NOTE: This Post has not been approved by Buzz Bissinger

I love Tim Marchman. He’s one of the best Mets writers out there. Because I respect him and enjoy his work, I can say that this is knee-jerking overreaction at a Tommy shooting Spider proportion:

It’s time for the Mets to fire Willie Randolph. They should fire him if his team sweeps the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend. They should fire him if his team wins all three games by a total score of 27-0. They should fire him if his team puts on such a display this weekend that the greater Phoenix area literally burns to the ground around them, lit by nothing but the intensity of their passion and brilliance. The man’s time is up, and nothing can change that.

The Mets first month of play can hardly be deemed as dominant or brilliant. The bullpen has struggled, the bats have run hot cold (mostly cold) and Perez has been the Mr. Hyde version of himself. The defense has made bonehead plays and Delgado is seemingly a shell of his former monster self. But it’s May 2; we’ve played 26 games so far. The Mets are 14-12.

05/02/07: 16-10
05/02/06: 17-9:

IF the Mets sweep this weekend their record will be 17-12.

05/04/07: 18-10
05/04/06: 19-9

I know we’re all used to hot starts (and I love hot starts) but if the Mets were 15-11 at this point would there be a fire Willie Bandwagon? I can understand why this sentiment is out there after last season. I really don’t see what Willie is expected to do to change anything. He’s too old to play. Throwing equipment and losing his cool would come off as disingenuous and insincere at best. I guess he could shake up the lineup some more, but really how much more could it change and what good could come of that? Who else is going to leadoff; hit in the three hole; cleanup.

I hate to be the one to bring this up, but Alou is expected back. I wrote a piece about the folly of relying on a man that played less than 80 games last season; Omar made that decision in the off-season, it’s too late to go back, and now that he’s healthy the Mets will benefit from his limited service until he inevitably goes back on the DL. The way Church has been hitting, Alou coming back to take the five hole will drop Delgado to seventh. Even the staunchest Delgado critics will admit, even in his deteriorated condition, he’s a pretty good seventh hitter.

I have been at the very least a Randolph critic and this is a tired excuse; the Mets got hit by the injury bug early. It’s a tired excuse but not one without merit. Ask yourself, did you know who Raul Casanova or Gustavo Molina were in spring training, aside from the fact that Gustavo was not Yadier’s brother? They’ve filled in admirably but they are replacement players at best. The number two started went out after 3.1 innings. 14-12 is not dreadful.

And who exactly is going to take the reigns if big Willie is shown the door? We have some options, I guess, Gary Carter, maybe? Buck Showalter? Frank Robinson? I don’t think any other manager could hit the ground running.

Don’t get me wrong, Willie’s job is on the line this year. This is Willie’s season to win the World Series. If he doesn’t win the NL; I don’t see the Wilpons keeping him on. Yes, last season was a monumental collapse and if the Mets were going to fire him, they would have done it in November. This is the Willie we know; bizarre moves in situations attributed to his gut feelings; hairs on the back of his neck or intuition. We’ve won with Willie and we’ve loved him for it.

This is Willie’s ship; there’s no one else to man the helm. Come November; that’s a whole other story.

With the Mets off today, Mets fans are treated to a much needed break of Santana surrendered solo shots and Aaron Hielman appearances deteriorating with each belt-high middle-out pitch. The good news is the Mets are headed to Arizona where even the coldest Met bat historically has at least a 3 for 5 day.

(Thank god for Grand Theft Auto IV. I’ve only put in around 20 hours of game play so far, but this may be the best game ever made, period.)

Alou is scheduled to make his season debut on Friday and should provide some added pop at the plate, not to mention a stronger bat than Ryan Church to protect Beltran. (Note: Offer valid for a limited time). Ok that was a cheesy joke, but if Alou plays the rest of the season without a trip to the DL I’ll wet myself in shock.

After a fall from ahead, come from tied game against Pittsburgh, the 13-1 depressed me. The Mets shouldn’t get beat like that with Perez on the mound, even if it’s schizophrenic Wildman-walk-em-full Perez and even on Getaway day. The rain shortened another series so it’s hard to use the standard “win two of three” metric to judge success. Right now, I’m not sure what to make of this team.

I’m sure the Mets are so tired of hearing about last September or the phrase 7 with 17 to play they’d give half a year salary if they never heard it again. The only way that will start to happen is if the Mets rattle off a 9-1 or 10-2 string of hard fought games to take the lead in the division.

Hard fought games are exactly what lies ahead in the next two series against the Diamondbacks and Dodgers. It’s time to turn it up a notch.

Let’s Go Mets!

Sorry for the non-baseball post but I wanted to post this. I’m a huge fan of the franchise. I beat San Andreas twice (hey girls!) and loved Vice City. I’m sure almost every American has at least watched a piece on or read a story about Grand Theft Auto IV the past week. I was one of those Yahoos that went to the store at midnight on Monday to get the game and took the next day off from work in order to play all night. I’m not kidding, I spent midnight on my 30th birthday waiting on line to pick up my video game.

I’m sure you’ve seen at least one story on the cable news channels regarding GTA (I’m certain they write these to scare old people). Case in point: I was in my company’s break room yesterday and CNN was doing a story about the evils of Grand Theft Auto IV. First off, I swear they are basically re-running the same video game story over and over again and just interchanging the names Duke Nuke’em and GTA IV. Secondly, could any of these stories include someone with knowledge on the subject of the game on which they’re reporting if not just the game in question? The reporter obviously hasn’t played a video game since Pac-man if ever. The main anchor had the following exchange with another in studio anchor whom I assume was supposed to have done at least some research or maybe play the game (I do give CNN credit for putting two hot chicks on the screen to discuss hookers and lap dances, but they could have at least made out for a while! Zing!):

“Expert” on the subject Reporter: You’re character can get a lap dance, mug people, and drive drunk.

Appalled main Anchor: “If this video game is so lewd and distasteful, why is it such a big popular item?”

“Expert” on the subject anchor: “Well the big attraction is that you can play on-line with up to 16 players!”

As if that is some kind of groundbreaking feature. Wow, did she miss the point. I don’t watch CNN often, but I can assume if this female anchor, let’s call her Susie, was trusted with covering other popular tech products, I’m sure it would go like this:

Q: So what makes ______________ such a popular item, Susie?

The I-pod? - “It has ear phones!”
The I-phone? “It has an alpha numeric key pad!”
The Hi-Def TV? “It’s in color!”
The DVD Player? “It comes with a remote!”

Also, anyone that plays the game to get lap dances, kill hookers or drive drunk (A feature im certain they added for shock value; it isn’t fun or challenging) is either 14 or lacks the skills of a hard core gamer and thinks Pete Alfano articles are clever and funny.

Anyway, all the old ladies in the break room were watching with their mouths open and shaking their heads in shock and disgust as they ate their Weight Watchers microwave lunches.

You kids today with your loud music and your Dan Fogelberg, hula hoops, Zima and your Pac man video games…