July 29, 2009, Omar Minaya fallout story for Metro NY Newspaper
Not sorry enough
Mets boss apologizes for GM’s outburst, but says Minaya stays
Jeff Wilpon owned up to his general manager’s mistake yesterday. Still, that mistake wasn’t big enough to cost Omar Minaya his job.
Wilpon, the Mets chief operating officer, said Minaya made a misstep at Monday’s news conference when the GM singled out a reporter while announcing the firing of vice president of player development Tony Bernazard. Minaya acknowledged the mistake soon after and made a sincere apology to the organization. That seemed to be enough for Wilpon to give the embattled GM a vote of confidence.
“We feel bad about that and we’ll overcome. It didn’t go to our values and [Minaya] didn’t do the right thing. All I can do is apologize for that, and I think Omar will do that at the right time, as well,” Wilpon said before the Mets' 4-0 win over the Colorado Rockies. “Omar’s our general manager.”
For now, at least. The public backing came a day after Minaya challenged the motives of a Daily News reporter, saying he “lobbied” for a job within the organization. Couple that outburst with the talent Minaya has fielded on the diamond, and he could soon be following Bernazard out the door.
“Ownership is not happy with the direction right now,” Wilpon said. "I couldn’t believe what was happening when it was happening [on Monday]. I don’t think a lot of us could believe what was happening when it was happening. [Minaya] was just very angry and out of his usual mode of dealing with the media.
"He’s really hurt by this, guys. He was shaken today.”
It apparently didn't shake the Mets, who are playing their best baseball of the season. After taking the first two games of the series, the Mets (48-51) are 5 ½ back of Colorado (54-46) for the NL wild card. Surprisingly, the sparkplug has been an offense that had for most of the season redefined stagnation. In the last 14 games, the Mets have scored 58 runs, an average of 4.36 runs per game. The keys have been Luis Castillo, David Wright, Daniel Murphy and Jeff Francoeur, who have meshed to give the Mets a balanced top-to-middle of the lineup. Last night, the quartet finished 6-for-12, three runs scored and three RBIs.
“This team is not built for shootout-type ballgames. If we can continue this, where we put ourselves with runners in scoring position frequently and come through every now and then we’ll be (OK),” said Wright, who went 1-for-3 with a RBI and a walk. The third baseman also made a fantastic catch in the sixth.
Starter Mike Pelfrey (8-6) scattered seven hits over 6 1/3 innings. He struck out five but walked three and had to work out of two bases loaded jams. However, manager Jerry Manuel was pleased with the big righty’s performance.
“When Mike starts out in the mid-90s, it makes it difficult for the rest of night, especially if he has command at 94, 95,” Manuel said. “I think he’s made significant improvement in that area (with baserunners) and we’re starting to see the same stuff when he’s in the stretch as he (has) when nobody’s on base. That’s a very good sign for us.”
Staten Island native Jason Marquis (12-7) took the loss for the Rockies.
http://www.metro.us/us/article/2009/07/29/04/5721-82/index.xml
http://www.readmetro.com/show/en/NewYork/20090729/1/15/
posted by Denis P. Gorman at 10:58 AM
