Misery Loves Company: Two Guys Watch Baseball

Under New Management

Introducing Willie Larry Randolph (please don't call him William Lawrence), the new manager of the worst team money can buy. While his hiring doesn't get anyone fired up, it's not the disaster some of the other candidates discussed would've been. It's nice to finally see some ethnic diversity in New York managers, since the Mets' managerial history was looking extremely pasty. And there are even some parallels with the shrewd move that brought Joe Torre to the Yankees in 1996, albeit stretched parallels: the local product who speaks more with his actions than his words and who played for the cross-town team as a player. Hey, we'll try just about anything to reverse the vibe of the 2002-2004 Mets.

As for Willie's future here, it calls to mind a Gin Blossoms album title -- Congratulations, I'm Sorry. This will be no picnic, as Art Howe can tell you. As always, despite my initial negativity, I'll slide into that blindly optimistic state just so I can have the rug pulled out from underneath me. We're going all the way, baby. Somebody punch me in the face, please.