Kudos to my colleague Katie Strang for staking out Willie Randolph this morning at his New Jersey home and filing this story, which contains some interesting Day 2 comments from the Mets' ex-manager. I'm sure everyone agrees with Randolph that he deserved better and Omar Minaya's 40-minute explanation during Tuesday's news conference at Angel Stadium didn't absolve the Mets of bungling the entire affair.
There was no way to put a reasonable spin on this one. As I've said before, this was not Art Howe. Maybe Randolph earned his baseball glory in the Bronx. But he was born in Brooklyn and grew up rooting for the team in Queens, so he was a true New Yorker that should have been treated with more respect. Firing him in the middle of the night -- regardless of what time zone you're in -- was not right.
There is an avalanche of coverage in today's Newsday, so it's impossible to link to it all. And because I got up so late, here on the West Coast, I'm sure you've already devoured every article.
Well, the Mets wanted a fresh start, and now they'll get one -- at least with a new manager. If this team continues to lag in NL East, and Tuesday night was hardly an encouraging sign, then Randolph will have the last laugh. It will be of little consolation, however. As Randolph said on his exit from the team hotel, all he wanted was to bring a championship to the Mets, and it didn't happen. Tough to criticize a guy for that.
Comments (5)
Now not only does EVERY reporter in the country agree with what I have been telling you all since GAME ONE, but so does WILLY......Came right out and called out Omar as a liar!
Omar is a snake! His assistant is a snake.
They lie to the fans, they lie to the players, and they lied to their manager.
They have NO CLUE how to put together a team. They have no clue how to draft players. Tehy spend and spend for OLD used up big names. They bring in guys that do not fit NY. They are PATHETIC !!!
I'm a huge tool and I like posting on every newsday blog I can find b/c I'm a loser and have nothing better to do.
"Firing him in the middle of the night -- regardless of what time zone you're in -- was not right."
Since when is 11pm the middle of the night? Regardless of what time zone you're in?
LISTEN TROLL IMPOSTER, YOU REALLY BLOW, AND MUST BE A REGULAR TO BE SO MAD AT OMAR. SUGGESTION....GO TO TROLL U LIKE ME, WE ARENT BORN...ITS A RARE TALENT...YOU HAVE NONE. BTW OMAR AND MANUELCAME FROM THE EXPOS ORGANIZATION...GREAT REFERENCES EH.
By the way, I love caps-lock, b/c it makes me seem authoritative and almost seems like I'm yelling.