Mets Get My Goat in Petco

Warning: terrible Mets in photo are closer than they appear.

Dear Omar Minaya--

In general I've been a fan of what you've tried to do with the Mets. First, giving away Scott Kazmir wasn't your fault as it happened before your watch. Second, bringing in Pedro for too many years might not have helped on the field (I saw him pitch personally yesterday, and for all the guff Billy Wagner got and deserved for blowing the save, Pedro should have given up more runs himself, only a bullet from Endy Chavez in rightfield stopped the first inning from being a disaster), but it did help with legitimacy. It made the Mets a player again, and that was important. So then you could sign Carlos Beltran--for too much money and too many years, but it's not your money and won't be your years either. (My guess is that both you and Willie get it at year's end, but that might be wishcasting.) And finally you got Johan Santana, which seemed to be just what the team needed.

Except it also needs a whole new offense. At yesterday's game, your #5 hitter was Damion Easley. And visions of expansion clubs danced in fan's heads.

Look, you actually made a good move getting Ryan Church, you just forgot to get the harder head version. But this is a team with no Plan B's when all the plan A's seemed tenuous. Delgado has been hitting of late, but he's the shell of what he was in Toronto. Alou hits whenever he's able, he's simply never able bodied. Then a series of 4th outfielders become starters and all offense will never break loose.

That said, Petco is a lovely place to watch 2 games. You can get Stone on tap (for 9 bucks per). And seeing one game end on a walk-off in extras and the second won on a pinch hit 3 run job in the eighth--that's thrilling baseball.

Too bad the Mets can't do something like that.

After all, the Mets highlight might have been managing to hit-by-pitch the bases full Saturday in a 1-1 game and still get out of the inning. Or maybe it was Beltran getting caught in a thirdbase to home pickle, and diving safely back into third. Without that the team wouldn't have scored Saturday, come to think of it. But then again, how can one expect an offense to cope with fearsome starting pitching like Cha Seung Baek and Wil Ledezma. After all the first sounds like a very spicy dish you'd order at a Korean restaurant and the second sounds like a painful skin condition.

Omar, there isn't much left for you to do but learn for next time. And remember--Luis Castillo and four years are not words that should be found in the same contract.

Best,
George