On a day that began with Willie Randolph taking a page out of the Billy Wagner I-didn’t-mean-to-say-what-I-clearly-said book, the Mets dropped a pair to the Braves and might’ve lost the club’s unquestionable MVP-so-far to his 2nd concussion in 2 months.
Given all the abuse these Mets have endured for their lack of fire, crap fundamentals and alleged casual indifference to losing, I hope there’s some recognition in chat radioville today for Ryan Church trying to break up a double play in the 9th inning of a game that was pretty much done and dusted.
The Ed Kranepool Society‘s Steve Keane is “unhappy that Willie played the race card”. Though suggesting black coaches in the metropolitan area receive harsher criticism than their white counterparts isn’t so much playing a card as it accusing others of racism, Keane does raise the spectre of the not-universally-beloved Col. Coughlin.
Are there Mets fan out there who are against Willie because he™s black? Sure there are. But Willie has to understand that the vast majority of the criticism towards him is due to the lackluster performance of this season and the collapse of last year. Randolph can spin the fact that he is a better manager than Art Howe but that™s not really saying much. The coaches he used as an example were not very good ones in Herm Edwards and Isaiah Thomas as both lasted much longer than they should have. If Willie wants to compare himself to anyone it would be Tom Coughlin. Coughlin is as loud as Willie is quiet but Coughlin was raked over the coals as much as any coach/manager in this town and the last time I looked Coughlin was as white as me. To paint all Mets fans with a racist brush is dead wrong. You want love Willie? Just have this team bust it™s ass like they did this weekend and the love will flow.