![\"\"](\"http:\/\/mbtn.net\/images\/randolph12.jpg\")
You said it, Willie.<\/p>\nYou said it, Willie.<\/p>\n
Not about racism (for the record, the intimation Willie “played the race card” is a joke — he just raised the issue, as is his right to do), but about the fact that something stinks around here.<\/p>\n
The Randolph Era is beginning to look like another mangerial tenure destined to end unhappily and soon, and that’s a shame: While I’ve never been a great Willie fan I feel terrible about how the fans (and players… and some journalists) have been treating him. I admire his iconoclasm and desire to be dignified: It’s just that this team isn’t lending itself to either end. We don’t need\u00a0tortured interpretations\u00a0<\/a>of pinch-running tendencies and\u00a0pretend outrage<\/a>\u00a0based on willfull misinterpretation of since retratcted quotes (complete with the “I-can’t-believe-I-used-to-idolize-this-guy” piling on). The team is at sea, and it doesn’t appear that Randolph is capable of rallying them to greater success anymore. That job won’t be easier now that\u00a0Moises Alou<\/a>\u00a0is out injured again. The Mets on Thursday recalled\u00a0Raul Casanova<\/a>\u00a0from AAA New Orleans to take his spot on the roster.<\/p>\n That means that\u00a017\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a031\u00a0<\/a>— the numbers considered most likely for potential retirementfor the Mets — can be directly traced to the first number the team retired.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You said it, Willie. Not about racism (for the record, the intimation Willie “played the race card” is a joke — he just raised the issue, as is his right to do), but about the fact that something stinks around here. The Randolph Era is beginning to look like another mangerial tenure destined to end … Continue reading “It Smells a Little Bit”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[111,167],"class_list":["post-941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-mike-piazza","tag-willie-randolph"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=941"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":942,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions\/942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIf he’s lost the team, that’s when he goes, and no sooner.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/mbtn.net\/images\/piazzaback.jpg\")
Interesting factoid about\u00a0Mike Piazza<\/a>: He was assigned No. 31 in Los Angeles when it became available following\u00a0Roger McDowell<\/a>‘s switch from 31 to 17. McDowell, the former Met, switched to 17so as to honor his ex-Met teammate\u00a0Keith Hernandez<\/a>. Hernandez, of course, wore 17 in New York because 37 — his number in St. Louis — had been retired for\u00a0Casey Stengel\u00a0<\/a>(and\u00a07<\/a>,\u00a027\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a047\u00a0<\/a>were already issued).<\/p>\n