GimmeShelter
06-13-2006, 07:44 AM
Mets manage to win as one
Best in N.Y. follow Willie's way
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/408-metsmain.JPGOrlando Hernandez brings winning outlook to Mets, a trait Willie Randolph knows well. http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/45-beltran.JPGNL Player of the Week Carlos Beltran is in swing with New York. The Mets aren't just the best team in New York right now, they are the best team in baseball. The Tigers have a better record, but nobody believes they could beat Willie Randolph's team straight up. The Mets, coming off that four-game sweep of the Diamondbacks, 6-1 on a road trip that finishes this week in Philadelphia, are the best team going, the most exciting, the one with the most personality, the one with the most fascinating blend of old and new.
It doesn't mean they are going to pound the Phillies this week and end up with one of the best 10-game road trips they've ever had. It doesn't mean they are going to run away with everything the way the '86 Mets did. It doesn't mean they are going to stay healthy. No guarantees on that, ever. Ask the Yankees.
We are just talking about the here and now of Willie's Mets. And right now, here they are.
There are still 100 games to go. No one has to tell the manager, a noted winner in New York for a long time, how much season there is left, how much can happen. But Willie likes his team. He likes the fight in it, he likes all the personality, he likes how it fits together, he sees how much these Mets hate to lose a single game.
"They play the way Willie played," Joe Torre said a couple of weeks ago.
If you know Randolph at all, and I have known him for 30 years, you know one of the first questions he ever asks about a player is this: Is the guy willing to give it up? Willie Randolph has always believed the true measure of a team is how much its players are willing to give it up to win.
"Guys talk all the time about wanting to win," Randolph was saying yesterday. "It's easy to talk about winning. But I've always been, like, okay, but how much? How much are they willing, every single day, to do whatever needs to be done that day to win the game? That's what sets winning teams apart. That's what I've learned, what I'm trying to share with them, my knowledge of what it takes to win. But these guys know something else and so do I: In the end, it ain't just about me, it's about all of us believing we can get to where we want to go.
"You do that by being a real team, by having guys pick each other up, in whatever way is necessary. Do you know how hard it is to get a group of guys who actually like to talk about baseball with each other, go out of their way to help each other out?" Randolph laughs. "Trust me. It's real hard. But there's (Tom) Glavine, not just down in the bullpen talking to the other pitchers on his throw days, but working with guys when they do their own throwing on the side."
Randolph said: "These guys, the veterans and the young guys, are committed to themselves, and to each other. They know when to have fun, and when to get down to the task at hand."
He has a Carlos who loves to talk, in Carlos Delgado. He has a quiet Carlos in Beltran. He has the three kids, Jose Reyes at short and David Wright at third and now Lastings Milledge in the outfield. He has Glavine and Pedro Martinez at the top of his rotation, as good a 1-2 as there is in baseball these days. He has a closer.
And unlike Joe Torre, Randolph has setup guys he trusts, at least so far.
There will be bad stretches. The Mets lose a tough series sometimes, the way they did against the Giants. Could lose one right here with the Phillies. But Beltran, such a disappointment last season, is having the kind of MVP stretch Yankee fans want from A-Rod. They score runs at an amazing clip even with a leadoff hitter, Reyes, whose on-base percentage is only .315.
The manager thinks Reyes can do better, that the Mets can do even better on offense. He loves Milledge's speed, but more than that, he likes the way the kid swings the bat. "His hands are lightning quick," Randolph said. "All he needs to do is settle in now, let the ball come to him." Ask the manager of the Mets a question about Wright and he goes for 10 minutes. It is the same way with Beltran.
"From Day 1," Willie said, "I've been telling people that all (Beltran) needs to do is exhale. Well now it's like he's exhaled twice. If you're asking me for one factor, I'm not sure I can give you one. Maybe Delgado being here, having his kind of personality in the clubhouse and having his kind of bat behind him, has had something to do with it. Maybe he's got that year in New York under his belt now. Whatever it is, I just keep telling him to keep showing people what he's got. I tell him, son, this is New York, this is the big stage, you can't hide here, don't be afraid to show people the way you can play the game."
Does Randolph know about the back of his rotation for sure? No one does. Could an injury to a big pitcher sink them? It can sink anybody. But the Mets' 1-2, Glavine and Pedro, are better than what the Yankees have and what the Red Sox have.
The Mets lose Victor Zambrano from their rotation, Xavier Nady goes down, they're working on their third second baseman, Cliff Floyd hasn't hit. Here they are. The Yankees are still the toughest ticket in town. Right now the Mets are the best one.
