You can’t call them the Worst Team Money Can Buy, because that title already has been awarded to the 1992 Mets that featured bleach-spraying Bret Saberhagen, the boorish Bobby Bonilla and the decidedly obnoxious Vince Coleman among the gold-plated payroll cast that went 72-90.
This crew seems to be compromised of generally good guys who just aren’t good enough to compete at a high enough level and have not received the requisite financial support from ownership to maintain relevancy as a credible New York pro sports operation.
But last night, following a crushing 6-2 defeat to the Rockies that turned on a five-run Colorado eighth inning, when manager Jerry Manuel opted to leave closer Francisco Rodriguez seated in the bullpen while Manny Acosta coughed up a grand slam to Melvin Mora, off the field ugliness intruded to leave a stain on the season.
That’s when Rodriguez became involved in a physical altercation with his father-in-law in or near the players’ family lounge that resulted in his arrest for third-degree assault. The 28-year-old native of Caracas, Venezuela, was in police custody at Citi Field as of midnight. His father-in-law suffered facial lacerations.
It was quite the scene for the moribund Mets, a game under .500, when two policemen entered the clubhouse looking for Rodriguez, quite the time for the organization whose Wilpon ownership likes to boast about family values.
But then, this afternoon, the Mets will send Johan Santana to the mound in the series finale against the Rockies, the same Santana who was sued on Wednesday by a 35-year-old Florida woman for sexual battery, assault and false imprisonment, relating to an encounter on a Fort Myers, Fla., golf course last October.
The suit was filed after local authorities declined to press charges. Santana, who is married, consistently has maintained his innocence, insisting the sex was consensual. There is, of course, a presumption of innocence, and a lawsuit does not imply guilt, but 18 years later, 18 years after Saberhagen, the Mets have another former Cy Young winner who is involved in an ugly incident.
They have Santana, they have Rodriguez, they have ugliness off the field that at least for a day overshadows the ugliness on the field, and now, who knows, maybe COO Jeff Wilpon will feel the need to fire Manuel in order to change the subject and camouflage all of the organization’s deficiencies.
Maybe Wilpon and GM Omar Minaya will take this opportunity to attempt to distract an angry and shrinking fan base by hiring Wally Backman, who is now running the Brooklyn Cyclones.
Uh-oh.
Uh-oh is right, uh-oh on Rodriguez, uh-oh on Santana, uh-oh on Backman, uh-oh on Manuel and uh-oh on the Mets, who have not been able to win even two games in a row in seven weeks, since June 22-23.
The Mets had two runs after the first two batters last night then got one hit the rest of the way, with seven straight going down on strikes from the sixth inning to the eighth. David Wright was 0-for-4 with four strikeouts, running his total to 10 Ks in his last 15 at-bats. He’s on a 2-for-33 slide. Carlos Beltran went 0-for-4 in the cleanup spot. He’s on a 3-for-26 skid.
It isn’t all on Manuel, not even close. The Mets can’t hit. They are 10-21 in their last 31. Last night they lost when Manuel left his closer in the bullpen while lesser arms flushed away the game and whatever hope might have remained for a last stand.
Manuel left K-Rod in the bullpen. It would have been better for everyone had Rodriguez remained there for the rest of the night.