Some Only Have 10 Minutes

Andy Warhol said everybody gets their 15 minutes of fame. Of course, as Rick Petersen has proven, some only have 10 minutes. And his 10 minutes were famous for what he failed to accomplish ... namely fixing Victor Zambrano. As we all know, Petersen felt that Scott Kazmir needed a few more years to have enough innings under his belt to help in the majors. He also felt that Kazmir was likely to break down. And he felt that he could "fix" Victor Zambrano in 10 minutes thus giving management the confidence they needed to make one of the most moronic deals in recent years.

We all know how this turned out. Kazmir was in fact ready to contribute and eventually thrive in the majors and Zambrano was the one who broke down after 2 starts. As the axe seems likely to fall soon on Mr. Petersen, this will still be his legacy unfair as it might be.

Petersen has accomplished a lot throughout his career. He worked with Oakland pitchers Tim Hudson, Barry Zito and Mark Mulder to develop them into one of the best trios in the past decade. Only Hudson has been able to maintain his peak performance (a favorite Petersen phrase) without the Jacket's guidance.

For the Mets, Rick convinced Glavine to start pitching inside and make adjustments that veterans need to make. This is no easy task. He turned around the careers of John Maine, Oliver Perez and Aaron Heilman, although the latter two have regressed this season.

Petersen though does beat to a slightly different drum. The monkeys saw him at the pool reading "Real Simple," an odd choice for a baseball lifer, but one that is consistent with his quirky nature. He compares Pelfrey throwing a slider instead of a curveball to having jelly rather than ketchup with peanut butter. Some pitchers swear by him and some roll their eyes.

Since the Mets starting pitching has actually been getting better, we wonder if the Jacket should really be the one to take the fall here. Are the bullpen failures his fault? Perhaps and if so, maybe a change is needed.

But if ownership think that changing pitching coaches is going to turn it all around, they are wrong. The Mets need to shake up the roster a bit. And management seems to be missing this ... even though it's real simple.

CANCEL THAT

Yes, the monkeys were bashing the Robinson Cancel move so we'll tip our caps to him for getting the big hit yesterday.

TROT STARTS HOT

With Eight Belles still recovering from his calf injury, Trot Nixon showed himself to be a smart hitter at the plate working the count and getting on base 4 times. Welcome aboard.

RALLY MONKEY

While we are in Anaheim, the monkeys want to take a moment to pay homage to a great monkey that paved the way for monkeys like us to be prevalent in ballparks around the country. The rally monkey is widely credited with helping the Angels win the 2002World Series. You are a true pioneer.