Best in N.Y. follow Willie's way
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/408-metsmain.JPGOrlando Hernandez brings winning outlook to Mets, a trait Willie Randolph knows well. http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/45-beltran.JPGNL Player of the Week Carlos Beltran is in swing with New York. The Mets aren't just the best team in New York right now, they are the best team in baseball. The Tigers have a better record, but nobody believes they could beat Willie Randolph's team straight up. The Mets, coming off that four-game sweep of the Diamondbacks, 6-1 on a road trip that finishes this week in Philadelphia, are the best team going, the most exciting, the one with the most personality, the one with the most fascinating blend of old and new.
It doesn't mean they are going to pound the Phillies this week and end up with one of the best 10-game road trips they've ever had. It doesn't mean they are going to run away with everything the way the '86 Mets did. It doesn't mean they are going to stay healthy. No guarantees on that, ever. Ask the Yankees.
We are just talking about the here and now of Willie's Mets. And right now, here they are.
There are still 100 games to go. No one has to tell the manager, a noted winner in New York for a long time, how much season there is left, how much can happen. But Willie likes his team. He likes the fight in it, he likes all the personality, he likes how it fits together, he sees how much these Mets hate to lose a single game.
"They play the way Willie played," Joe Torre said a couple of weeks ago.
If you know Randolph at all, and I have known him for 30 years, you know one of the first questions he ever asks about a player is this: Is the guy willing to give it up? Willie Randolph has always believed the true measure of a team is how much its players are willing to give it up to win.
"Guys talk all the time about wanting to win," Randolph was saying yesterday. "It's easy to talk about winning. But I've always been, like, okay, but how much? How much are they willing, every single day, to do whatever needs to be done that day to win the game? That's what sets winning teams apart. That's what I've learned, what I'm trying to share with them, my knowledge of what it takes to win. But these guys know something else and so do I: In the end, it ain't just about me, it's about all of us believing we can get to where we want to go.
"You do that by being a real team, by having guys pick each other up, in whatever way is necessary. Do you know how hard it is to get a group of guys who actually like to talk about baseball with each other, go out of their way to help each other out?" Randolph laughs. "Trust me. It's real hard. But there's (Tom) Glavine, not just down in the bullpen talking to the other pitchers on his throw days, but working with guys when they do their own throwing on the side."
Randolph said: "These guys, the veterans and the young guys, are committed to themselves, and to each other. They know when to have fun, and when to get down to the task at hand."
He has a Carlos who loves to talk, in Carlos Delgado. He has a quiet Carlos in Beltran. He has the three kids, Jose Reyes at short and David Wright at third and now Lastings Milledge in the outfield. He has Glavine and Pedro Martinez at the top of his rotation, as good a 1-2 as there is in baseball these days. He has a closer.
And unlike Joe Torre, Randolph has setup guys he trusts, at least so far.
There will be bad stretches. The Mets lose a tough series sometimes, the way they did against the Giants. Could lose one right here with the Phillies. But Beltran, such a disappointment last season, is having the kind of MVP stretch Yankee fans want from A-Rod. They score runs at an amazing clip even with a leadoff hitter, Reyes, whose on-base percentage is only .315.
The manager thinks Reyes can do better, that the Mets can do even better on offense. He loves Milledge's speed, but more than that, he likes the way the kid swings the bat. "His hands are lightning quick," Randolph said. "All he needs to do is settle in now, let the ball come to him." Ask the manager of the Mets a question about Wright and he goes for 10 minutes. It is the same way with Beltran.
"From Day 1," Willie said, "I've been telling people that all (Beltran) needs to do is exhale. Well now it's like he's exhaled twice. If you're asking me for one factor, I'm not sure I can give you one. Maybe Delgado being here, having his kind of personality in the clubhouse and having his kind of bat behind him, has had something to do with it. Maybe he's got that year in New York under his belt now. Whatever it is, I just keep telling him to keep showing people what he's got. I tell him, son, this is New York, this is the big stage, you can't hide here, don't be afraid to show people the way you can play the game."
Does Randolph know about the back of his rotation for sure? No one does. Could an injury to a big pitcher sink them? It can sink anybody. But the Mets' 1-2, Glavine and Pedro, are better than what the Yankees have and what the Red Sox have.
The Mets lose Victor Zambrano from their rotation, Xavier Nady goes down, they're working on their third second baseman, Cliff Floyd hasn't hit. Here they are. The Yankees are still the toughest ticket in town. Right now the Mets are the best one.