The Jacket had landed

Rick Peterson, former Mets pitching coach, has been hired by the Milwaukee Brewers for the same role.

Interestingly, Willie Randolph is also on the Brewers staff as a bench coach.

Hey Milwaukee, I heard Manny Acta is still available.  You’ve almost reassembled the 2006 Mets coaching staff.

Also, when they announce Peterson’s signing, will they present him with a jacket instead of a jersey?

Oliver Perez's day

Lost in the shuffle of Carlos Delgado's clutch hit, the Mets beating the Phillies, and the team taking over sole position of first place, is the performance from Oliver Perez yesterday.

Perez threw 7 2-3 innings. He scattered six hits, one of which went for a solo home run, the only run he allowed all day. Perez walked only one batter, and it was an intentional walk. Perez also struck out 12 batters yesterday, fooling Chase Utley and Ryan Howard three times apiece.

Perez has absolutely turned it on the last few starts. Since June 29th against the New York Yankees, Perez has thrown 33 2-3 innings, allowing 21 hits, and allowing only five earned runs to score. He has walked 12 in that span, while striking out 39.

All this time I thought that if Rick Peterson left the team (fired, quit, signed elsewhere) and Oliver Perez was still around, he would fall flat on his face without the Jacket looking over him. I couldn't have been more wrong. Perez and Peterson come from two different school's of thought.

Peterson wanted to analyze everything about Perez, break him down piece by piece and reconstruct him. Now, Dan Warthen seems to let Ollie be Ollie, and just throw the ball. If there are errors or hitches in his delivery, Warthen will say something, but for the most part, it's Oliver Perez on the mound, by himself.

Let's hope Perez can keep this up, and maybe we'll be seeing him in the orange and blue for many years to come.

3:11 a.m.!?!? It makes perfect sense to me

You probably think this is one of those posts blasting Omar Minaya for firing Willie Randolph at some ridiculous hour.

Not so.

The word came out at roughly 3:11 a.m. that Randolph had been fired as manager of the Mets. If you take a step back from your emotions and look at the simple breakdown of the time frame, it makes perfect sense.

The game was slated for a 10:05 p.m. start, Eastern standard time. The game took approximately three hours and ten minutes.

That puts us at 1:15 a.m. EST. The post game locker room shuffle, with the usual talk with reporters probably takes somewhere from 20 to 35 minutes. Allow time for the man to change, and get on the bus to head back to the hotel, probably somewhere around 2 or 2:15 a.m. EST.

By the time they get back from the stadium, a meeting where the actual deed is done must commence. Let's say that meeting started somewhere around 2:45 a.m. EST. Don't forget that Minaya also had to meet with Rick Peterson and Tom Nieto to relieve them of their duties.

An estimate on how long the meeting with Willie Randolph would last, I would venture a guess at something near 10-15 minutes. By that time, the word is out. Give the PR staff a few minutes to do their job and bang out a release and send it through the appropriate channels, and by my watch, we land precisely at 3:11 a.m. EST.

Either way, because they're on the west coast, no story ever makes the papers the next day, not even a report of the game. Would you have rather had Minaya wait until morning, and fire Randolph over breakfast? The story still doesn't make the papers.

Either way, because they're on the west coast, any story from that night isn't going to hit the newsstands for another 24 hours.

My guess of the rundown of events (EST):

10:05 p.m.: First pitch from Jered Weaver to Jose Reyes.

1:15 a.m.: Game ends with Reyes turning an unassisted double play.

2:00 a.m.: Leave for hotel.

2:15 a.m.: Arrive at the hotel.

2:30 a.m.: First meeting is called.

2:32 a.m.: Nieto is relieved of his duties.

2:37 a.m.: Second meeting is called.

2:39 a.m.: Peterson is relieved of his duties.

2:50 a.m.: Third meeting is called.

2:54 a.m.: Randolph is fired.

3:10 a.m.: Word hits the wires.

Sounds about right to me.

Mets fire Willie Randolph

A day that has long been coming, is finally upon us. Willie Randolph has been fired as the head coach of the New York Mets.

Among the other firings, Rick Peterson and Tom Nieto were also fired.

Jerry Manuel has been named the interim head coach. Also, Ken Oberkfell, Luis Aguayo and Dan Warthen have been added to the coaching staff.

