I have long believed a manager and his coaches know their players better than any fan second-guessing lineups and decisions.

One of the things that boggles my mind about the Mets coaching staff is their seeming inability to see what every fan sees.

Ask any Mets fan if David Wright should bat cleanup in the lineup and I’ll guarantee you most will say no. Wright seems to tighten up when batting fourth. He also seems to go into slumps and strikeout more from the four hole.

So why does Jerry Manuel insist on hitting him cleanup? Why can’t they see what all
Mets fans are seeing?

The same thing happened with the whole Jose Reyes batting third episode. Here you have the most electrifying lead off hitter in the game and because Manuel doesn’t like the lower-than-should-be on-base percentage, he wants to fit a square peg in a round hole.

A deaf man could hear the less than enthusiastic embrace Reyes had of the idea.

Yet Manuel went ahead with the idea and disrupted the whole team only to revert back to what everyone knew was the right answer. Do you think Manuel hurt his credibility in the clubhouse on that one?

The first tenet of management in any profession is to never put a person in a position to fail.

Manuel is a dead man walking and I don’t want to pile on but I cannot understand how the obvious escapes the Mets coaching staff. Does anyone believe Joaquian Arias or Luis
Hernandez are playing because of their skill or because their name is not Luis Castillo?

I know Ruben Tejada was not hitting but if he is remotely in the plans for 2011, why take at bats away from him now when he can get more looks at how pitchers operate in the Major Leagues.

If Lucas Duda is going to be in the picture in 2011, why waste at bats on Chris Carter or Jesus Feliciano? I don’t want to be cruel or rude to these players because everyone deserves a chance, but the team needs to start looking ahead.

Heck, it was obvious to everyone the Mets were toast after the disastrous west coast fling following the All-Star break. The Mets are not the Rockies or Phillies, so most Mets fans knew the fight in the team was gone.

If most Mets fans knew the team’s chances were dead why didn’t the front office see it?

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