Amid the Mets horrific 2-9 Western road trip, which ended with the team losing 3 of 4 to the Dodgers, I happened to walk right past Mets GM Omar Minaya and his family near the entrance to the Century City Mall in the Century City area of West LA.  When visiting Los Angeles, the Mets stay at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, which is located across the street from this mall.

Minaya looked pretty relaxed on this Friday afternoon, prior to the Mets lone victory of the LA series.  It was interesting to see Minaya work in some out-of-town family time in the midst of the team’s struggles and only a few days prior to the trade deadline.  I am sure Jerry Manuel, Howard Johnson and the rest of the coaching staff did not feel the same level of ease at that point in time. It’s ironic to consider that Willie Randolph and members of his staff were fired in an Orange County hotel, when the Mets were also in Southern California to play the Angels. One wonders if the current Mets staff feared the same “Hollywood ending” to their tenure with the team.

At least on this day, Minaya seemed to get baseball out of his mind, for a few minutes anyway. It will be interesting to see how life at Citi Field plays out as the season marches to a conclusion.