Obkerfell was the New Orleans manager, Aguayo was the Mets field coordinator, and Warthen was the AAA pitching coach.

I'm half-relieved the tip-toeing and dance is over. The rest of me is now worried for the future and uncertainty that lies ahead.

[The Daily News has a photo gallery of Willie's tenure as manager]

Early Morning Madness: Happy trails, Willie

I had an entirely different post thought up, but here it goes...

Anyone in their right mind knows the Mets completely botched the handling of Willie Randolph. Rick Peterson and Tom Nieto, as well.

There's no refuting it and it's almost practically a fact. There's nothing more to say on this matter more than "it's over."

*****

Howard Johnson must be thanking his lucky stars right now that he's still employed.

*****

I wonder if Gary Carter has made any phone calls this morning.

I think he shot himself in the foot with what happened. I don't think it's a bad thing, what he did, but it was blown completely out of proportion.

*****

Good luck, Jerry Manuel. Maybe you can just stick around for a while.

So long Jacket, hello Glasses

Former clothing-nickname-man, Rick Peterson a.k.a. The Jacket was fired this morning.

To keep with tradition, I propose to begin calling new head coach Jerry Manuel by a new name. "Glasses"Those are some serious spectacles.

Early Morning Madness: Seesaw and firings edition

What must it be like to be Robinson Cancel?

You haven't gotten a hit in nine years. You've only tallied eight hits in the majors. You only have five RBI.

Then Sunday afternoon rolls along and you single up the middle, driving in two runs that turn out to be the game winners. With two strikes, nonetheless.

Pretty nice fathers day, right?

*****

Rumor is that instead of Willie Randolph being the first one to go, it seem that Rick Peterson and Tom Nieto might be the first to be shown the door.

Nieto, I'm completely indifferent to. I don't think he really adds much to the team, but I can't see him detracting much either. The Mets won't be better or worse off either way.

With Peterson though, I think the Mets are making a mistake. With Peterson gone, I think that Oliver Perez will completely unhinge, experimenting with crazy arm angles and pitching mechanics.

If these firings do take place, the staff from AAA would likely get a promotion to the bigs.

*****

The Mets could be dealing with their manager almost being fired two different ways. On one hand, they could be handling it by not paying it any attention, just going out there and playing as usual. On the flip side, they could be motivated to try and save their manager's job by going out there and giving it 110%.

I'm not calling out players for not hustling or something like that, it's just a different mentality that the player might be putting himself into.

Either way, does it seem to be working?

In place of dynamite, the Mets' bullpen is blowing up in Shea a few months early

Boom.

A few months ago (now lost on the old site) I wrote the Mets finally had a strength they could rely on: the bullpen.

It's amazing what two terrible games will do to a man's psyche.

15+ absolutely dominant innings from Mets starters in under 24 hours, and what does the bullpen do to "help" the team? Surrender eight runs in six innings. Four of those runs charged to the, until recently, dominant Billy Wagner.

Three out of the last five games have been lost by the bullpen. One cannot forget about the offense's lack of ability to score late inning runs (besides Wednesday night) in this implosion that doesn't seem to be garnering the media attention it should.

Stupidly, I lamented the Mets thrilling (albeit, unnecessary) late inning win on Wednesday could be the turn around for the entire season. For the first seven innings of Thursday's game, it looked like I was some sort of prophet, sent from the heavens with news from the future. With the quick handshake of Johan Santana, Rick Peterson and Willie Randolph after the seventh inning and a sponsored phone call to the bullpen, the Mets turned my "prophecy" into "idiocy."

Fans have whined and complained about the starting pitching not giving the team enough innings. These last two games have been the mirror opposite. A downright dirty smack in the face from the gods of baseball.

The other shoe has to drop eventually, right? Or in this case, maybe the plunger needs to be pushed.

Is a win Willie's fault too?

After every Mets loss, without fail, I hear people clamoring for Willie Randolph to be handed a pink slip.

If these people subscribe to that theory, shouldn't every Mets win solidify his place in the dugout?

After pegging the Reds for 12 runs in the early game of the doubleheader on Saturday, Bronson Arroyo came out and pitched his best game in years. Is that the Mets, and specifically Willie's fault? No. It happens. Good teams will be shut down by good pitching from time to time.

