October 5, 2010, two New York Mets stories for Metro NYC Newspaper
Another second-half stumble costs Mets their season; some their jobs
There was about a half hour before the start of the first game of the Brewers-Mets doubleheader at Citi Field last Wednesday afternoon and both teams's attentions turned to straightaway centerfield, where the JumboTron showed clips of the Twins, Yankees, Phillies, Rangers, Rays and Reds celebrating the clinching of playoff berths.
Then David Wright’s bright, smiling countenance appeared on the screen and welcomed fans to the park. A cursory glance of the two-year-old park showed barely hundreds of people in the stands.
It seemed a cruel taunt.
The Mets, of course, missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year prompting the team to cut ties with general manager Omar Minaya and manager Jerry Manuel yesterday. The Mets completed the six month campaign with a 79-83 record. They finished tourth in the National League East, 18 games behind division champion Philadelphia.
So much for Fred Wilpon's vision of playing "meaningful September games."
The organization's next move will attempt to banish Francisco Rodriguez after the closer embarrassed the franchise by allegedly assaulting his common-law father-in-law in the family room at Citi Field and subsequently being arrested. The team then shut him down with a torn ligament in his right thumb. Rodriguez is due back at the Queens County Courthouse in Kew Gardens later this week.
What will be forgotten about in the aftermath of another lost season at Willets Point was that Mets were in contention for a playoff berth. Following the 4-0 win over Atlanta on July 11, the Mets entered the All-Star Break 48-40 and trailed NL East leading Atlanta by four games. Manuel and the players talked confidently about the possibility of making trades to bolster the Mets.
However a 2-9 West Coast road trip after the All-Star Break was the prologue to yet another second-half stumble.
"I thought last year, it almost got to the point where you felt like you were playing meaningless games. For some reason, this year it doesn't necessarily feel like that. I thought last year, maybe toward the end, maybe a lot of guys (felt like) it was OK to lose. I don't think it's gotten to that point now," Mike Pelfrey told Metro in September.
"It's hard to put a finger on it. We started off on the West Coast to start the second half. We started off terrible, to be honest. That's a tough hole to dig yourself out of, especially when, at that time, other teams are playing well. Going into the break we thought we were in the thick of things, we started off pretty poorly in the second half and ever since then we haven't gotten on any kind of role. I think at that time, we were starting off and there wasn't the biggest urgency to make a move. Of course, if you go out and acquire a guy, you welcome that. But we didn't do that and you can understand both sides of it."
And for another winter, the Mets and their fanbase will wonder what might have been.
DENIS GORMAN
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See ya later, losers
JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES
A $133 million payroll apparently wasn’t enough for Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya. The Mets were out of the playoff race by July.
The long expected became reality yesterday. Fans will have someone new to blame soon enough.
The Mets said goodbye to general manager Omar Minaya and manager Jerry Manuel. Minaya declined the opportunity to stay on board in essentially a minimal role under the supervision of a new GM.
Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon said the organization needed “a new perspective.”
“Expectations were high. [We] invested a lot of time, energy and resources of money,” added principal owner Fred Wilpon.
The Mets, who had the fifth-highest payroll, finished 18 games behind the Phillies in the NL East. In the four years following the NLCS Game 7 loss to St. Louis in 2006, the Mets are 326-322 and had two massive September collapses.
“The last four years have been the most painful. I love the New York Mets. I love this franchise,” Fred Wilpon said. “The buck stops here. I take responsibility. I look forward to 2011 and beyond. I look forward to the challenge.”
Wilpons refuse to throw Minaya under the bus
In a shocking admission, the Wilpons said they were responsible for the failings of Omar Minaya.
“We have to put people in the position to succeed. That didn’t happen,” Fred Wilpon said. “We own the bad news.”
If the owners should apologize for anything, it should be for not firing Minaya sooner. There were numerous off-field scrapes, such as coaches in the farm system attacking players, and on-field busts. The Mets spent $519 million in payroll over the last four seasons with nothing to show for it.
“Some of the free agent signings and money misspent is the biggest part of it,” Jeff Wilpon finally acknowledged.
DENIS GORMAN
http://www.metro.us/newyork/newyork/article/653878--another-second-half-stumble-costs-mets-their-season-some-their-jobs
http://www.metro.us/newyork/sports/article/653667--see-ya-later-losers
posted by Denis P. Gorman at 11:18 AM
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