R.I.P. Willie

He was robbed of twenty dollars
His body found stripped
Cast into the harbour there and drowned

And I want to know the same thing
We all wanna know
How's it going to end?

The sirens are snaking,
their way up the hill
It’s last call somewhere in the world

--Tom Waits Hows It Gonna End

So, Manager Willie is no more.



Gone too are Rick Peterson and Tom Nieto.

A real gutting of the inner workings of a team clearly going nowhere with a justifiably unhappy and impatient fan base, saying good riddance to the man who engineered one of the worst collapses in baseball history last season.

The players act stunned but frankly, given the forewarnings over the last week no one should be surprised.

However, one can hope that if the players are in fact stunned, this sort of act is something that might stir the rustling of action in the players themselves - will this be what is finally required to get the players to act like they are taking the season seriously rather than simply going through the motions?

Well, Jerry Manuel is up next. 2000 Manager of the Year. A man who is not afraid, even as bench coach, to get tossed from a game, show some spunk.

The Mets have promoted three coaches from the Triple-A New Orleans team. Dan Warthen, the pitching coach there, will assume Peterson's role while Ken Oberkfell, the Zephyrs manager, and Luis Aguayo, the team's field coordinator, will join the team although perhaps typical of the lack of planning from the Mets management, no one knows quite what it is they will be doing.

According to some, Randolph's Firing Is a Joke, Just Like the Mets and I can't say that I really disagree.

If you could find a dumber way to go about things, ie float the idea of sacking the manager day after day after day and then to finally sack him after a victory and after midnight no less, well, again, this is the Mets management in their feeble-minded best.

Only two days ago I wrote Willie should be kept around. Most people agree he should have been sacked already if not sooner. Now Omar gets blasted on shows like Mike and Maddog for doing the illogical, the precise thing they've been saying all along should be done, fire Willie.

Admittedly, after listening to that radio show and listening to Omar explain his rationale, I don't get the impression Omar is very good at explanaining himself. Sure, a tough decision for many different reasons - and sure, once decided, Omar wanted to be the one to tell Willie himself yet still, it doesn't make sense to say well, Friday the media have made it unavoidable, to say either Willie stays all season or goes now and then wait until Monday, 3 am EST to make the call.

I dunno. It's just typical. Maybe Willie should have been fired after that horrific San Diego series - none of the media distraction pressure Omar cited as a reason for playing his hand - or maybe he should have been kept for the rest of the season but it just seems bloody odd, the timing.

Question now is, how will the Mets respond?

I listened to some of Jerry Manuel's press conference - well, a goofy guy, no doubt -and without dissing Willie he certainly sounded like he was going to make a few changes, like well-defined bullpen roles for example and no strict adherence to batting orders, etc. Will he make the difference? Who knows.

Regardless of what happens, it just got a helluva lot more interesting.