Jill Zita's New York Mets fan blog

If you are a MLB manager in New York, you are involved in some risky business.  No matter how much you do for your team over the years, one false move could end up with you not having a job. 

It began last fall with Yankees manager Joe Torre.  He was the manager for 12 years, led the Yankees to the playoffs every year, and won 4 World Series.  He is one of the greatest managers in my opinion and just because the Yankees lost in the first round of the playoffs last year, he had an ultimatum.  He is a very classy guy who does not tolerate disrespect so he walked away from the Yankees and found a job out on the west coast.

Now this summer, the latest victim was Willie Randolph.  He was only the manager for 3 years and did not win any World Series.  He did lead the Mets to win the NL East in 2006, the same year they were 1 game away from the big dance.  The following year staged the biggest collapse in MLB history.  This year the pressure was on for Willie.  If he didn’t have the Mets in first place from the jump, everyone knew his job was on the line.  He had a confrontation with Minaya and the other uppers in the organization and came out fine.  He thought he was safe and could continue the year trying to lead the Mets to victory; but he was wrong and lost his job in the middle of the night 2 weeks later after the Mets won a few games.

Continue reading "Risky Business"

Last night the Boston Celtics won the NBA championship and broke some records in the process. They won by 39 points which is near the record for biggest margin. This is their 17th championship, which makes them the franchise with the most championships.  The Celtics had 18 steals, which is a record for the championship clincher.  Ray Allen had 7 3-pointers, yet another record for a game of this magnitude!  The magic # though, is 3...the big 3 to be exact!

Let's start with Ray Allen.  He got clawed in the face by Lamar "The Grinch" Odom.  He had to be looked at by an eye doctor and was out of the game for a majority of the 3rd quarter and still managed to set his record.  Paul "The Truth" Pierce played his heart out yet again and won the MVP.  He is the only Celtic who has been here since before the Danny Ainge era.  He hyped everyone up when he poured Gatorade all over Doc Rivers, who refused to touch the trophy until "he earned it."  Talk about class!  And last but not least, the crazed, psycho-maniac who IS Kevin Garnett.  He seems to have multiple personalities; the cool collected, but not always calm one who does the interviews and can inspire us all with his words, and the savage player who can make anyone's spine quiver.  He has the facial expressions of a jackal when he's on the court, and the tears of a happy child when he is speaking. After the game he shouted out his mom and said, "Anything can happen!"  And he is absolutely right.

Continue reading ""Anything is Possible!""

We all knew that Willie's job was in jeopardy a few weeks ago when he had to meet with Omar, but who would have thought that Minaya would have canned Willie after the Mets won 2 straight and actually won a series?!

Willie Randolph came to New York in 2004 with a fresh start for the Mets.  Just 2 years later, he led them to win the NL East and the fans were proud.  That was the season that we should have won it all.  The following season rolled around and we thought the same thing again, but as I would rather not recall, one of the biggest collapses in MLB history occurred. That is when the loving fans of NY began to have their doubts about Willie.

Too many players were injured and too many times we choked, but at the beginning of the 2008 season, things didn't look so bad for the Mets.  While the fans watched every game through clasped fingers, I actually thought Willie  and the Mets still had a shot.  It turns out, I was wrong and all those scared, suspecting, non-believing fans were right.  This June, Minaya took a stand and called Willie out.  Many New Yorkers thought that would be the last straw for him, but he emerged, seemingly unscarred.  The Mets looked as good as new after that, trying to make sure nothing more would happen to their Skipper.  But this only lasted for a short time, just like Moises Alou's appearance this season.  Just 2 weeks after this mishap, Wilie was fired.  Not only did he lose his job, I believe he lost his dignity.  He was let go after a west coast win, which was in the middle of the night eastern standard time.  His pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto were also let go.

Continue reading "Randolph....WTF?"

When you're going up against the NBA's best defensive team, something's got to give; but for the Lakers, it's not a foul!  They seem to be in the penalty from the jump and their attitude causes them technicals to boot!

We should start with the top two offenders on this front: Odom and Bryant.  Odom is probably the biggest hacker I have ever seen play.  He goes over the back on almost every rebound and hammers everyone who goes to the hoop.  Bryant is a huge fouler on offense and defense.  On offense he just throws himself around, and when you are one of the top 10 defenders of all time, like Paul Pierce is, throwing yourself around leads to offensive charges. On defense, he is a selective player.  He only defends when he feels like it.  The best example of this is last night when he let Rondo shoot a wide open jumper from the corner and then on the very next play allow it to happen again.  Only one of those two shots went in, but it's just the point!  He also allowed House to score a 3 to almost lose the game for the Lakers.  His "play of the game" where he had that steal from Pierce to drive down and dunk was a blatent foul and he was lucky to have gotten away with it.

Continue reading "LAkers or HACkers?"

Plaxico Burress, who you may recall, caught the game winning touchdown in the superbowl this year to help the New York Giants be victorious over the New England Patriots. As you also may recall, he has been battling an ankle injury for quite some time.  In the post season he was also struggling with a sore knee.

With all of this in mind, training camp has begun in the NFL.  The Giants training camp has been unproductive to say the least.  Shockey and Burress are not taking part in the activity.  Burress is my main concern here since he will be an underpaid receiver next season.  His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, is in negotiations to get him a better contract even though there are still 3 years left on his current one.  Being the team player that he is at heart, Burress showed up to the camp; but being the self-confident tough guy he is, did not play football.

Continue reading "Plaxico Burress: Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is"

I always knew that Pierce was fierce, but game 1 of the NBA finals could have proven that to even the toughest critics.  Yes, I know that some of these say that he is a “faker, and a cry baby,” but in my eyes he is a human cannon ball.

           This man flies into the crowd on a regular basis, but this time he flew out of it after rolling through it.  In case you are unaware of what I am referring to, on Sunday night, the Boston Celtics hosted Kobe Bryant and the L.A. Lakers in game 1 of the NBA finals.  This rivalry is legendary in and of itself, but here we have two young superstars: Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant.  Most sports fanatics will say that Kobe is one of the greatest players since Jordan, but in my opinion he is just a spoiled, conceited, talented player whose attitude is bigger than his dunk.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the guy isn’t good, but I just don’t think that we could classify him with Michael Jordan yet.  Paul Pierce on the other hand, is underrated.  This man has been a Celtic for years and just needed the help of Garnett, Allen, and a few others to showcase his talent to get to the finals.  The first game of this series proved this with the Celtics winning at home while the crowd chanted, “Beat L.A.!”

Continue reading "Paul Pierce: The Human Cannon Ball"