Why Willie Randolph, you look like somebody walked all over your grave

Check out the scene in Tombstone where Doc Holliday surprises Johnny Ringo in the woods… I was wearing Ringo’s expression this morning as I headed straight for espn.com where I was greeted with this:

What a fucking disgrace. I understand managers are hired to ultimately be fired but OVERNIGHT after a hard-earned win in California? Good fucking Christ. Why this didn’t happen after the Colorado series, let alone 2007 is beyond me. Why they had to use him as a fucking ping-pong ball is beyond me. I’m not mad about the decision, I’m mad about how it went down. For an image-conscious franchise, they CLEARLY have no idea what they’re doing. My only hope is Omar fired the coaches and Willie said if the coaches go, he goes too. Either way, firing a guy at midnight is classless and disrespectful. Seriously, Bender showed Vernon more respect than what Willie got.

Whatever. Willie was fired as soon as he was hired. He was NEVER given full autonomy of the team, never got to pick all of his coaches, and tried to make chicken salad out of a chickenshit bullpen, not to mention being saddled with a gimpy Alou and a broken-down Pedro. And Omar better watch his back too…from the day he was hired he said how he wanted to make the Mets younger and faster. Nothing says speedy like carrying 3 catchers and having the oldest roster in the game.

Stay classy Mets – you’re making Rachel Phelps look like Mother Theresa.

Got a good lock… firing…

Congratulations Mets, you found a way to make the off the field stuff more pathetic than what’s on the field.

Fresh off the abortion known as waiting for weeks to finally put the twice-concussed Ryan Church on the DL, Mets management has gone to a new low with the handling of Willie Randolph.  The absolute nerve of the Wilpons to leave Randolph twisting in the wind for weeks now, culminating in last night’s embarrassment of Willie answering questions of if he’s even going to get on the plane to Anaheim. Just fire him already if that’s the plan but this hemming and hawing is a joke.  Stop being so fucking indecisive and do something, whether it’s firing Randolph and/or the coaches or flat out saying his job is safe for the year.  Just get the focus off this mini soap opera and put it back on the field where it belongs.

The Randolph Ramblings

From a recent article in the Bergen Record:

“They don’t like me?” Randolph said. ” ‘We don’t like Willie.’ Wait a minute, why don’t you like me? I don’t get it. Did I do anything to you? If you look at what I’ve done for your club, you should like me a little bit.”

What exactly have you done? You had decent success in 2005, lost a 7 game series to an inferior Cardinals team in 2006, spouted off cliche after cliche during the 2007 collapse, and still don’t have that sense of urgency as your team starts 2008 at a rather unimpressive 22-21.

Randolph isn’t ready to accept the popular notions about his allegedly placid approach to the craft. He believes those notions are hardened by SNY’s selective camerawork.

“They’re the artists, I’m the canvas,” Randolph said. “They paint the picture the way they want to. They want to show me when somebody gives up a home run or somebody makes an error, so they want to see me [using profanity].”

When you discourage Billy Wagner from ripping his teammates in public, you might want to practice what you preach.  Willie, you know who owns SNY, right? The Wilpons… the same duo that pay your check. Keep ripping your bosses in public, Stonewall.  Nothing bad can happen, yes?  Stop complaining about the tv coverage, you sound like a fucking American Idol reject.  Shit man, you’re the manager of a New York professional sports team… you didn’t expect this kind of coverage?

“Is it racial?” Randolph asked. “Huh? It smells a little bit.”

Asked directly if he believes black managers are held to different standards than their white counterparts, Randolph said: “I don’t know how to put my finger on it, but I think there’s something there. Herman Edwards did pretty well here and he won a couple of playoff [games], and they were pretty hard on Herm. Isiah [Thomas] didn’t do a great job, but they beat up Isiah pretty good. … I don’t know if people are used to a certain figurehead. There’s something weird about it.

Huh. I would understand playing the race card if you were WINNING and got criticized but c’mon, look at the situation here. You’re in a results-driven business and you and your team are getting paid a lot of money to produce consistently. The only race this Mets fan cares about is the pennant race.