The Final Score

ANTHONY: Yes, they should have put Willie out of his misery

This isn’t about whether Willie is a good manager. He is. Not a great manager, but a good enough one.

This is about how the team is playing and whether Willie can turn it around. The answers: like garbage and no.

The best clue came Sunday in Denver. The Mets were coming off a 9-2 win that seemed to lift the mood of the team. Then they throw up another stinker on Sunday and lose 4-1 to a Rockies squad that was missing most of its hitters.

If the Mets wanted to save Willie, they would have won Sunday. When they didn’t, that told me all I needed to know about the players’ views. No matter what they say, the players know Willie is a dead man walking. They are ready to move on with a new skipper.

The meeting on Monday with the Wilpons wasn’t even necessary. Minaya could have axed Randolph right there on the tarmac in Denver and spared us the drama. Then Jerry Manuel could have been sitting in the manager’s office on Monday and everyone could get on with their lives.

When a manager or coach’s time with a team is over, it’s over. Joe Torre stayed about three years too long with the Yankees. Isiah Thomas should have been fired the minute he botched the Stephon Marbury benching and lost whatever hope he had of a competitive season.

The Mets can still win the World Series in 2008. But not with Willie Randolph at the helm. Sorry.

CHICAGO NORM: No, Omar was right in not throwing in the towel

Firing Willie and bringing in an interim manager at this point of the season is tantamount to giving up. The Mets are only six and a half games out, not a huge number by any means. The fact that three strong teams are ahead of them is a significant concern, but all the Mets can do right now is take care of their own business and not worry about any other teams than the one they’re playing today.

I’m sure that one of the reasons that Willie is still around is that there’s no genius out there who could do the job any better.

The Mets have too much at stake to turn this troubled team to an unproven manager before midseason. It also makes no sense to think that one of the many castoffs now coaching in the majors would magically metamorphosize into Earl Weaver.

Who you gonna call, Ghostbusters? Jerry Manuel’s certainly not the answer. I doubt he’d have more magical powers as manager than he does as bench coach and if his Zen was actually working, we wouldn’t be having this debate in the first place.

Is Willie the best guy available? Probably, or Omar Minaya wouldn’t have kept him around.

There is a lot of talent on this team, and if it can get out of circus mode and play baseball, there’s still two-thirds of a season in which to turn this thing around.

Can the Mets rally under this manager? That’s why they play the games.

If Omar was going to fire Randolph, he should have done it after last season’s choke. Now’s the time to live or die with that decision.

So, what do you think? Should the Mets have fired Willie Randolph?