The Mets Quantum Leap

Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped

into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. He awoke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Al, an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. And so Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home.

How many times is anyone given the opportunity to correct a mistake? To be put into the

exact same position they were at an earlier time and right what once went wrong? And how many seize that opportunity and redeem themselves? Tomorrow, at 1:10 PM on the last regular season game ever to be played at Shea Stadium, the New York Mets will have that chance.
It was the last day of the regular season last September 30th that the New York Mets, beginning the day tied with the Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the National League East and with a chance to avoid the most monumental collapse in the history of baseball, took the

field to play the Florida Marlins. Before anyone had a chance to sit in their seats and settle in to watch the game, the raucous Shea Stadium crowd was silenced as Tom Glavine, in his last start as a member of the Mets, allowed seven runs in 1/3 of an inning. The Phillies, emboldened by the gift bestowed upon them by both Glavine and the Marlins, defeated the Nationals 6-1 to claim the NL East crown leaving the Mets to sit in stunned silence from that first inning onward, wondering how everything fell apart so completely that their season came down to this.
It was no consolation that the Phillies were swept out of the playoffs before their hangovers from the division clinching celebration had subsided; nor did it matter that the Mets went out and acquired the best pitcher in baseball specifically to avoid the fate that befell them in 2007. Until they're able to exorcise the ghosts from that collapse----new manager or not; new

players or not----it will always be there. Now, in the midst of another collapse, a small glimmer of light is shining for the Mets. Receiving the help they needed today in the form of a masterful, three-hit shutout by Santana on three days rest and a Cubs 7-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, tomorrow morning when they head to the ballpark, the Mets will be tied for the Wild Card lead and hold destiny in their own hands.
Facing that same Marlins team provides the Mets with a unique shot at a do-over; a chance to let the world know that they're not going to close Shea Stadium with a second consecutive collapse. Glavine is gone; manager Willie Randolph is gone, but the ghosts still remain. The ghosts that haunt the remaining players from last year's roster can be exorcised tomorrow. Oliver Perez, in what is likely his last regular season start as a member of the Mets, will have a chance to go out in the way Glavine wanted to; in the way that his former teammates will remember him fondly and say, "that guy came up big when we needed

him," instead of inspiring the head shakes and sideways glances that Glavine received with his indifferent reaction as he dismissed the devastation felt by the Mets and their fans and hustled back to Atlanta to rejoin the Braves as quickly as possible, a place he never truly left.
Last year at this time, the Mets were breathing a sigh of relief having been given a gift by the Washington Nationals as they beat the Phillies on that Saturday; the Mets had angered the Marlins with their excessive celebrations and a bench clearing fight marred a dominating performance from John Maine in a 13-0 Mets win. Now the shoe is on the other foot. The Marlins are the ones who have succeeded in making the Mets look sympathetic with their relentless yapping in the newspapers about how sweet it's going to be to knock the Mets out of the playoffs again. The circumstances are identical; will the Mets rise to the occasion, or will they be struck by that lightning for a second year in a row and

allow the Marlins to walk all over them and gloat about it for another year?
2008 is a mirror image of 2007, but the Mets are a year wiser; a year tougher and they've been presented with that Quantum Leap moment; a chance to put right what once went wrong and exterminate those ghosts that would haunt the site of the demolished Shea Stadium forever and they can close the place right, without leaving any ghosts, by seizing this rare chance at redemption.

Masterpiece

The situation: the Mets are behind the Brewers by one game in the Wild Card.
The reality: if they lost today, their playoff hopes would likely be gone.
The solution: Johan Santana on three days rest.
The result: A complete game, three-hit, 2-0 masterpiece. And the Mets are still alive.

The Pros And Cons Of Starting Johan Santana On Short Rest

• Johan Santana called upon to save the Mets:

After the Mets bats failed to capitalize on another game rife with opportunities against a

rookie pitcher (albeit a good one in Chris Volstad), they're now in a predicament in which they have to look at the needs of the team in the short term as opposed to the long term. Johan Santana volunteered to take the mound on three days rest this afternoon to try and save the season. Here are the objective realities of such a maneuver:

He can't be counted on to go deeply into the game unless he keeps his pitch count very low--Santana's record in the few games he's pitched on short rest in the regular season is not good, but that's actually misleading. In three starts, his record is 1-1 with a 6.14 ERA and five homers allowed in 14 2/3 innings. That being said, the numbers were bloated due to a terrible start in 2002 in which he got shelled allowing three homers to a White Sox team that could really hit. That was also Santana's first year in the starting rotation at age 23 before he became Johan Santana. In the other games he pitched on short rest, he pitched quite well.

And one of the starts was in April of 2000 when he was a rookie and the three days rest came after a relief appearance of one inning.
The final time he did it in the regular season was also after a relief appearance four days earlier in 2003. Santana also pitched on three days rest in the 2004 ALDS vs the Yankees and pitched well in both appearances in that series. The pitch counts were important then as well because he only threw 93 pitches in game one and lasted five innings and 87 pitches in game four. His history has little to do with how he's going to fare today, but clearly he's going to have to be watched closely after throwing 125 pitches on Tuesday.