I know it's easy to argue against that while looking at Arroyo's numbers this year, but he had everything working for him Saturday night and, as Gary Cohen says, good teams sometimes just have to tip their hat to a great pitching performance.

So after the Mets saw Oliver Perez pitch five great innings and one crappy one, a significant improvement from his last few starts, and the Mets take 2 out of 3, with the one loss coming during Arroyo's brilliance on the mound, where are people praising Willie?

What about Rick Peterson? Oliver looked a lot more in control, though he still walked four, as he struck out eight batters, and only allowed three hits. Shouldn't Peterson be getting a bit of praise for this performance?

I think some fans are inherently negative, and have learned to be negative through the bad years of the early 90's, and don't want to change. It's easy to have a sourpuss attitude and blast every little fallacy or flaw rather than praise the good (I know, because whenever I write papers, I always argue against the point, it's just easier that way).

So as the Mets just to 19-16, three games over .500, and move into a tie for second place behind the playing-over-their-heads Florida Marlins, maybe, just maybe, you can cut Willie Randolph and Rick Peterson some slack, as the team has looked pretty darn good over this past week, and it's only looking up from here.

Stop blaming Willie and take a look at yourselves

A lot of people are getting very sick of Willie Randolph. That's understandable, as the very expensive Mets are only two games over .500. Here's my issue: I've never seen more fickle fans.

Sunday night and into Monday morning, Mets fans were riding high after taking two of three from the NL leading Diamondbacks. Emotions quickly turned as the Mets dropped the first game against the Dodgers Monday night.

One day he's doing everything right, the next he's in the doghouse again. Make up your minds!

I don't want to come across as some sort of Willie apologist, and I truly understand he is pretty awful at managing a bullpen. People were complaining last night that Randolph used three pitchers in the game. It's not his fault that Oliver Perez threw 95 pitches through six innings and gave up three long balls.

Do you want to keep the game close and have a few pitchers throw or tax a pitcher and have him stay in a game he's already performed poorly in?

Fans just can't seem to make up their minds, as usual. Again, sorry if I sound brash, but it's really just getting silly at this point. Do you want him to stick with a pitcher or have them try and win the game?

Randolph has quickly become the scapegoat, though Rick Peterson is not far behind. I know fans are passionate, because I am one, but until the team starts to tank, could you hold off for a bit? Again, they just took two of three from Arizona. Remember? It wasn't that long ago!!

Give him, and me, a break.

The Jacket Returns

...yay!...

Rick Peterson is reported to have signed a 3-year deal with the New York Mets.

...ok omar, sign any pitcher you want, Jacket will turn them into quality...

the return.

New York Mets baseball starts again. 2:20 @ historic Wrigley against the lowly Cubs.
~Traxx vs Maddux. interesting!
~Reyes will sit again today, still nursing his pinky.
~Maine will be shipped into the pen, and Pelfrey will make at least one more start.
~Pedro returning will be pushed back, after he came down with food poisoning, and couldnt throw over the ASB.

Trade Rumors have begun to pick up. Nats and Reds swapped 8 players, with Gary Majewski going to Cincy and Austin Kearns to Washington.

The lastest involving the mets, is dealing with the White Sox. Javier Vazquez and Freddy Garcia are available. They both have ERA's hovering around 5, maybe Rick "The Jacket" Peterson could tweak 'em a little...? It looks like we'd have to part with Sanchez or Heilman...
~I don't know how i feel on this one. Freddy had that great year a few years ago, and im sure hed do well with the mets, but do we really want to tinker with our 'pen...

well...Lets see how today goes. Lets Go Mets!

Mets lose by 9...ouch

Paging Dr. Rick Peterson...Dr. Peterson...'i think your patient is dead.'

...even 'the jacket' can't seem to fix soler. after the disaster in the bronx on sunday, i think its about time to close the books on mr. soler.

as the awfully witty commentators on ESPN were remarking on how he was afraid of contact...he just kept throwing low and outside, high, inside...anywhere but the plate...

HEY! you have 4 (cuatro) starting All Stars out there behind you...(well three...ones kinda in front of the pitcher) you can let the ball be hit...NOT to where E-Rod put his, but on the ground is ok!

tonight was an all around disaster. we put up 7...and lost by 9. ouch!
lets shake this off with pedro against those swashbuckling pirates.
oh wait. now pedro is hurt...


bring on mr. darren oliver.