If you're a believer in the Sports Illustrated cover curse, things could get ugly for the Mets pretty soon (or better if you think the team's recent play is due to the cover). General Manager Omar Minaya is featured in a cover story this week about his journey from the Dominican Republic, to becoming the first Hispanic G.M. in the Majors (with the Expos), to his success with the Mets. The feel-good story details Minaya's brief time n the D.R., to his days as a youth in the shadows of Shea Stadium where he used to root for the visiting players and where his circle of friends was the picture perfect melting pot.
Give him the shiny blue National League jacket, spangled with every team logo, not the Mets jacket. Sure, he'd use police barricades as planks to scale the fence at Shea, but he was there to root for players -- Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays and Juan Marichal -- not the home team. Too tight a circle. Too small an o.
The story shows how Minaya is easy to make friends, well liked by the players on the Mets, and isn't like your typical general manager.
Hopefully for Minaya and the Mets, this cover doesn't bring them any bad luck as the team is already reeling. They've lost five games in a row and are 2-10 in June. Despite their dismal record this month, the Mets still find themselves in 1st place in the NL East, 2 games ahead of the Phillies.
That could change for the Mets this weekend as they head over to The Bronx for the 2nd half of the Subway Series with the Yankees. The Yankees enter the series as the hottest team in baseball, winning 9 straight, and climbing their way out of the AL East cellar. In the meeting earlier this season at Shea, the Mets took two of three. The two teams split the season series last year. Ironically, when the two teams met last, it was the Yankees that dearly needed a win, and the Mets were flying high.
Scheduled to start tonight is Oliver Perez for the Mets and Roger Clemens for the Yankees. The first pitch is at 7:05 and the game can be seen on channel 9 (Yankees broadcast) or channel 11 (Mets broadcast).