Santana isn't a short-term investment--Santana is 29-years-old and is signed to a very lucrative, long-term contract to be the Mets ace as they enter their new ballpark; he's one of the cornerstones of the organization and an asset as they try to lure free agents. Overtaxing him for short-term needs and risking injury a few years down the line isn't worth it. That's the

difference between the Brewers repeatedly throwing C.C. Sabathia on three-days rest and putting Ben Sheets out there this afternoon----what difference would it make to the Brewers if both Sheets and Sabathia get hurt after signing huge money contracts elsewhere? It's not their money and they're comfortable in the knowledge that the two pitchers aren't going to beg out of such important games and still be able to look their present and future teammates in the eye; plus I don't think Sheets is going to be able to last very long today given the ominous statements coming out of Milwaukee of how he's going to "give it a shot". That brings me to the next point...

The Brewers are still in a shaky position--They haven't the faintest idea of what they're going to get from Sheets if he indeed gets out to the mound to pitch; nor do they know how long he's going to be out there; the backup pitcher they're mentioning, Dave Bush, has been

adequate but not great lately and in two of his three starts this season against the Cubs, they've done a number on him. The Brewers have gotten yeoman work from their rotten bullpen over the past week, but how long are they going to be able to count on that? Plus Cubs manager Lou Piniella looked very agitated with the mental and physical mistakes his team made last night and won't want to enter the playoffs with his team flopping around on the field like, well, like the Mets.

The Mets have no choice--With the way they've played behind every pitcher not named Santana over the past few weeks and the reality of a loss eliminating them from contention, they have to roll the dice, put Santana out there and

hope that they jump on Marlins starter Ricky Nolasco (a pitcher they've consistently pounded), get a lead big enough to entrust to that bullpen (that would have to be a pretty big lead) and get Santana out of there after 80 or so pitches. They're going to have to make a choice if the score is 1-1 in the sixth inning and Santana's scheduled to bat after having thrown 90 pitches; other than that, they can only hope to get a lead, put some pressure on the Brewers who are scheduled to start at 3:55 and win their own game. The only other thing they can do is a rain dance around Shea Stadium so Santana will be able to pitch on his regular rest tomorrow and hope that the Brewers lose today. Actually, that's probably the best of all possible scenarios aside from a Mets win and Brewers loss.

*************************************

• Indians 11-White Sox 8; Roals 8-Twins 1:

With all the ridicule the Mets receive for their back-to-back collapses, the White Sox are authoring a collapse of their own. They started the Twins series up by 2 1/2 games with seven

to play and only one win away from effectively sealing the deal and they lost all three games; then they returned home to play the retooling Indians and a rookie starter in Scott Lewis and got pounded for eleven runs. And all of this was going on while the Twins were losing 8-1 to the Royals.
Javier Vazquez is scheduled to start for the White Sox today, but after his showing in the high-pressure game against the Twins (and in other high-pressure games throughout his career) and with how manager Ozzie Guillen has been so open in his low opinion of Vazquez's courage, I wouldn't expect much other than a quick hook.
Even with all of that, there's a window of opportunity for the White Sox just as there is for

the Mets; Glen Perkins is starting for the Twins and he's been knocked around in his past four starts; pitching for the Royals is Gil Meche, who's been very good in his last two starts and generally always gives a gutty effort.
I have a feeling that this division is going to come down to Monday afternoon as the Tigers play that makeup game against the White Sox and if that's the case, then the White Sox are in trouble because veteran teams who've had a rotten year like the Tigers would like nothing better than to have another team (especially one with a manager who's despised throughout the league) to join them in their misery. In a way, it would be far worse

for the White Sox to have their season come down to Monday afternoon because the Tigers have known that they were going home after the regular season ends; the White Sox expected to be in the playoffs and it would be a kick in the gut if they got knocked out the day after the season ended by a team that had nothing to play for other than the satisfaction of knowing they've knocked out one of their division rivals whom they don't like all that much to begin with.

Skipping Tonight's Debacle, Here's Tomorrow Night's Gameplan For The Mets

Moving quickly past another game in which another Mets pitcher allows another opposing

pitcher to hit a grand slam, here's tomorrow night's lineup and gameplan should they choose to accept it.

• Lineup vs Cubs lefty Sean Marshall:

1. Jose Reyes-SS
2. Ryan Church-RF
   
3. David Wright-3B
4. Carlos Delgado-1B
5. Carlos Beltran-CF
6. Ramon Castro-C
7. Nick Evans-LF
   
8. Argenis Reyes-2B
9. Johan Santana-P

Marshall is a tall lefty who doesn't strike out many, and walks more than his fair share; he hasn't started all that many games in the big leagues this year although he has always been

a starter in the minors. The Cubs probably aren't going to expect more than five or so innings out of him, so the Mets have to wait him out. Church looked a bit better at the plate tonight and moving him into the second slot in the lineup between Jose Reyes and Wright should give him some good pitches to hit. I'm convinced that Luis Castillo is a bad luck charm and they need to get him out of the lineup. While Argenis Reyes isn't much of a hitter, he's had some useful moments this year and there isn't this aura of bad luck floating over his head as there is Castillo.

