New York Mets Provide a Different Face, Same Message

After a third straight loss, this time to the Chicago Cubs at home, New York Mets manager Jerry Manuel spoke to reporters about the slide the team has endured.

"Teams that fight all the way to the end," Manuel responded. "Sometimes carry that over into the postseason."

Sound familiar? It's the same "everything is going to be OK" attitude that Willie Randolph was preaching as the 2007 season came to an end. His most famous line, "The champagne will only taste sweeter when we win," attempted to give fans hope. Instead it gave them a reason to roll their eyes and eventually call for his firing.

Now I am not implying that Willie Randolph was solely responsible for last season's collapse, nor am I saying that Jerry Manuel will be to blame if the Mets once again miss the playoffs.

Players are the ones on the field and at bat. You can't blame the manager when Jose Reyes' unstoppable engine runs out of gas. But Albert Einstein once said, "The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Manuel has definitely turned the season around for the Mets.

Entering Tuesday, the team is 52-35 since Willie Randolph's firing after starting the season 34-35. Unfortunately, as the 2008 season comes to a close, Manuel has sat idly by and watched the team lose game after game—in almost the same manner. As the bullpen continually blows saves, I am left wondering whether or not you really can script October.

On the first day as interim manager, Jerry Manuel told the team that his goal is to make more defined roles for the bullpen. The problem is that when every player is under performing in those roles, a rational person would use different players.

Maybe all that needs to be changed is a little tweak in the lineup.

The point is that when a team suffers a losing streak, the manager should do whatever it takes to get the team back on the right track. The Mets have already seen what happens when a manager tries to convince himself that things will work out in the end. Otherwise the Mets will be home watching the playoffs, Jerry Manuel will be home updating his resume, and Mets fans will once again be home asking "What happened?"