Curious Willie

I think Willie has done an admirable job in his first stint as a manger, but like many mangers, he does and says things that just confuse people.

"The guy is not even here," Randolph said. "What is it, like a big deal here with a guy who is in the minor leagues? Am I missing something here? He's not even on the team yet. He's in our organization."

For one, Strickland was in the majors before and was successful before. When he was first brought over from Montreal, there were whispers from GMs that they thought he could be their closer of the future and the heir to the erratic Armando Benitez. Secondly, the Mets do not have a lights out bullpen and to waste a guy who is on the right side of thirty that has a bulldog mentality out of the bullpen seems a bit silly when faced with some of the other options. That is the big deal. The guy can walk without the Mets even letting him see what he can do, and that is big mistake considering it is not out of the realm of possibilities that Mets will be looking to upgrade their middle relief when the trading deadline closes in. Who does it hurt to give him a look?

It seems elementary to at least give him a look, even it means sending Victor Diaz down for two or three weeks to take some hacks or sending Eric Valent down to take some hacks.

Head scratcher #2 is his infatuation with Doug Mientkeiwicz. He is now Batting .216 with an OPS of .730 and is still entrenched in the sixth spot in the order. I can take his lack of all around offense because of that stellar glove, but he should be as far away from the meat of the order as possible. David Wright is still earning his chops down in the seventh spot and is batting .267 with an .864 OPS. It is about time Wright moves up to sixth, possibly even fifth with the struggling Mike Piazza hitting .207 with a ridiculous .675 OPS.

Willie, when things look painfully obvious, people are going to make a stink about certain things.

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The shame is, Aaron Heilman is on thin ice, and yesterday’s loss cannot help his cause.

This is a great picture.

Phil Humber got knocked around in his five innings of work on Sunday. He gave up four runs, on five hits and three walks while striking out five. Despite that, the St. Lucie Mets beat Sarasota. Milledge had his best day of the year with a 3 for 5 day, with one run scored, one RBI, and two doubles. Brett Harper his hit 13th homerun of the year.

Yusmeiro Petit gave up two homeruns, three earned runs, and four hits, while striking out three and walking one in four innings. Binghamton beat Norwich despite his lackluster start and Anderson Hernandez went 4 for 5 with a double, a homer, two runs score, and knocked two RBIs.

Norfolk was no hit. Not good.