• Pitching to the Cubs:

Cubs manager Lou Piniella is playing these games to win, as he should. The regular lineup is going to be in there for the most part. Johan Santana can't fall behind any of the Cubs bashers so they'll be geared up for his fastball. If, worst case scenario, the Cubs knock Santana around, Brandon Knight should be the long man; if Santana gets into the seventh or

eighth innings, Joe Smith is perfectly equipped with his sidearm delivery to deal with the Cubs righty-centric lineup. I don't even want to see the likes of Aaron Heilman even picking up a baseball to hold it, let alone to warm up. Pedro Feliciano should deal with the lefties and Luis Ayala should be allowed to close.

This game is being handed to the Mets on a platter; the Cubs are starting a young pitcher who's spent a chunk of the season in the minors and has alternated between serviceable and bad as a starter; they have to get to him, get to him early and give Santana a lead so the Brewers can look up at the scoreboard as their game starts and know that they have to win. As bad as the Mets have been responding to pressure, the Brewers have been worse. With a start time an

hour before the Pirates-Brewers game, the Mets can jump out and put the thought in the heads of the staggering Brewers that they have to win to keep pace.
These instances of getting runners on base with no one out and doing stupid things (Carlos Beltran trying to bunt for example) and letting their opponents off the hook isn't going to cut it. Jumping ahead, staying ahead and cruising to a win without having to rely on that bullpen should get the butterflies out of the entire organization's stomachs for one night at least and might wake them from this panic-stricken slumber once and for all to let them stagger into the playoffs; after that, I think I speak for everyone who has any connection to the Mets at all when I say they could get swept and no one's going to care; at this point, making the playoffs is enough.

Santana Comes Up Big With A Lot Of Help From Delgado

• Mets 6-Phillies 3:

This was why the Mets needed Johan Santana; this was why they paid the amount of

money they paid to get Santana to agree to come to the Mets; and this is why no matter what happens the rest of the way, there won't be a collapse like there was in 2007.
The entire game could've blown up in the first inning, but because Santana's Santana and the truly great pitchers have that ability to reach back for that little extra bit of greatness to get themselves out of trouble, he wriggled his way through the first inning. (The old-timers used to call it "pitching in a pinch".) Any of the greats----Tom Seaver, Steve Carlton, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson----it was always said that if you're gonna get them, get them early in the game because once they get into a groove and get their mechanics and focus down, you can pretty much forget about it and that

was how it was with Santana last night; after the Mets got him a lead, there was even more reason for the Phillies to be start hacking because he was going to start challenging them and, most likely, beating them with pure stuff.
A couple of other interesting notes on this game: Why did Charlie Manuel get so bent out of shape in the first inning? Why was Cole Hamels allowed to hit for himself leading off the fifth when he'd already thrown 90 pitches and clearly wasn't at his best? And Jerry Manuel showed a gambler's mentality in the eighth inning when he used Brian Stokes to pitch to Pat Burrell over Joe Smith.
As soon as Charlie Manuel walked out to discuss that catcher's interference on Chris Coste in the first inning, I could see he was going to get himself ejected; but why? The most telling thing about the call was that Coste himself didn't even utter a peep in protest, so that should've been good enough for Charlie Manuel to come out, ask what happened and go back to the dugout. David Wright immediately started going to first base and pointing after his bat

hit Coste's glove; umpire Jerry Meals sent Wright to first because he heard the bat hitting leather and Coste didn't say anything; why all the histrionics and combativeness in the first inning? It made him look like he was panicking over a call that wasn't going to cost the Phillies the game one way or the other.
With the score 4-2 in the top of the fifth; Hamels having thrown 90 pitches and clearly not being on his "A" game and leading off the inning; and Carlos Delgado locked in at the plate, batting second in the bottom of the fifth and crushing everything Hamels threw at him, why not send a pinch hitter up to try and start a rally? They pulled Hamels after the fifth anyway; why let the pitcher, even though he's a pretty good hitter (for a pitcher), bat? This isn't second guessing even though Delgado's second homer...hold on a second...yes,

okay. It juuuuust nooowwww....yeah...it just landed in Whippany, New Jersey.
Jerry Manuel showed that he's willing to take chances because when he pulled Pedro Feliciano after striking out Ryan Howard, I was expecting to see Joe Smith come trotting in from the bullpen to face Pat Burrell, but instead the increasingly dependable Brian Stokes was called in; Stokes threw one pitch and shattered Burrell's bat in getting him to ground to shortstop. Stokes throws extremely hard, but that took guts to go with him in that situation. I probably would've gone with the sidearming Smith.

