David Lennon of Newsday reports that the Mets manager Willie Randolph is not entirely comfortable with the way many in the organization get a little too friendly with Nats mananger Manny Acta. Acta previously was a coach with the Mets. From the boss himself:
“How does that happen? How does that become normal?”
Wright too agrees with Willie’s sentiment.
I’ll be the first one to be friendly with other players before we come to the park or after leaving the park. But as far as that time when I have my uniform on and they have their uniform on, I want to go out there and kick their butt.
As the article points out, while fraternizing with members of other teams while in uniform is prohibited, it is a largely unenforced rule (much like the ones about steroids, the balk). Similar reports surfaced yesterday, as reported by Mets Blog’s Matt Cerrone.
While I can understand Willie’s feelings here, especially after yesterdays dragging 45 inning game in which the team seemed to take its time to victory, the other side of the coin is that you can’t expect these guys to end their friendships everytime the ownership and GM let a player go or trade someone away.
