Marking the one-month anniversary of Willie Randolph's firing, the Mets won their 10th striaght game, which catapulted them into first place. Clearly Jerry Manuel is a baseball savant and Randolph is a rube, right?
Not so fast.
Besides the obvious -- that no manager is ever responsible for a 10-game winning streak -- correlation is not causation. I don't see many Met games, so I don't know what changes Manuel has wrought. The lineup looks the same -- Reyes, Wright, Delgado and Beltran the backbone with an outfield mishmash of fifth wheels like Endy Chavez and Fernando Tatis. The pitching rotation and relief corps don't look any different to me. Grandpa is still masquerading as Pedro Martinez.
The end of the circus surrounding Willie's tenure may have relieved stress in the clubhouse; otherwise the Mets appear to be doing nothing more complicated than playing better. They certainly have some talent and also some glaring flaws. Teams with that profile tend to win inconsistently, as the Mets have.
What's the prognosis? In the NL, it's so hard to say. Several teams with big holes are going to make the playoffs, and the Mets could certainly be one of them. There's nothing about the pitching-challenged Phillies or anyone else in the East to prevent Met games in October. Picking up a decent outfielder -- I hear Omar has his eye on Seattle's Raul Ibanez -- and some bullpen help could really solidify their chances, but the same could be said for every Senior Circuit squad but the Cubs.
It'll be fun to watch.
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