• The upcoming Phillies-Brewers series is now the matchup to watch:

While the Phillies are still harboring thoughts of overtaking the Mets (after last season, how could they not?), they're probably not as self-assured about their chances as they're implying in

public. With that, I'm sure they're going to try and put a dent in the Wild Card lead held by the Brewers when the teams play four games this weekend.
Just like last year, the Brewers are staggering toward the finish line and taking on the personality of their tightly wound manager Ned Yost. One would think that with all of his experience as a coach under Bobby Cox during much of the Braves streak of division titles, Yost would be able to compartmentalize his feelings and focus on what's right in front of him. Instead, after C.C. Sabathia's disputed no-hitter/one-hitter, the person who was most affronted by the call was Yost himself and he let it distract him from the playoff chase his team is currently on. If the Phillies are within striking distance of the Brewers starting on Friday, I'd be concerned that Yost's propensity to explode will permeate the Brewers clubhouse and they'll turn into this year's version of the Mets and have the Phillies batter them out of the playoffs.
This is when a manager earns his stripes and if Yost's reactions both last year and this year are any indication, if his team makes the playoffs, it will be in spite of him and not because

of him. For all of his faults, Charlie Manuel has control of his clubhouse, the players like him and never let the gravity of the situation affect them adversely; can the same be said for Yost?

• Dodgers 5-Diamondbacks 3:

The Diamondbacks are in a lot of trouble.

The Mets-Phillies Day/Night Doubleheader May Help The Mets

• Phillies 6-Mets 2:

With post-traumatic memories dancing in the heads of Mets fans as the team lost their second

straight game to the Phillies, there are many differences between the collapse of 2007 and what's happening now in September of 2008. Last season, the Mets had been an average (at best) team from early June until they fell apart at season's end; this season they've played like men who were released from prison since the firing of Willie Randolph. (This isn't an overt reflection on Randolph; the questions about the manager's job security were just as stifling as Randolph's and pitching coach Rick Peterson's presence.) Last season, they'd spent just about the entire campaign in first place; this season, they've gone back and forth with the Phillies since getting their house in order with manager Jerry Manuel and pitching coach Dan Warthen. Most importantly, the Mets have Johan Santana pitching the second game of tonight's doubleheader----the exact type of game he was acquired to pitch.
The one thing missing from the Mets last season was that ace who they could give the ball and say, "carry us home". With Santana and his cachet, that is no longer an issue. Even with

John Maine and Oliver Perez winning 15 games apiece last year, there wasn't that one guy that the team could count on to give them a winning performance regardless of the circumstances.
Another issue that is an advantage for the Mets is that even though they've lost the first two games of this series and seem to have forgotten their bats in Milwaukee, losing the first game of a doubleheader on Sunday and trimming the lead to one game won't be seen as the panic-stricken tragedy that it would have been with the tightly wound Randolph at the helm; with the dearth of the one guy they could count on to go to the mound and deliver the goods; and without the newspapers, talk show imbeciles and everyone else going into conniptions at the mere thought of another September swoon. This may be the most important factor of all.
Part of the reason the team collapsed so completely last season, I think, was because the players heard the whispers of the fans, talk shows and newspapers wondering when the team was going to wake up. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy and everyone, from the front office on down through the entire organization, looked to someone else to get the job done and as a result, everyone played tight and tried not to screw up instead of doing their jobs. Even as they've lost the first two games of this series, the worst case scenario is that they and the Phillies will be all even with twenty games left; that would've looked pretty good early in the season given the way they played under Randolph until he was fired.
Having the break between games and not having to answer a million questions about why

the Phillies have the hex over the Mets in September; not having to go home and sleep with the feeling of impending doom that permeated the organization last season; not having to read the newspaper accounts of another Mets September stumble before heading back onto the field, and being able to get right back out with their ace on the mound is a huge advantage for those that are still seeing the nightmare of 2007 everywhere they look.
Mets fans are inherently pessimistic and paranoid (with good reason), but if they go out tonight and get what they're paying for from Santana, the combination of no remaining games against the Phillies (unless there's a one-game playoff or they both make the playoffs) should give the entire organization and fan base some breathing room to not worry about what happened in 2007 and move forward. All the pieces are in place to put 2007 to rest once and for all and it starts on the valuable left arm of Johan Santana and is being assisted by this day-night doubleheader.

• Whither Ben Sheets?

I've gone on about wondering where Ben Sheets is going to end up after this season ad nauseam, but after last night's performance in which he dismantled the Padres I have to keep

asking: which team is going to ante up the cash on Sheets's potential and not worry about his propensity for getting hurt with various injuries to just about every single part of his body. The most important question that the interested teams (and there will be many) is how high they're willing to go to get that potential and if they're confident that he's going to be able to get out on the mound on a regular basis.
Is Sheets going to become Chris Carpenter, who overcame injury after injury with the Blue Jays, got healthy with the Cardinals and won 36 games over two years and won the Cy Young Award in one season and finished in third place the next year? Will he become Jim Palmer, who went 15-10 in his first full year in the majors during the Orioles 1966 championship season then missed most of the 1967 season with injuries; spent 1968 rehabilitating and became a three-time Cy Young Award winner and a Hall of Famer upon returning to the majors in 1969? Or is he going to be another Carl Pavano, who received a giant contract and couldn't stay healthy? (It's very interesting how Pavano is now blaming the doctors for his woes----NY

