I’m no more panicky or distressed today than I was weeks ago over this team, just a little disappointed now that it looks like they’re headed for another last place finish when 3rd place once looked so attainable. Some insist this demands the end of the Terry Collins Era; I’m of the feeling that Terry would be around until the team is ready to be passed along to the next guy, but it’s getting harder to imagine when that day is coming. This team needs a lot of help. So does Terry.
He presided over another bad loss yesterday, as the bullpen, poor defense and a punchless offense wasted a fine debut effort from Collin McHugh, the new No. 36. You might have noticed Robert Carson was back for a spell too.
And you might also have seen this article the other day by hardworking blogger Brian Joura, reviewing the failures of the Mets and Collins as they idiotically pursue “a second lefty” the same way Jerry Manuel wasted so much time and energy on the “8th inning guy” while the rest of the team grew increasingly tight and unable to give the bullpen much of anything to work with in the first place. Why, Joura asked, should a team value narrow platoon advantages over versatility? Where have you gone, Bob Myrick?
As it turned out, Bob Myrick died yesterday of a heart attack at age 59. Myrick, who wore No. 44 for the late-70s Mets, was a lefty who could start or relieve. His splits were radical only in the sense that they basically didn’t exist: Joe Torre never once needed to tie his roster in knots in order to shoehorn him into a game. He more or less was an average reliever who happened to throw with his left arm, an almost unheard-of concept today.
Myrick’s obituary mentioned first not that he was a former Mets pitcher, but that he was general manager of a family-run building supply business in Hattiesburg, Miss. — his hometown, and also Robert Carson’s hometown. It’s entirely possible Robert Carson grew up in a home built with lumber Bob Myrick provided.
