Imagine being a manager for an organization where you read about getting fired in the newspaper ever day. Imagine how difficult that would be. You now capture a glimpse of the pressure that Willie Randolph is under.

Managers get let go all of the time. it happens in every organization. Sometimes the blame falls squarely on the manager. But often, in most cases, the blame is both the organization’s and the manager’s.

Every manager is forced to deal with the cards that have been given to him or her. No one likes to fail. But sometimes situations are un-winnable. So is Randolph to blame for his now imminent demise?

Sam Borden of the blog LoHud.com suggests that Randolph is somewhat to blame:

“A major-league manager’s job has less to do with tactical and in-game decisions than it does with perpetually motivating a group of egotistical, highly paid athletes to perform up to their given talents. Anyone who has watched the frequently lackadaisical efforts the Mets have offered recently knows that Randolph has failed on that count.”

But blame has got fall on other individuals as well.  There may be other firings needed.  There are going to be big changes needed to turn around this team that keeps disappointing Mets ticket holders.

One thing that’s great about having an ace pitcher is that you can count on losing streaks to come to a screeching halt every five games or so. Such was the case for the Mets with their superstar pitcher, Johan Santana, destroying the offense of the Washington Nationals. The New York Times reports:

“Santana allowed two runs and seven hits. He struck out four, retiring 9 of his final 10 hitters. As a bonus, he hit two doubles. See Santana hit. See Santana pitch. See Mets win.”

It truly was an outstanding performance by the Mets. There were no errors. They had four stolen bases. The pitching of course was outstanding by Santana, not to mention his two doubles. Talk about earning your paycheck.

The Mets also decided to mix up the batting order a little. Randolph dropped Delgado down to the sixth spot. This paid off with Beltran doubling in the second inning and scoring on an RBI groundout by Delgado.

The fact of the matter is that the Mets are a tough team to beat with Santana on the mound. Let’s hope that for those who buy Mets tickets on the other four nights, that there won’t be any more losing streaks for Santana to break.

So, as everyone willing to buy NY Mets tickets knows, their favorite franchise just spent $137.5 million of their dollars on Johan Santana. Judging by his opening performance in spring training, they may be asking for their money back. He gave away three runs on four hits.

My high school wrestling coach emphasized to us that he wasn’t as concerned whether we won or lost. He was more concerned with how well we performed and progressed as an athlete in the match. The coaching staff for the Mets sounded like they had adopted this same “winning isn’t everything” attitude. Bart Hubbuch at the New York Post quoted Mets pitching coach, Rick Peterson, as saying:

“A very positive day. Johan threw the ball outstanding.”

Santana himself echoed this positive sentiment:

“This is just the beginning. The numbers might say something different, but I felt good.”

Now I realize that there’s more to a performance than the numbers might show. And this is just spring training. He’s getting warmed up. He’s trying new things. He’s getting his groove.

Third basement Troy Glaus says, “He’s still Johan - good fastball, good change-up and good control.”

But I’ve just got to say for the record that these wonderful attributes aren’t going to mean anything if he doesn’t bring real victories in the regular season.