONSORS
Online Seats
Atlanta Braves Tickets Atlanta Thrashers Tickets
Ticket Specialists
Braves Tickets Atlanta Hawks Tickets
Coast to Coast Tickets
Atlanta Braves Tickets Atlanta Hawks Tickets Atlanta Falcons Tickets Atlanta Event Tickets Theater Tickets Online
Tickets4U
Atlanta Braves Tickets World Series Tickets Atlanta Falcons Tickets
Great Seats
Atlanta Braves Tickets Atlanta Falcons Ticket Atlanta Hawks Tickets Chastain Park Tickets Atlanta Event Tickets
24 Responses to “Double Game Thread 5/20: If We Sweep the Mets, We Could Get Willie Randolph Fired!”
May 20th, 2008 at 11:23 am
I read that too. Its a shame because Willie isn’t to blame. I hope he goes to some other team with better fans and gets the credit he deserves. I will be happy for him not to be with the Mets.
Also, Pedro retiring is good (for us) too. That leaves the Mets with:
1. Santana (nasty)
2. Maine (underachieving)
3. Perez (with Pedro gone the Muts will resign him and get their pants pulled down by Borass)
4. Pelfrey (not really that good)
5. ?????
That’s even worse than our painful projected rotation of:
Hudson (consistent)
Jurrjens (possible future ace)
Reyes (has he turned the corner?)
Morton (if he is as good as we hope)
James (if he can duct tape his shoulder back together)
May 20th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Alex, Did you do an interview as well and can we see that?
May 20th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Andrew, yep — it’s linked at the bottom of the post.
Here’s the link: http://mvn.com/mlb-mets/2008/05/20/the-opposing-viewpoint-atlanta-braves-part-3/
May 20th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Alex,
Sorry, what I meant was did you interview Jessica and if so is that interview available?
May 20th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Sorry, I didn’t, but that’s a terrific idea. I will.
Man, Gregor Blanco is terrific. Draws a walk after a 9-pitch at bat, steals a base, takes third on a wild pitch. I am rapidly falling in love with him.
May 20th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
And another walk for the kid. He’s a machine. Why can’t he teach Jeff Francoeur how to hit?
May 20th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
They’re intentionally walking Francoeur… and that’s why Mets fans want to fire Willie Randolph.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
One of the few walks Frenchy will get this year. We are just lucky Frenchy didn’t swing at any of the intentional balls.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I am wondering if Cox is going to throw in the bench (towel) for game 2 tonight. It seems that he used most of his starters today for the day game. With Campillo pitching tonight (a dreary prospect, not that Campillo is bad but I don’t know if he can be an effective starter) he may not be as focused on tonight’s game.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
That was my thought as well. Bobby occasionally has those kind of games.
May 20th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Last time we had a double header though, bobby held out at least 2 or 3 starters for the first game and they got owned. I like to see the starters in there, at least for the first half of the first game or so.
May 20th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Gregor Blanco is one of my favorite Braves prospects (I’m sure you can find many instances of me pushing him here and elsewhere) so I’m thrilled that he’s doing this well. He’s a leadoff hitter and it shows with his patience at the plate, ability to get on base and impressive speed; I hope he gets that nod sooner rather than later.
May 20th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Well Willie Randolph isn’t very good so its only a matter of time before he’s fired. To say sac bunting with your #2 hitter in the first inning is a good idea should be grounds to be fired on principal.
May 20th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
half-way to heaven!
I’m one of those brave souls who predicted 2 of four wins sounded reasonable for the series at the AJC site.
May 20th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
An interesting lineup for game two. The infield stays the same however we’re seeing for the first time in a while, Francoeur not in the lineup. Gregor Blanco moves over to right, Diaz in left, and Omar Infante is going to handle centerfield.
May 20th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
I know people aren’t going to like this but I am not a fan of Blanco in a starting role. I think eventually he’ll end up as a good fourth outfielder but the guys peripherals just scream fluke right now. I love the walks but at the same time, he’s got a .308 average on the back of a .421 BABIP and he is striking out 27% of a time. As a slap hitter, those strikeouts need to drop a ton.
May 20th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
You’re right, Will. He probably is overachieving; his BABIP (entering today’s games) is .414.
Still, I’m in love with him.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Agreed.
By the way, game over, 2 wins for our boys tonight. Quite the finish. I hope Yunel AND Church are ok.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Now that I have seem the rather painful looking replay on that, Church took a huge risk there considering the situation. He didn’t need to slide into Yunel. Its not that I don’t hope he is ok, but I have no idea why he slid into Yunel like that.
Did anybody else watch that game on SNY (Will perhaps? any other Northeast Braves fans). Is it me or are the SNY telecasters really stupid. Not just their jokes, but they got some of their baseball facts incredibly wrong. I can’t remember any example off the top of my head.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Campillo pitches 6 of the best innings we’ve seen out of Braves pitching this year and no one even mentions it?! Terrible.
May 20th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
I am fine with Gary Cohen and Ron Darling but Keith Hernandez is an absolute idiot. Great ballplayer, terrible broadcaster.
Campillo was excellent today. He started leaving some of his pitches up in his last inning or two but that is to be expected when you come right out of a pen role. Supposedly he’ll be getting a start saturday on three days rest but an interesting thing is that had he not pitched well, the Braves were probably going to call up Charlie Morton so it sounds like they are okay calling him up soon.
May 21st, 2008 at 12:47 am
SO whadda ya say we stroll over to the Mets’ blogs and take advantage of a sunny afternoon here in Japan? Wish them the best, no hard feelings, etc.?
May 21st, 2008 at 12:47 am
We got our 2 wins. I’m satisfied. Send me my check.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:40 am
The Braves really took it to the Mets yesterday, didn’t they?
Cox was right to give Campillo the start in game two.
Mike Pelfrey is the Mets starter tonight and then it really gets interesting. Three straight left handers are scheduled to be pitching on Thursday (Johan Santana), Friday (Doug Davis), Saturday (Randy Johnson).
The Braves are currently 8-10 against south paws and 16-11 facing right handers. We shall see if the home mojo is working from both sides of the plate or if the lefty’s own us, period.
Leave a comment