If There is a Ship, Randolph Has Not Righted It

In response to Marty Noble's fictional story about Willie Randolph, reader Matt decided to try and find out just what in the hell big Marty was thinking when he wrote this article.

Dear Mr. Noble,

I may not be a professional sports reporter, but I am a professional writer, for what that's worth, so I would hope you will take the time to at least read my correspondence. I'm writing to express my deep disappointment in your article published on MLB.com declaring, "Randolph has righted Mets' ship." You may find Mr. Randolph to be an admirable person, one who treats you and other journalists with great respect, but in no way should that translate into the kind of glossed-over assessment your article delivers.

By any measure, you cannot make the argument Mr. Randolph has "righted the Mets' ship." In fact, a compelling case could be made that his stubborn refusal to accept even the most conventional baseball strategy has cost the Mets several games already. A rapport with veterans is in no way a testament to having turned the team around, rather it is merely good will between decent people. Nothing more.

Let's look at the realities of Mr. Randolph and the Mets in the first half. His in-game management has been atrocious, his insistence at burying Wright in the lineup an outrage, and his failure to eliminate fundamental fielding and base running mistakes egregious. If the oft-maligned Art Howe were still in charge, the Mets would be at least a few games over .500, and I was never a fan of Art Howe.

Honestly I am baffled that respected reporters such as yourself have given Mr. Randolph a free pass on the job he's done. Don't you and the other beat reporters watch the games? I realize it is your job and you must tread lightly with public figures you rely on for stories, but please, tell it like it is.
The fans deserve at least that much.

Sincerely,

Matt

Good stuff. Take that Marty.

* * *

Nauseous? You will be now.

Jack Lind hadn't seen Philip Humber pitch since spring training, but judging by his velocity in his Double-A debut Monday night, something was definitely wrong.

"He was throwing 87 to 91 (mph)," said Lind, the Binghamton Mets' manager, "so that's a sign."

Humber, the New York Mets' first-round pick and the third overall selection in 2004, complained of right elbow soreness and was removed from the game in Norwich, Conn., before his at-bat in the fifth inning.

Now, there's some question about when he'll pitch again.

Of course, as with any Met, they come to Queens and have no injury history only to succumb to some sort of an injury. Hopefully it is nothing and he just needs to take a start or two off.

Last night was the David Wright show. Wright hit two homers, scored another run, and made a spectacular catch on an attempted suicide squeeze to get it in the air and walk back to third base to complete the double play. Definitely one of the plays of the year. Sure he made a costly error, but the kid simply took over.

Piazza's big homer was tremendous to watch and I officially can never say anything bad about Jose Offerman again. After I sold my soul to the devil saying I would be a big fan of Offerman if he could drive in Carlos Beltran to tie game, he did. So I have officially started the Jose Offerman fan club. Benson was a stud again last night in a huge game and Carlos Beltran raised his average from .266 to .275 with his 4 for 4 game.

Wang is down and possibly out for the season with the Yankees turn to the possiblity of trading for Al Leiter. Also, the Yankees are looking at Shawn Chacon and are rumored to be giving up Scott Proctor and Sean Henn should the deal go through and it looks likely. Is that all though? Really, can't the Mets top that? Chacon has a great arm and would be great pickup in my opinion. Henn may be a good prospect, but the Rockies are not cashing in enough for Chacon if that is the case.

From the NYPost:

If the Mets end up getting rid of major leaguers, there are a few intriguing players who have value. One could be reliever Roberto Hernandez, of whom the NL GM said, "To me, he is sort of the perfect two-month rental." Braden Looper, Mike Cameron and Cliff Floyd could all draw interest, and so might Royce Ring, Miguel Cairo and Aaron Heilman and even perhaps Tom Glavine and Mike Piazza.

and

The Mets signed reliever Lino Urdaneta from the Mexican League. Urdaneta will head to Triple-A Norfolk.

He was 4-3 with a 4.31 ERA with eleven walks and seventeen strikeouts in 31.1 innings for the Aguascalientes Railroadmen and had a 0.00 ERA with six K's and one walk in 7.1 innings for the Cancun Lobsterman.

For anyone looking to laugh at someone else's misery, I had Mark Prior and Kris Benson on the bench yesterday and they went a combined fifteen innings, 1.80 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, and 10.20 K/9.

Minor update:

• Norfolk vs. Syracuse was postponed due to power.
  
• Reading beat Binghamton 4-1. Lastings Milledge went 0 for 4 with three K's in his AA debut and Aarom Baldiris went 1 for 4. Cole Hamels pitched for Reading and went seven innings with three hits surrendered, one earned run, four walks, and eight strikeouts.
  
• St. Lucie beat Lakeland 11-7. Andy Wilson went 1 for 4 with two runs scored, a homer, two RBIs, and walked twice, Dante Brinkley went 2 for 4 with walk, and Shawn Bowman went 3 for 5 with a double, a run scored, and two RBIs.
  
• Hagerstown beat Lake County 2-1. Mike Carp went 1 for 3 and Jesus Flores went 1 for 3 with a run scored.
  
• Williamsport beat Brooklyn 9-3. Joseph Holden went 4 for 4 with a run scored, two triples, and one RBI.
  
• The GCL Mets lost to the GCL Nationals 5-4 in fifteen innings. Doug Mientkiewicz went 1 for 3 with one homer, two RBIs, and one walk.
  
• Danville beat Kingsport 1-0.

The Mets registered 43,319 fans to a non-Pedro start during the week which is very impressive. Imagine, when the Mets have a 45,000 seat new baseball stadium, they may actually sell out a non-Yankee during the season and during the week no less.

No matter what damage Omar done, it cannot be worse than what the Marlins have just done by cutting Al Leiter. I'm convinced Al will return to the Mets for their network launch in 2006.

Rick Carpiniello thinks that next year is not now and has a pretty good read for today.