Jerry’s Lemonade Stand

The trauma center known as the Citi Field claimed its latest victim early this week when Carlos Beltran was sidelined with an ongoing deep bone bruise of the knee. With 9 major components of the team on the DL, Jerry Manuel seems to have gotten a free pass for the season. How can you blame the manager for the play of a team that is a shell of what it should be?

A good manager never takes credit for the success of the team, and all the blame for its failures (well, unless it’s Omar’s fault, but that’s another story). In the process, a good manager should also be able to overcome adversity and create winning opportunities. So while the current pandemic in Queens may breed a safe cocoon, I’m thinking that more than ever this is the prime time to be scrutinizing the skipper’s ability to be functionally creative. Before the cavalry comes back to try and clean up whatever mess may happen in the coming weeks, let’s see how Jerry’s able to make lemonade out of lemons.

Fernando Tatis has been batting cleanup the past two days, an experiment Jerry has explained as giving the opportunity to see if he can reclaim some of his spectacular rejuvenation during last season. In the process, Tatis has single-handedly redefined the art of sparking double plays for the opposition. Both days his already scary proclivity for doing so would be even greater had David Wright reached base ahead of him a few more times. Placing a slumping player in a lineup position normally relegated to cartoonish behemoths with questionable hormone levels has to raise the eyebrow of anyone paying attention. Let him rejuvenate, just don't do it there. I don’t doubt Tatis’ heart or the possibility of rekindling the fire in his offense, but this is the major league, not a feel-good Disney movie, and cleanup isn’t the place for batting practice. Mix it up and get Reed or Church in there, with a displayed ability to get hits when they’re in a groove. If you’re going to give someone a chance at redemption, don’t you want them to start with the bigger bat?. If Tatis is going to find his groove, he can find it at 6 or 7 just as easily. Would Cora, Church, Santos and Wright be a less effective front 4 than what’s up now? If Jerry’s going to think out of the box, maybe he needs to think farther out.

There was no way the Mets were going to win against Pineiro yesterday, who had a masterful game. But with Livian Hernandez batting, Jerry called for a very rare hit and run. The questionability of this is overwhelming. That’s not creativity, or working with the tools you have. It’s grasping at straws, but the team that won the night before certainly didn’t look like it required desperate moves. The season still has a lot of time, but it’s past the time when you can afford to give up games carelessly. I realize these examples only spotlight two games worth, but these past 3 months have generated plenty of other possible inclusions.

As engaging and insightful as he can be when describing wins post-game, Jerry has a way of sounding awfully like Willie Randolph when the team loses. The standard lines of “tomorrow’s another day” and “we just have to put this one behind us” have gotten old even before halftime. I’m not about to drink the Kool-Aid that says Jerry can’t win with the team he has, he’s not to blame because of it, and we shouldn’t worry as long as the team that’s playing .333 ball is over .500.

I’m waiting for lemonade.