There’s a Gangsta in the Dugout

A lot of things have contributed to the Mets resurgence this season. Carlos Delgado’s wrist and mind got healthy. Jose Reyes went back to being the most dynamic lead off hitter in baseball. Mike Pelfrey grew up and became a front line starter. Johan Santana really started to earn his paycheck. Role players stepped up when it matter most. Tatis became a God-like creature. But a lot of this team’s turnaround can be traced back to the day Jerry Manuel became Met manager. Now this is not a bash Willie post. I have written those. But the firing of Willie Randolph was not the spark that lit this team. It was how Jerry Manuel took over, calmed the troops and put the team’s winning back over the individual’s feelings. Jerry Manuel is not the sole reason for winning, players win games, but how he has used his players has gone a long way helping the cause.

Looking back at the beginning of the season, the Mets came in with a lot of baggage from last year’s collapse to deal with. Fans had not gotten over it. The Owners had not gotten over it. The Media had not gotten over it. Willie Randolph, as the team’s leader, decided to not address last September. He felt that it was yesterday’s news and the team should move forward. He was right to a point but something as emotional as the biggest collapse in Divisional play history can’t be swept under the rug. It should have been embraced as a motivational tool and used as a gentle reminder. You can’t move on from a death and not acknowledge the deceased. As the season started and the Mets started to play the same way they left off last year, the fans got hostile. The owners got hostile and the media smelled blood. Reyes and Delgado stunk and the pitching was not what it was supposed to be. Willie started to get grief for pulling starters too early or leaving his relievers in too long. For never letting young players battle and prove themselves. For not healing the wounds he created in the clubhouse. I don’t blame him for some of it. His players were sucking and he was battling for his job. This all was a big distraction. Everyday for a month Willie Watch would consume the fans, the owners and the media. It would invade the clubhouse and it was allowed to go on too long as losses piled up and the malaise continued to fester. Of course, the Mets being the Mets did the right thing the wrong way. They took Willie out west let him manage one game, which he won, and fired him. He should have been let go with more class. He was not a bad guy. But all of this is history, the important move of the day was making Jerry Manuel the manager.

The move to hire Jerry Manuel was not received well from the outside. He was on the coaching staff. He was Willie’s bench coach. He was too close to the players. He was another guy who was considered a player’s manager and not a rah rah fiery type that the media and the fans love. But Jerry’s first press conference took a lot of the anxiety away. He was calm but not Art Howe calm. He was funny. He was insightful. He took on the collapse and said it was something that had not gone away. He talked about winning and joked about how Omar Minaya said he would not fire a manager in his uniform by saying he was going to wear it home every night. He told about how David Wright came into his office and said there was a “gangsta in charge” alluding to what Jerry Manuel would say in spring training about those road games, in which he called for “gangsta’s on the bus” most of the time those guys were not the regulars. In his first game, with his first batter, Jose Reyes got on first and was a bit gimpy. Jerry came out and immediately pulled him as Jose tried to talk him out of it and showed him up by throwing his helmet and untucking his shirt on the field. Jerry went into the clubhouse and confronted him and Jose apologized to him and the team. That move right there was an indicator things had changed. Willie was not a confrontational guy. Jerry was given the go ahead to do anything he felt was necessary to win. He could bench Delgado or any player not playing well. He tinkered with the line up. He started mixing and matching in the bullpen but his greatest strength has been displayed while dealing with the Met injuries.

As players started to get hurt, Luis Castillo, Billy Wagner, dealing with the Ryan Church concussion and Moises Alou season ending injury, Jerry pushed all the right buttons. His first button was Fernando Tatis. To be fair, Willie saw something in Tatis during spring training but since he was called up, WIllie mostly left him on the bench. He chose to use Marlon Anderson and Damion Easley in LF over the Mighty one. Jerry told his players that he rewarded good play. Tatis performed and and Jerry kept throwing him out there. First he was used to scare Delgado. Then he found himself a home in left field. With Church out, he rode Endy Chavez until it became apparent that Endy’s weaknesses were being exposed by playing everyday. He is a great bench player but as an everyday hitter he is not good. He used Argenis Reyes and Damion Easley interchangeably at second and made everyone comfortable since both were performing. He integrated Daniel Murphy and Nick Evans in left field and moved Tatis to right and ruffled no feathers doing it. Good play is rewarded and roles were defined. He dealt with the loss of Billy Wagner the best way he could. He mixed and matched the bullpen and was not afraid to go lefty/righty with his pitchers. He showed a restrained trust in his guys but was not stubborn about his support like certain former managers and their use of one Guillermo Mota. He was and is for the most part not afraid to give new guys a shot, Eddie Kunz being the exception but he saw something we didn’t. Fear. He has stretched out his starters to protect leads and hide his sometimes shaky bullpen. But none of it was done at the detriment to the starter. No 145 pitch performances. I think 121 was the most I saw Pelfrey throw this year. He slowly moved Delgado up to the clean up spot as he performed and move Beltran around when he didn’t. None of this was done with fanfare and he made sure the player understood. He is flexible with his line up and loves to go lefty/righty through out. He uses platoons in left, second and catcher. All of this is by necessity but he makes it work.

As for Jerry being laid back, maybe in the clubhouse that is the case but certainly not on the field. He argues calls that go against his team. Willie rarely did. He goes out and has the conversations with the umpires and when he is making his point he looks down and continually claps his hands. It is amusing and it shows passion. He is a top step manager who talks to his players during the games. He has no problems acknowledging problems in the post game press conferences. He can tweak a player without embarrassing him. He doesn’t hide team decisions or his strategies or feelings like this is a war. He is honest and understands that it is all about how his players perform. He is not afraid of youth and he is not afraid of veterans. He is not afraid to hurt someone’s feelings to better his team but he has a good enough rapport with his players to not lose the guy he is demoting so that they can help the team in the future. He is big on letting his starters getting out of messy situations and he is not as patient with a reliever. He has this thing, started by Pedro Martinez, that the pitcher being removed from the game wait for the pitcher from the bullpen to hand that guy the ball. It is a small gesture towards team unity. With the Mets holding a game and a half lead (2 up in the loss column) with 19 to play I feel more comfortable than last year’s team with a 7 game lead with 17 to play. This team has a tendency to bounce back. Last year’s didn’t. This team has been playing it’s best baseball over the last two months. They are 46-28 under Jerry. Last year’s was playing it’s worst. Even with a division in hand last year, I worried about it’s postseason chances. If it makes it this year, I am confident of their chances. They have strong starting pitching, a big time lineup and a smart, strong manager at the helm. Jerry Manuel is a gangsta in the dugout and the Mets organization is better for it.