June 16, 2008
WILLIE Randolph made the charter. Pedro Martinez, with six strong innings, got the manager through security and Robinson Cancel handed the manager his ticket to Anaheim with a game-winning pinch-hit single against the advice of whatever fans remained for the second game and on the Mets bandwagon.
"Fans are that way," shrugged Randolph, who got booed for lifting Martinez for Cancel with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth inning of a 2-2 contest. "No matter what I do they are going to go the other way, anyway."
Since Martinez had thrown 92 pitches and Cancel was the only right-handed hitter available against lefty Kason Gabbard, the move was a no-brainer even before Cancel hit a six-hopper up the middle. And Willie, who had only half-jokingly wondered in the morning if he had to win one game, two games or no games to be on the plane, had at least another six hours to be the manager, no promises beyond that.
"I keep answering the question the way I always have," said GM Omar Minaya, asked if Randolph and all his coaches will have a uniform tonight. "We're not playing to our potential and I always like to leave myself able to evaluate it."
The silence remains deafening from owners allowing Randolph to twist and from players not gushing testimonials on his behalf.
"I don't stick my nose where it doesn't belong," said Martinez. That said, after the Mets rallied for five late runs to fall one short in the 8-7 opener, then from 2-0 to a 4-2 win in the nightcap, it remained easier to argue that they aren't good enough than that they don't care enough.
In Game 1, firing-level offenses were committed not by Randolph, but third-base coach Sandy Alomar, whose eighth-inning-ending brainlock sacrificed Brian Schneider at the plate on a not-nearly-deep enough Jose Reyes fly ball, and Pedro Feliciano, whose wild pitch brought the Mets infield in so Raul Vazquez could slap the ball through it and turn 3-2 into 5-2.
Joe Smith and Scott Schoeneweis made the deficit ultimately insurmountable, as bullpens will do for managers running out of time. But Feliciano, Duaner Sanchez and Billy Wagner were perfect in Game 2, which is how managers' jobs get saved.
"The last week-and-a-half has been so bizarre," Randolph had said in the morning. "Walk off hit batsman, walk off home run, (it's like) I can't believe this is happening, you gotta be kidding me.
"But you know, that's just baseball. I surrender."
He meant to fate, not the Rangers yesterday or the Wilpons. But if Wagner doesn't blow three saves and Schoeneweis doesn't end a game with a hit batsman all in one week, the Mets easily could be 12-5 in their last 17 and actually appearing resurgent.
Of course, even if they were, it wouldn't last because the Mets aren't that good. Minaya, who will make the managerial call reluctantly because the next call may have to be about him, will fly to Anaheim either today or tomorrow to continue to ponder a move that will neither turn around the season nor restore confidence in his regime.
Firing Randolph won't turn Carlos Beltran into a true superstar or make Moises Alou or Carlos Delgado young again. It won't re-inspire David Wright, who inevitably will play like David Wright regardless of manager.
Jerry Manuel might get a rise out of Jose Reyes because something is not right between Randolph and his shortstop, but that won't say much for Reyes's maturity level. In the long run, this is one of the Mets' many bigger problems than their manager.
