It's been a long time.
Over two months since the Mets won a walk off game and finally, in honour of the ailing David Wright, the Magical Murph drove the game-winning single after the Giants brought in lefty Jeremy Affeldt special just to face him.
This on the back of an unusually well pitched game from Big Pelf meant that the Mets have now taken two of three from the weak-hitting Giants in this meaningless four game series. (Well, meaningless for the Mets who are now reduced to the role of spoilers.)
The only other runs the Mets scored came in the 4th when Luis Castillo hit a two-run homer, one of the rare occurrences in baseball.
I know, it's only two wins but I couldn't help but think looking out at these Mets today that this team, despite the absurdist run of injuries that have left them with a second string side, still have some marks of a reasonable job by Omar.
Now before you go crazy, think you've got the smart pick-up of Sheffield, the last remaining big bat in the lineup out there. You've got Francoeur, who reasonably, is the Mets new rightfielder of the future, another smart pick up, dumping a previous mistake in Church in the process. And you've got Anderson Hernandez, whose slick fielding is impressing me more each day. Not to mention Castillo who Omar was pilloried for mercilessly (we thought with good cause) - AND Omir Santos, who Omar smartly signed in January this year.
Now, none of these guys are All Stars, true enough but given the fact that core of the Mets are gone, this wasn't such a bad side. Murph, despite today's game winning hit, is still struggling at the plate. Angel Pagan is still a backup outfielder at best and Fernando Tatis has seen his better days long ago.
I'm just thinking...Omar has done a bad job at times, yes, but Hernandez and Francoeur were both smart mid-season pick ups that cost the Mets nothing of value; of course this doesn't excuse the rubbish farm system he's constructed or the horrific lack of foresight and planning but to be fair to Omar, what team realistically, could have withstood the kind of injuries the Mets have suffered this season and still been competitive.
He's done a decent job amid the rightful criticism. Is it good enough to save his job?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
5 comments:
Francoeur was John Ricco's brainstorm. Omar admitted it. Signing AHern was a dumb, lazzy move because Omar did not want to evaluate anyone else. He lucked out. AHern learned how to play better while with the Nats. WHAT?????
yeah, it is a bit weird how AHern developed - I'd heard that bit about John Ricco as well but look, I'm trying to see whether or not you're awake by praising Omar. Just giddy with the rare excitement of victory I guess.
Castillo was still a bad signing. I don't hate him personally. He is a smart player who looks like he takes the game seriously (unlike Ollie, for instance) . But anyone who cannot hit a ball over 300 feet (yesterday notwithstanding) does not warrant 6 mil per year. And what exactly has Sheffield done? Yes, he is not a walking corpse. But he is hurt all the time, he has driven in a few runs, and he leads the league in foul "homers". A GM is not a genius for picking up a DFAs player for half a mil a year. It is a no-risk-I-can-cut-you- tomorrow move. And yes, Jaap, I am paying attention. I do, most of the time. Sometimes I skim. depends on where I happen to eb reading it.
Look, left field was always going to be a problem - Omar could have signed Ibanez but you know we'd have all thought oh fuck, here we go again another geezer whose seen his better years pass him by. And who could have forseen Murph would be such an unmitigated disaster out there? So Sheff was a decent signing given what was out there at the time and no one else was willing to take that chance.
As for Castillo, he's shown me he has pride, coming back like he has, playing through pain. Yes, he's old and a three year deal was probably too much but frankly, if he plays next season like he has this season, I'd take it again. And no, he can't hit the ball far, he's meant to be in the number two spot, hitting (ideally) behind Reyes, moving him forward so fucking Beltran wouldn't bunt.
I mean so much of this is based on a blue print that got fucked by circumstances. I'd probably have stood pat with Delgado as well after the way he came on in the second half of last season, bad hip or not. There really wasn't much quality at first base in the way of free agency - I don't like Dunn and his K Machine and never wanted him. The Ollie signing was a big cock up but we all knew that it was illogical before it happened - and sadly knew inevitably it would happen - but I don't know if getting cold feet about paying Lowe so much was Omar's fault or the Wilpons cheap games. It's all conspired to suck and I'm bitter like everyone else about it but sometimes, the first scapegoat is not always the best one.
And I'm glad you're only skimming sometimes, jdon. In truth, there are some early mornings when I just want to skip it and sleep. I just hope this offseason brings a better reason to hope. maybe that's without Omar, maybe he's learned something by this season, I dunno, probably not.
Did you hear Omar's latest press conference? He MUST GO. It is pathetic. I am just saying that signing Sheffield was taking no chance at all. And guess what, the first base pickings this off-season are also slim but I do not want Del Nono back. Everyone forgets that he had a great July and August last year, but his April, May. June AND September were subpar.Circumstances are what happens. You prepare for circumstances by being judicious. You do not spend the entire offsseason on your bullpen. Or on one starting pitcher the off season before. If Omar cannot multitask, he should go work in a butcher ship. If you try to multitask there, you could lose a thumb. Just kidding about skimming, by the way. I love the blog.
Post a Comment