New York, NY (WFAN) -- Mets manager Willie Randolph played 13 major league seasons at Yankee Stadium, then served 11 more wearing the Yankee pinstripes as a coach. But the three games he'll manage in the Bronx this weekend might very well be the most important ones he's been a part of in either career. Willie's no dope - he knows the score as he brings his struggling, underachieving club over the Triborough Bridge to face the almost-as-disappointing Yankees. The Mets just finished off a homestand against two last-place teams (Cincinnati and Washington) and went 3-4 - they face another current cellar-dweller in the Yanks, and the margin for error just got considerably smaller.
Willie is the one on the firing line, but there are plenty of blindfolds and cigarettes to go around. General Manager Omar Minaya gets to take a lot of bows, but he has put together an uneven, to say the least, ball club, both on the field and in the clubhouse. Cleanup hitter Carlos Beltran might decide to pull his weight at some time. Mr. "This is our year Jimmy Rollins" has all of 3 home runs and had to hit .357 during the latest homestand to raise his average all the way to .246. At least 10 RBI in the last 7 games is an upward tick. If you project Carlos Delgado's numbers, they come out to 21 HR and 71 RBI, even less than last season which was deemed unacceptable. But at least he gives you that clubhouse leadership. Right. Jose Reyes is hitting .258 with an OBP of .328. Enough said. The Mets as a team are batting .257 with RISP, not great, not terrible. But when you delve deeper, it gets scary. With less than 2 outs, they're at .306 - squeeze the bats tighter with 2 outs? - you bet. Try .196 on for size - a 110 point swing - totally unacceptable.
The Mets just received brilliant pitching performances from Claudio Vargas and Mike Pelfrey - and lost both games. Can't happen. The Mets did the right thing by dumping Jorge Sosa and keeping Joe Smith. Sosa was a long man with a bloated contract who couldn't get through one inning, let alone multiple ones - Smith, even though he had options left, was getting people out and the last time I looked that was the name of the game. If you want to win, and not just say you want to win, do the right things to help you win. And they did. The Mets have to get Aaron Heilman straightened out, and pronto. Heilman is too valuable, a workhorse with above average stuff that can pitch multiple innings. It simply puts too much of a strain on the bullpen if you have to bury him and pitch him in less important situations.
The Mets are 12-4 when Johan Santana and John Maine start - each 6-2. And only 8-15 when anybody else does. Both will pitch against the Yankees this weekend with Oliver Perez in between, meaning Randolph will have his 3 best starters on the mound. Santana was brought here for a reason - to be an ace and stop losing streaks - and Friday night is as good an example of that as you can get. Maine has actually been the stopper - his 4 straight wins have all come after a Met loss. He's hoping Sunday night he gets to finally follow a win.
Willie was a gamer and a grinder when he played, a scrappy player who played hard and with passion. He has to be able to transmit those qualities to the players under him now, some of whom seem incapable of grasping or possessing those traits. The Mets have 123 games left to play, but it's not as easy as 1-2-3. Those days are gone. It gets harder from here - and Willie knows it. I only hope his players sense and feel the same urgency.
C U in the Bronx Eddie C.
