Personally, I never felt particularly strongly one way or the other about his prowess as a manager. I believe that professional ball players should be capable of doing the job for which they are (well) compensated.

A manager’s job is primarily to fill out the lineup card, make some in-game decisions, and handle the media.In these areas, Willie was ok. Not great, not awful, but not even remotely responsible for the poor play exhibited by the Mets over the last year or so.

The over/under on the first “Fire Manuel” posts will be the next 2-game losing streak. Of course the calls for Omar’s head will continue unabated, no doubt.

In regards to Manuel, I fail to see that moving the man who stood a foot-and-a-half to Willie’s right, into the head job, will make a substantive difference in the play of this club. I’ll gladly be wrong about this, but don’t expect to be.

In Omar’s case, this is the same GM who rescued this team from oblivion, and put together basically the same club that in ‘06 was considered a cut above in the NL. That their collective skills should suddenly, and dramatically erode in a two-year span, should not, by rational people, be laid solely at his feet. Probably has more to do with increased substance-awareness, than anything else.

I thank Willie for his efforts, as I truly believe that everything he’s done while manager of the Mets, was with the intent to make this a winning ball club. He carried himself with a dignity and class that many of those who have clamored for his blood, could learn a sorely needed lesson from.

Either way, my hope, as always will be that the Mets find a way to play well on a consistent basis and find themselves back in the playoff picture.

Listen, they could have done it better. But one poster said that he believed Minaya did it so late so as to keep it out of the papers today and protect Willie from being bombarded from the NY press. Whether that is true or not, it is a possible scenario.

We need to move on now. We need a manager that will light a fire under these spoiled brat millionaires so they will start playing up to their potential. We need a third base coach that will be aggressive, especially when the timely hits are not coming around. We need a hitting coach that will help hitters get through their slumps. We need a pitching coach that can make adjustments to the pitchers so they can find there groove.

Just for the record, I wish it was HOJO that was going and not Peterson. And I was a big HOJO fan when he played with the Mets. He is just not getting it done. Too many batters are slumping.

Let’s hope that the new manager and coaches will light a fire under these guys. Or else we will have a very long winter ahead of us.

Every single person on the Mets squad is to blame for the sorry way this season has began. However, the three main individuals that were not fired, Sandy Alomar Sr., Omar Minaya, and Tony Bernazard, shows how much control Omar really has.
Omar fires Willie, Nieto, and Peterson? Yet the other three get to stay? Very odd.

You should still have The Kids # on your callr ID.

Give Gary a call.
Gary Carter for manager, and Keith for hitting instructor, try and pull Roger McDowell away from Atlanta for pitching coach.