Times Article, but I digress.) It's a big commitment that a team is going to make for Sheets with a massive risk/reward.
Sheets's teammate with the Brewers, C.C. Sabathia is putting himself into position to not only steal the National League Cy Young Award from Brandon Webb in just three months of work, but to make an even larger haul than Johan Santana got from the Mets. As for Sheets, the losers in the Sabathia sweepstakes will be calling him as a backup plan and he'd be smart to wait and see where Sabathia winds up before signing anywhere. If I were an executive for one of the teams that has the money to give Sheets the $110+ million he's going to want (and get), I'd possibly be staking my job on whether or not he's able to stay healthy for the 5-7 years of his contract.
If I were advising someone like Omar Minaya or Brian Cashman (if he's still with the Yankees), my recommendation would be to take the large chunks of cash that are coming off the books and invest it in Sheets; the change in scenery and different training staffs and medical teams might keep him healthy and he's one of the best pitchers in baseball when he's able to get out on the mound. My gut instinct is to take the risk because Sheets is Hall of Fame good when he's at his best and a 2009 Mets rotation, for example, with Santana, Sheets, John Maine and Mike Pelfrey would look very intimidating as they came into town. It's a big risk, but my gut feeling is that he's going to be worth it even with his aches and pains.

• Enough already with the moaning and complaining about C.C. Sabathia's lost no-hitter:

Buster Olney linked an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in which Tom Haudricourt suggests that Major League Baseball institute a fifth umpire to score the game so another incident as happened to C.C. Sabathia and the no-hitter that wasn't doesn't happen again----Article. This reminds me of the scene late in the movie Interview with the Vampire in which Lestat, the Tom Cruise character, hears a tape of Louis, the Brad Pitt character complaining

about his life as a vampire and asks interviewer Christian Slater:

Lestat: Oh Louis, Louis. Still whining Louis. Have you heard enough? I've had to listen to that for centuries.

It wasn't as if Sabathia had a no-hitter with two outs in the ninth inning and saw it snatched from his grasp by a bad call. It was a fifth inning judgment call that I've already said that I disagreed with; but what's done is done. All the Brewers have done since this happened is complain about it. They petitioned the league for a scoring change and were rejected. Now, these articles that are being written about it and it's enough. Sabathia wasn't all that bothered about it, so why can't everyone just stop whining and let it go. Can everyone move on with their lives please?
Am I alone in not wanting to hear about it anymore? A drastic change has just been made to the way umpires call the game with the installation of instant replay, are they supposed to add an umpire just so an official scorer won't be able to "steal" a no-hitter that may not have happened anyway? Baseball scoring has been done this way pretty much since the game began and a change isn't necessary because of one call that didn't go the way people with a vested interest in the outcome wanted it. I just don't want to hear about it anymore. (That being said, I might be swayed if the Brewers continue to whine, moan and complain because anything that puts a stop to this silliness is good enough for me.)

Yankees Getting Kicked In The Head From All Sides

• Red Sox 11-Yankees 3; Marlins 4-Braves 1:

Amid the stunned feelings of resignation of their current predicament that are beginning to

permeate Yankeeland, there are other aspects of the story that are only going to serve to make things worse from the organization itself to the entire fan base. It's one thing to lose; it's another thing to have that loss receive an exclamation point from perhaps the most-despised current member of the Red Sox, Dustin Pedroia.
Since his arrival as a full time big leaguer last season, Pedroia has baited, aggravated, irritated and antagonized the Yankees because he's good; because he knows he's good; because he'll tell you he's good; and because he has a penchant for getting big hits. With the Yankees clinging desperately to any chance of climbing back into contention, it must have been tantamount to getting kicked in the stomach watching Pedroia trotting around the bases after his grand slam.
With their division deficit now at 10 1/2 games behind the Rays and the Wild Card deficit at seven behind the Red Sox and 4 1/2 behind the Twins, the Yankees hopes are fading unless

they get hot and get hot fast. Individuals in the Yankee organization must be feeling the sting of what's happening elsewhere as well. On the same night that Pedroia and the Red Sox hammered the Yankees staff of journeymen and mediocre pitchers; Johan Santana gutted his way through six innings for the Mets; and Josh Johnson was in Atlanta pitching for the Marlins and punctuating his comeback from Tommy John surgery (that the Marlins front office still blames Yankees manager Joe Girardi for playing a large part in making necessary) with a complete game effort against the Braves.
Since much of his perceived ability to manage was based on the job he did in his single season with the Marlins, it should diminish Girardi's resume even further as that same Marlins team may end up 2008 with a better record as they function with a payroll that is 10% of that of the Yankees. Girardi's strengths are there for all to see----he's hard-working, intelligent and relentlessly positive----but the negatives are there for all to see as well. He has

