Imagine our surprise this morning when we woke up and found out that
Willie Randolph was fired by the
Mets. The last thnig we saw last night was the
Mets clinging to an 8-6 lead in the 8th inning. They held on for a 9-6 win, but
Willie along with pitching coach
Rick Peterson and 1st base coach
Tom Nieto were axed after the game. At 3:14 A.M. EST. After the newspapers had gone to bed on the East coast the
Wilpons and
Omar Minaya pulled the plug. In considerably gutless fashion.
They had
Willie fly to the West coast, manage one game, and then as if that game mattered, they fired him. The right thing would have been to fire him on Sunday. But the
Mets front office clearly didn't want to face the press. Maybe they'll say they didn't want to fire him on Father's Day. What a load of crap. We'll find out more this afternoon when Minaya holds a press conference at 5:00 EST.
In the mean time, bench coach
Jerry Manuel will take over. He compiled a 500-471 record in 6 seasons in
Chicago as
White Sox manager. It included a division title in 2000 and 4 second place finishes in the
AL Central.
Chris Russo will go on ad nauseum this afternoon on how Manuel was run out of town in
Chicago. But he'll be right when he rips the
Mets for doing wrong.