Sip Talks Second Half
I think back to '99 or '00. The Mets were something like 29-30 on a Sunday night against the Yankees in June when news came that the Mets were firing a bunch of their coaches. They brought in Mickey Brantley and crew in what turned out to be just the fix that the doctor ordered.
Today starts the second half of the season, and the Mets have just made arguably the most interesting/exciting coaching swap of our lifetime, firing Rick Down and hiring "Rickey Time," himself, Rickey Henderson to be the new Mets hitting coach.
I can just see Rickey working with Carlos Delgado:
"Hey Carl, just do what Rickey do."
Then Rickey working with Jose Reyes:
"Hey Josie, just do what Rickey do."
You may have seen a very large black man walking around Shea over the last 5 or so years toting a Rickey Henderson t-shirt jersey, and thought to yourself, "sweet shirt." That shirt belonged to my good pal, J Murder, and so Rickey has always held a special place in my heart.
I am actually very excited about the move. Rickey is a fire-starter. He'll make something happen. And certainly, we will get some sound bytes.
So the second half starts today. The first half was not great, but we still enter the second half in first place. Here are a few keys to the Mets' second half.
1. Andruw Jones
This guy has been so bad and he is in a contract year. A known slacker, Jones has about $100 million dollars to play for over the next few months. If that can't motivate him, nothing will.
Think back to the year when he hit 50 home runs. He hit about 30 of them in July/August.
2. Shane Victorino/Cole Hamels/Greg Dobbs
These guys have sparked the Phillies this season. Victorino has become the third piece to the Phillies' offensive puzzle. Hamels has saved the Phillies' rotation. And then there is Greg Dobbs. Didn't see that one coming. We know Howard, Rollins and Utley will hit. But can Dobbs and Victorino continue their strong seasons?
3. Tom Glavine 
Which Glavine will we see, Glavine from April/May or Glavine from June/July?
4. Carlos squared
Carlos Beltran had about 3 good weeks this season. Carlos Delgado had about 3 good games. Will they bounce back?
5. Pedro?
Will he pitch? I've been saying for a year now that the best case scenario is seeing Pedro pitch in '08. We all know the reports. Who really knows?
* * * * *
The Yankees made a very interesting move Wednesday. They changed their stance on Alex Rodriguez, offering to negotiate an extension with Alex Rodriguez in the middle of the season, with hopes that he won't exercise his option to opt out of the last three years of his contract this November.
This is a pretty smart PR move by the Yankees.
I can't see any way that Scott Boras lets A-Rod sign during the season. His value on the open market increases tremendously when the Yankees are competing with the other baseball financial powers. Not to mention, does A-Rod really want to stay a Yankee?
By switching their stance it allows the Yankees to save face with their fans. They are taking their shot at A-Rod and if it doesn't work out, it is because A-Rod said no.
When A-Rod goes to Anaheim in December for 8 years, $220 mil the Yankees will be able to spin the situation in their favor.
Until this sesaon, A-Rod was a dud. The Yankees did not have to offer A-Rod an extension because he was supposed to feel honored to be a Yankee. The Yankees now know how desperate they are to keep A-Rod.
Baseball is not the same as 5 years ago. The best player will not just end up in the Bronx cause of money. There is enough money to go around.
Speaking of the Yankees, apparently their next 28 games are against teams with records under .500. This could get really interesting. The pitching is healthy. The Red Sox have played middling ball for weeks now; if that continues, this Yankee team could be right back in the mix within two weeks. This also may be the season that wasn't meant to be.
Let's hope for the latter.
A quick thank you to Billy Wagner for setting up an October classic in Cleveland for 4 of 7 games.
That's all.
Vaya,
Sip
(Pics courtesy of cnn.com, mlb.com, msnbc.com)
posted by Sippy Momo at 9:39 AM
3 Comments:
Happy to have Rickey aboard, but in fairness to him, Rick Down gave a hell of an entertaining interview in his own right. Jittery and drunk-seeming, Down was amusing to watch in action.
But yes, a change needed to be made. We began discussing the possibility of Down being fired on June 15, and as I said at the time:
"Down may not deserve the blame for [the Mets'] inability to drive in runners from third with less than 2 out or drive in any runners in scoring position, but as they say, you can't fire the players so you fire the coaches."
So it goes.
As for Rickey Time, the man is a legend. Caught this great interview with him before the season when he was in camp. Kevin Burkhardt asked Rickey if there were any other players at spring training he was going to work with closely beyond Reyes. Rickey began quickly, "Oh yeah, Rickey gonna work with other players, Beltran, Mill..." at this point his speach starts slowing down a tick and you can see Rickey searching for the final syllable, ultimately settling on a mumble that I'm pretty sure was "Miller" rather than the intended "Milledge". Got a good chuckle out of that one.
Oh well. Welcome aboard, Rickey!
Said Down to the NY Post:
"I was surprised," Down told The Post last night in a phone conversation. "A month ago after 50 games, we were pretty much leading the league and doing [fine] offensively and I was the best thing since sliced bread and we get some injuries and things happen, and I get fired."
Kind of a fair point, especially on the heels of a tremendous 2006. Again, you can't fire the players so you fire the coaches.
IMHO, I feel Down should have been gone loooooooong ago. Like RP gets none of the credit when the pitching staff does well, and gets ALL of the blame when they perform poorly, Down never received any blame when: a.) classic SUCK ME pitchers started for the opposing teams and reduced the offensive power of the Mets to being the offensive might of the...um...Royals? or something; b.) everyone and his brother swinging at the first pitch; c.) plate impatience (could be lumped under swinging at first pitch but whatevs); d.) too much of long ball swings and not nearly enough trying-to-get-on-base or out-of-the-infield. With the activation of L Millz, Rickey will provide a lot of much needed leadership to the young 'un. Plus, the rumor is HoJo and Rickey will split duties or something along those lines. Down should have known this was coming. Should have happened long ago.
Post a Comment
<< Home