Originally Posted by Amazin69
Solutions in 3 easy steps:
1. Fire Rojas.
Apart from the fact that the team doesn't seem to give a damn, his robotic lineup selection is a clear detriment:
• Friday, he sits Dom Smith against Kyle Gibson, because it's lefty-lefty, overlooking Dom's success against lefties.
• Saturday, he seeds the lineup with every possible lefty against Ranger Suarez (surely he should have gone to Texas in the Gibson trade?), even though he knew Suarez was unlikely to go more than three innings. I guess Boy Genius never knew how Washington won the 1924 World Series?
(Bucky Harris makes the unlikely choice of righty Curly Ogden to start. Giants manager John McGraw starts his lefty hitters, including future HoF rookie Memphis Bill Terry at 1B. Harris pulls Ogden after two hitters, bringing on lefties George Mogridge and then Firpo Marberry. McGraw hold out through two opportunities, but in the 6th, with the Giants rallying, he pulls the trigger and sends up the righthand Emil "Irish" Meusel to pinch-hit for Terry. [Moving George "Highpockets" Kelly in from LF to play 1B.]
It works in the short-term, as the Giants score 3 and take a 3-1 lead. But Harris then brings in the great Walter Johnson, and Johnson goes the rest of the way as the Senators rally and then win it in the 12th, with no left-handed Bill Terry available on the Giants bench.
Similarly, in the 1985 ALCS, Royals manager Jim Frey went to lefty relievers in the middle innings to get Toronto's Bobby Cox to dump Al Oliver and Rance Mulliniks for their righty platoon partners…only to leave Cox with an unloaded gun once RHP Dan Quisenberry came in to finish up.)
It's a completely obvious move…and Boy Genius never saw it coming,
• Sunday, Rojas the Robot again sits all his righties against RHP Zach Wheeler, never mind that JD Davis is having great success against RHP in general and Wheeler in particular.
Idiot. Fire him.
2. Fire Hugh Quattlebaum.
The Mets literally can't hit a fastball. FFS. The most basic part of hitting.
Forget about launch angle and zone coverage and working the count. Find someone who can teach the basic maxim that Rogers Hornsby, the Mets' first hitting coach, taught: HIT THE STRIKES. Look for a good pitch, likely a fast ball, and hit it. On a line, back up the middle. You can adjust to the breaking balls and off-speed stuff; they're slower.
As I wrote, FFS
3. Fire Jeremy Hefner.
His sole accomplishment was bringing the Spider-Tack to help Timmy cheat his way to respectability. That's gone now. Bye-bye.
Mets starters are 4-20 in the last 52 games, with 28 no-decisions. Ridiculous.
Find a new coach who will tell the Delicate Widdle Babies "Your pitch count is 125, and I expect you to go nine innings. Seven at minimum. If you find yourself running out of gas, back off on the throttle. Change speeds, work in and out, be a PITCHER, not a thrower. No more of this 'done in the fifth inning, because six is the max anyhow and if I make it there, Skip will give me a blowjob' nonsense. It's YOUR game, go out there and win it. If you get in trouble, get out of it. Show some balls."
Don't give me sh*t about injuries; they're all getting hurt now, anyways. Don't tell me they'll walk as free agents; we've got $$$, we'll buy new ones. If they don't want to step their game, let me paraphrase Terry Collins: "In Syracuse, there's a roomful of pitchers who want to be here, and I'll find them."
If we struggle in the search for Real Pitchers, so be it. We ain't winning this way, that's for sure. I never want to hear "opener" or "bullpen game" ever again.
Great Moments in MetsCasting—Keith, on Saturday "[The NL East] will come down to September, and it's going to be a three-team race."
Really, Keith? You think Washington is going to get back in it, be able to battle the Phillies and the Braves? Huh. Stranger things have happened, I guess…
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