Mets fire Walling

It's hard for me to determine how much impact a hitting coach really has on a team's offensive success, and certain of the Mets' difficulties in scoring runs this year can be chalked up to injuries and luck. But in addition to those issues, like the missing second baseman, the temporarily missing left fielder and the failure to come up with any hits with the bases loaded (the team is 6 for 59 on the year), there have also been some Mets who have clearly underachieved with the bat, and perhaps Walling is somehow to blame. Or even if he isn't, perhaps someone else can do a better job of rectifying the situation at this point. While neither Mike Cameron nor Jason Phillips is a tremendous offensive force, both are clearly capable of hitting better than .200 at the major league level. While some of Cameron's struggles might also be the result of injuries, Phillips's are pretty inexplicable and maybe a new instructive voice can help turning him around. In the shape this team is in right now, it's not going to be a great offense, but it could certainly be better than it has been, and there's nothing to lose by shaking things up like this. We'll have to wait and see if it makes any difference, but right now, it's worth a shot.  ¶ joe | 7:08 PM |