Somewhere Willie Randolph is smiling
Their guy is a former Cy Young Award winner, lean and in tip-top shape. Our guy clearly likes beer and burgers.
Their Manuel, bespectacled and quiet, looks smart, but he manages like he doesn’t know his you-know-what from first base. Our Manuel looks like a down-home country boy, yet he inspires his players.
They’ve been whining about injuries. We’ve taken plenty of hits ourselves (Myers, Lidge, Ibanez, the list goes on), but you don’t hear us complaining.
Oh, and they’ve been hyped up by seemingly everyone, including themselves, as the team to beat (for the last few years now). Our team is the reigning World Series champion.
This past weekend, the Phillies swept the Mets. And the way they did it — with good starting pitching, good relief pitching, including vintage Brad Lidge, good defense, and by outscoring New York 13-3 in the series — it looks like the Phillies may finally be starting to hit their stride. They even capped it off with Joe Blanton upstaging Johan Santana.
Plus, Jimmy Rollins was 5-for-11 with a homer, two runs, five RBIs and two walks, his slump just a memory now.
The Mets will put together a little run at some point, but it won’t matter. They’re done. They don’t have what it takes. And if you look at the standings, it is the Marlins — not the Mets — who are right behind the Phillies. And the Braves, who beat up on the Phils last week, have obviously shown they’re a team to be reckoned with.
Florida and Atlanta are who the Phillies have to be most aware of. They are the biggest threats in the NL East. They have the arms and they play complete baseball. The Mets are the Bad News Bears.
Look for Jerry Manuel to get fired. He deserves to. But Mets GM Omar Minaya, who should have been fired two years ago, is the real culprit in Queens. He collected an incohesive hodgepodge of players, a fantasy league roster filled with lousy personalities and no heart, instead of assembling baseball team.
Somewhere (as bench coach in Milwaukee now) Willie Randolph is smiling.
And so are Phillies fans.
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