much to answer for regarding strategy, just as he did two years ago; and he hasn't proven to be any more successful with a $200 million payroll and championship expectations than he was with a $15 million payroll and no expectations. The credit that Girardi received for the Marlins rise in 2006 is dwindling with every competitive day the bargain basement team stays in contention for a playoff spot under Fredi Gonzalez and Johnson's dominance since his return is shining a light (fairly or not) on the fact that he got hurt while pitching for Girardi.
If the Yankees season continues to slide down this road (and they've shown no reason to believe that anything's going to change over the last month), there are going to be questions about the wisdom of everything that transpired from 2007's conclusion until the end of 2008. Even though the Dodgers have problems of their own, Joe Torre's success at getting the Yankees into the playoffs no matter what can't be dismissed if they don't make the playoffs in

the first year after he was allowed to leave. Was it the smartest thing to let Johan Santana slip through their fingers (especially to go to the Mets) to keep the likes of Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes and whoever else the Twins asked for, especially since they took the Mets deal they didn't really want because they were out of options? It's easy to critique such decisions in hindsight, but since when do the Yankees let money stop them from making a move that would've added an ace in his prime like Santana? Since when does money take precedence over the good of the team?
GM Brian Cashman has made some mistakes, but he's still a good GM; even with that, there have to be questions about his motivation in making these moves. The rookie mistakes that Hank and Hal Steinbrenner have made stem from allowing Cashman to try and

lower the payroll at the expense of doing what's best for the organization in the short run. As I've said before, what is Cashman's motivation to slash costs? What difference does it make to him what the team payroll is unless he's trying to garner some credit for himself as to how wise he is with a dollar? To think that the Yankees, with their almost limitless resources, needed to save the money that Santana would have cost is absurd. After all the money wasted on the likes of Carl Pavano, what difference would another $20 or so million added to that $200 million have been if it meant a playoff spot?
Unless things take a drastic turn, there are going to be angry and rightfully indignant questions from the Yankees fan base as to why these decisions were made to play for three, four and five years down the line when the nucleus of the team is aging so rapidly. How many stellar seasons from Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter does Cashman think are left? What are they going to get out of Jorge Posada as he returns from injury? There's no doubt that Yankee

fans were spoiled by the four championships in five years and Torre's annual trip to the playoffs even if they got knocked out in the first round; now they're learning what life is like if they're transitioning to a younger and more frugal organization. The one thing that should make Yankee fans angriest is that there was no reason for the attempted payroll reduction and reliance on young players. They have a new ballpark on the way that is going to provide a windfall; they have an established brand that is going to make money no matter the condition of the team; why cut corners on the bench? On the bullpen? Or the starting rotation?
Even if, as expected and whether Cashman's there or not, the Yankees make big plays for the likes of C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Ben Sheets and whoever else, it's still not going to explain why they decided to become frugal in 2008 and started spending again when the grand plan didn't work immediately; and to think the empty threats of Hank Steinbrenner are all of a sudden going to turn into decisive (and occasionally

ill-advised) action just like those of his father and are going to fix things lends credence to the question as to why they decided to go down this road in 2008 at all; it adds to the poignancy of wondering what the purpose of all of this "looking toward the future" was from the start.
Teams like the Ahtletics, Padres, Rockies, Marlins, Twins all have an argument for scrimping and saving here and there----the Yankees don't. This all began with Cashman's decision to go young and become the object of admiration of others, saving money that he wasn't under a mandate to save and finding bargains where he didn't need to find bargains. While the previously mentioned teams have found inexpensive and productive "finds" doing business their own way, the Yankees don't have to do that, which leads to the question as to why they tried to develop a startup when they can afford to purchase established goods; why they did the equivalent of buying swampland in the Everglades when they can afford to buy land on Park Avenue. Because the plan looks like it's going to fail and the Yankees are just going to go back to throwing money at their problems which, even without a championship since 2000, at least got them into the playoffs, makes it look all the worse. What was the point?

Santana's Second-Half Dominance Is The Real Deal

• Mets 4-Pirates 0:

It's easy to look at a stat like career-long performance in the first half vs the second half

and scoff at the idea that there's any genuine difference; it's easy to deny the reality, but Johan Santana is again dominating and heating up in the second half of the season as he did during the majority of his time with the Twins and clearly there's something to the notion that he goes from a top tier, All Star pitcher in the first half to a Hall of Famer in the second half.
The numbers are quite different; in the first half over his career he's won 51 and lost 34 with an ERA of 3.47; 719 hits allowed in 829 innings. In the second half, his record (so far) is 53-17 with (not counting yesterday's shutout) a 2.81 ERA, and 500 hits in 647 innings. It's clear that Santana is a pitcher who takes awhile to get heated up, but once he does is something to behold. After a bad start against the Reds coming out of the All Star break, Santana has pitched two complete games; pitched eight innings once and seven innings twice; and 6 1/3 in the other game; he's allowed three runs in one start and two or less in all the others. He's entered his comfort zone and is now pitching like the Cy Young Award winner the Mets paid for.
That he's been able to overcome the ancillary factors of the big move to New York and maintain this career pattern is amazing as well. A somewhat shy, though charismatic Venezuelan coming from laid back Minnesota to "save" the Mets amid all the money and expectations; pitching much of the first half with a manager in Willie Randolph who had a guillotine hovering over his head like a comic book thought balloon; and the increasing disgust

