At the Halfway Point, the Mets Are Treading Water

The New York Mets are 6-6 since Jerry Manuel took over for Willie Randolph as manager two weeks ago. They were 34-35 under Randolph, but because of some woeful play by the rest of the division, Manuel’s squad sits only three games back of first-place Philadelphia on the last day of June.

Since Randolph was fired in the wee small hours of the morning of June 17, the Phillies are 2-9, the second-place Marlins are 4-7, and the Braves are 5-7 and now sit a game back of New York in fourth. With a win tonight in St. Louis, the Mets would become the only team in the division to play .500 baseball in the month of June.

Just because the Mets continue to play at the same winning percentage doesn’t mean that nothing has changed. Manuel has deviated from Randolph’s approach in a few noteworthy ways. David Wright had been the only player in either league to play every inning of every game, but, in his first game as interim manager, Manuel started Wright at designated hitter, and then benched him for an entire game last week after observing “fatigue.” He has used a stronger hand in dealing with José Reyes and Luis Castillo. Interim pitching coach Dan Warthen made a few adjustments in Oliver Peréz’s delivery that he credited to his fine pitching in a Mets win yesterday over the Yankees.

Manuel’s most difficult challenges have been related to the media. Perhaps out of loyalty to Randolph, members of the press have targeted the interim manager, making mountains out of every molehill he creates. Last weekend, when he said that the Shea Stadium fans were the “fertilizer” that helps the players blossom, the New York Post suggested that Manuel was comparing Mets fans to manure. Today, after Manuel expressed yesterday that the Mets played second-fiddle to the Yankees in New York, both tabloids mocked him and his club.

His comments:

We’re kind of like the second team… The Yankees have won 26, 27 [sic] championships. They’ve been here longer, I would think… That’s just the way it is. That’s just my opinion now. I don’t speak for everybody else. That’s my opinion. And being a baseball person all these years, from the outside, I’ve seen it that way. In Chicago, if you asked me, “What was the favorite team in New York?” I would have to say, “The Yankees.” I don’t have a problem with that. I love playing them… Shoot, use that as motivation. If you want to be first, win. Win some world championships. Don’t be first just by popularity, or who wears what jersey. Win some championships and you can claim first. I don’t have a problem with that.

They were innocuous comments that epitomized the attitude the Mets ought to have, particularly at the ownership level, but the press ran with it, splashing “We’re No. 2!” across the back-pages. On the day the Mets won this year’s incarnation of the Subway Series from their cross-town rivals, it was their manager, said the media, making them look like second-banana.

Manuel and the Mets, however, have bigger fish to fry than the Yankees and the media right now. They open up a four-game set in St. Louis tonight before traveling to the first-place Phillies over the holiday weekend for four games. It is an eight-game road-trip that has the capacity to make-or-break their season.

Even though the Mets have only played .500 ball since firing their manager, there are reasons to be encouraged other than the horrendous play of their competitors. Ryan Church returned to the lineup yesterday, and the Mets hope to get Moises Alou back for the weekend in Philly. Barring any further setbacks or other injuries, it would give the Mets their complete, Spring-Training lineup for the first time this season.

David Wright, after two-week-long slump, is hitting again, and Carlos Delgado drove in a team-record nine runs Friday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. Peréz was dominant yesterday. The Mets, believe it or not, do have reason to be optimistic about their chances in the National League East.

The next eight games will go a long way in determining whether the Mets can truly contend.