The Willie Watch is a disgrace

I've been critical of Willie Randolph in this space before, questioning many of his decisions, particularly concerning his bullpen management, and noting that his effect on the club is probably neutral. And I've said that give the way the Mets have played over the last calendar year, that I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed if he was fired.

That said, it's become pretty clear that the Mets problems would likely not be solved by a change in manager and that the issues are almost all connected to personnel who are either underperforming (Delgado), altogether absent (Alou, El Duque), injured (Church) or who shouldn't be here in the first place (third catchers).

I'd love to sit here and talk about how the Mets won two of three from the Rangers before heading west to face the Angels Monday, but the Willie mess has dominated the back pages again, and it's an absolute joke.

It's tough enough to root for a team when it is losing or performing under everyone's expectations. It makes it worse when management -- and ownership -- makes the situation worse by proving to be at the very least clueless and at worst incompetent.

Buster Olney gets right to the point in his blog: If the Mets are evaluating their manager on an instance-by-instance basis of a single game in June, then they have gone insane. And Omar Minaya comes across more and more like a man interested only in protecting his own ass. Just last week he declared that Willie had his support and ownership's support. Suddenly, after a couple of blown saves by the closer and two wins against Texas, he's "the manager for today?"

I would LOVE to see Minaya step to the podium and be a man and say, "Willie is the manager for the rest of the season. And if you want to talk about accountability, we are ALL accountable. Me, Willie, the Wilpons, the coaches and the players. But we are not changing managers. End of story. He's here for the season and it's up to the players to get their act together and up to me to do what I can to make this team better."

Of course, that would put the pressure on Omar. Then again, so would firing Willie because Omar would be left holding the bag.

If Jeff Wilpon is leaking things to certain members of the media, shame on him. I'd rather have Hank Steinbrenner, who at least has the balls to speak his mind.

Instead, Willie makes the flight west with nothing but uncertaintly surrounding him, the players have to deal with the nonsense some more, and Omar looks worse by the day. Let's go, Mets!

If you want to fire him, FIRE HIM ALREADY! Omar met with Willie for an hour after Sunday's game and he's still the manager. So keep him already and make it clear!

The more this goes on, the more of a laughingstock this team becomes.

As far as the weekend action, great job by Pedro, and Maine didn't pitch terribly. One could quibble with Willie pulling him in the seventh with one out, but he'd thrown 105 pitches and allowed two baserunners already and Ramon Vazquez - a lefty who had already homered and singled off Maine - was coming up. Blame Pedro Feliciano for coming up small.

But credit Feliciano and Sanchez and Wagner for preserving a two-run lead to get Pedro Martinez the win in Sunday's second game. Six innings, six hits, a walk and four Ks was a nice performance for the home crowd -- thank God Robinson Cancel broke his nine-year MLB hitless streak with the bases-loaded pinch hit in the seventh. Now, thanks, Robinson, and go back to the minors.

Welcome to the Mets, Trot Nixon. It's the show that never ends.