of impatient fans (who booed him, pretty much saying, "we want you to be great now"); and media incompetents who declared him "overrated" after every start that wasn't perfect; Santana's career pattern has proved him to be exactly what everyone thought he was and more because he's pitched two complete games in the past month as well, which was something he was criticized for not doing.
He's only got five or six starts left in the regular season, so his win total isn't going to be gaudy; he's likely to end with 15 or 16 wins and barely over 200 strikeouts, but this was a transition year for him and he's been almost exactly what could reasonably have been expected; it's in the coming years where the in-his-prime Santana will show Mets fans and the rest of baseball why he's got two Cy Young Awards and will be in the running for more playing under that lucrative contract he signed to join and stay with the Mets; then we will no longer be hearing allegations that he's "overrated" anymore.

• Yankees 15-Royals 6:

Can we now formulate a definitive assessment of Brian Bannister? There are some cases where it's best to trust one's eyes and not the stunning and unexpected results a player delivers and that looks to be what's happened with Bannister. A big league pitcher cannot

allow ten runs, ten hits, three walks and three homers in 1+ inning if he expects to be in the big leagues very long. He's a streaky pitcher who happens to run together five or six good starts in a row; this makes people believe that his stuff is better than what it is even when he's getting pounded, which is the majority of the rest of the time.
Ambiorix Burgos, acquired by the Mets in the ridiculed trade of Bannister, is pitching in the minors and closing in on a return to the big leagues after Tommy John surgery; if he helps the Mets short-handed bullpen in September, are we still going to hear about how bad a trade that was? It was an evaluation on the part of the Mets front office that is looking to be correct; Bannister is a journeyman whose hot streak made him look like one that got away; he wasn't one that got away; he was one that was dumped because he wasn't any good.

• Here's a 2009 solution for the San Diego Padres to at least make them interesting:

If the Padres want to inject some life into their club and have a chance to compete with young, inexpensive players, they should (bleep)can the Moneyball adherence; fire manager

Bud Black and replace him with Wally Backman. Backman would take almost no money for the opportunity; he's a Billy Martin-style manager----gifted on the field, flawed off----and he's not bothered about having to try to be innovative to win some games. Backman is currently managing the Joliet Jackhammers in the Northern League and their record of 36-46 isn't all that impressive, but they do some things that the Padres should appreciate with their obsession with being cheap and using the Moneyball system. The Jackhammers have a high team-wide on base percentage----stats----and Backman is a raving maniac who'll flip over food tables and bench stars to get his point across.
They're not going to do it and if they truly intend to slash their payroll some $30+ million to end at around $40 million for next year, they're going to have built in excuses for being the worst team in baseball. They'll continue down the road they're on; pointing to stats as the

reason for their player moves and the payroll constraints as to why they're so awful, lose close to 100 games and be somehow bulletproof from criticism by those who are themselves invested in sabermetrics above all else. Backman would probably be a short-term solution because he's a pretty good shot to pull another standard part in the Billy Martin package----the self-destruct lever, but it's something that may work and overcome a lack of talent, money and competence to mitigate the shortfalls in San Diego; at the very least, it would make them interesting.

Mini-Fallout For The Mets And An Absurd Panic

In the cosmic scheme of things this latest debacle, an 8-6 loss to the Phillies, won't mean much of anything if the Mets get two well-pitched games today and tomorrow from John Maine and Oliver Perez and win. The older I get, the more I believe the Jim Leyland-theory that momentum is only as good as the next day's starter. That being said, there are some things that need to be clarified about this game.

• Johan Santana didn't ask to come out of the game after eight innings, but he didn't fight to stay in either:

There are a dozen arguments to take a pitcher like Santana out after eight innings. A

three-run lead should have been safe with or without the closer and regardless of the opponent; he's going to be needed down the stretch and in the post-season(?) and it makes no sense to go over his normal workload for a relatively meaningless game in July; the Mets have a lot of money invested in him for a lot of years and going over his threshold four months into his first season with the team is a panic move; etc, etc.
But there are also viable arguments for him to go out and at least try to finish the game for his team. There's a difference between going above and beyond what a pitcher's used to in terms of pitch count and going slightly over what is normal; the circumstances----105 pitches through eight innings; the unavailability of closer Billy Wagner; that Santana came here to be the man the Mets have been missing since the

days of Dwight Gooden----dictated that he should have stood in front of Jerry Manuel and told his manager that he wanted to start the ninth inning; that it was his game and without Wagner available, his responsibility to try and close things out himself. Instead he allowed himself to be removed and again the question of whether his desire to win is secondary to his satisfaction of doing well enough to win even if the bullpen coughs it up.
The argument of star players who are reluctant to get down in the muck is always logically sound. When he was at his best as the most dangerous hitter in the National League, former Cincinnati Reds star George Foster responded to the Pete Rose criticism that he never got his uniform dirty by saying that he didn't run into walls because he didn't want to get hurt and miss substantial time and not be able to help the team with his bat; but sometimes a player must run into a wall; or a pitcher must go past that threshold of pitches to help the team win.
It's not like they were talking about him going from 115 pitches to 135-140. That would've

been extreme; he was at 105 pitches and could have thrown fifteen or twenty more as long as he felt all right and his mechanics were sound. Taking him out was the easily explainable maneuver (to their bosses and to the reporters) and that's what managers tend to lean towards rather than what might be best for the team. Thus far as manager of the Mets, Manuel has shown a strategic acumen that wasn't present in Willie Randolph and he's shown the ability to ignore certain orthodoxies that have become all-too-common, but last night, there shouldn't even have been a discussion or decision to blow up in everyone's face. Manuel should've asked Santana to finish the game and Santana should've demanded that he finish the game. He's thrown between 110 and 120 pitches in his career numerous times and it wouldn't have hurt him had he gone out there for the ninth inning with a short leash to try and prevent the short-handed bullpen from doing exactly as they did and blowing a game that the team should have won.

• A reporter's agenda is showing:

William C. Rhoden wrote an article in today's New York Times----Column----basically accusing Wagner of unilaterally deciding to take the game off, sitting in the clubhouse and shaking his head as his replacements imploded; that the Mets leadership from Jerry Manuel on down is lacking; and defending Willie Randolph as if the entire collapse from last season

and lackluster play during his tenure this season was somehow not his fault; he then suggests that the modern day version of Nietzsche's Superman, Mariano Rivera, has never once been unavailable when the Yankees needed him as the Mets needed Wagner last night. I'm here to tell you that Rhoden's agenda in defending Randolph is blatantly obvious and that he clearly pulled this vague accusation of a "lack of leadership" out of the air to defend Randolph and rip the Mets.
Wagner and the doctors decided that it would be better to give the pitcher's sore trapezius/shoulder another day of rest. It's not as if Wagner didn't want to be out there on the mound for the ninth inning. Wagner is a lot of things. He's shaky in big games and he's got a big mouth, but he's not an Erik Bedard/Carl

Pavano-style malingerer. This is why it's so difficult to be a closer especially in New York; if he goes into the game sore and blows the game or blows his shoulder out so he's lost for the season, he gets ripped for either not thinking about the big picture or for not being good at his job; if he takes the doctor's advice and gives his shoulder an extra day of rest, he's accused of fiddling while Rome burns.
One game is very small in the grand context of the last sixty games and beyond(?) that the Mets are going to need Wagner to pitch. If he got hurt, they'd be faced with the possibility of having to rely on their other bullpen pitchers who either don't have the mental aptitude or ability to close games as well as Wagner (even with all of his faults); then the team would be forced to overpay out of desperation for the likes of Huston Street or George Sherrill when their other needs (a corner outfield bat) should take precedence.
Regardless of how one feels about Willie Randolph on a personal level; or how they feel about the way the Mets botched his firing, I don't think anyone with an objective bone in his body wouldn't agree that it was time for him to go. The team wasn't responding to him and they weren't going to turn things around with him at the helm; the questions surrounding his job status had become stifling and the leadership that Rhoden claims is still missing was being ignored and dismissed while Randolph and Rick Peterson were still around. Even with

this one loss, Manuel has proven to be far superior strategically to Randolph and the team seems relaxed and at ease with him in the manager's office.
Mariano Rivera is not invulnerable. There have been times that even he has had to be rested because of a barking elbow. To imply that Rivera would have gone out to the mound in any condition (especially in a game in July) is piling on Wagner because he's not Rivera, but Wagner, even at his best, was never Rivera. He was never even Trevor Hoffman. He's a pretty good closer who throws hard and gets the job done most of the time. A player's performance has little to do with him being injured and Rhoden combines the two to indict Wagner as something that he's not. He is not a guy who doesn't want the pressure of pitching a big game whether he succeeds or fails.
To continue to try and defend Randolph is grasping at straws to find reasons for his demise other than that he had his major faults as a manager and it was past time for a change. No matter what happens for the rest of the season, it won't change that reality. And it should be remembered that even with the entire mess of this season----the injuries, botched firings, questionable decisions and infighting----the Mets are still one game out of first place and have the personnel to not only take control of the NL East, but to emerge

from a mediocre National League to make it to the World Series. As the Cardinals proved two years ago, once a team gets that far, they're still only four wins from a championship and everything that happened as they navigated their way there is conveniently forgotten during the victory parade and raising of the World Series trophy. In the end, this was only one game in July and that's what everyone needs to remember before panicking. It's not about the invisible and difficult to gauge expression of "leadership"; it's about performance and nothing more.