Once he decided to fire Willie Randolph, New York Mets general manager Omar Minaya caught a flight to the West Coast, went to the team hotel and waited to deliver the news in person.
“Eye to eye,” Minaya said Tuesday. “It was done quick.”
Even if it seemed to take forever.
The late-night hit came as chants of “Fire Willie!” grew louder at Shea Stadium and on New York’s sports talk radio stations. Yet when Minaya did just that, the news shocked most everyone — fans, media and apparently even Randolph.
“I’m really stunned by it,” the ex-manager said around noon Tuesday. “I was surprised by it.”
Bench coach Jerry Manuel, a former AL Manager of the Year for the Chicago White Sox, will manage the Mets for the rest of the year.
Randolph became the first manager in the majors to be fired this season, the move announced in an e-mail at 12:14 a.m. PDT Tuesday. He was dismissed with the Mets below .500, still wobbling from last year’s colossal collapse and speculation about his job status growing every day.
The tension went on “far too long,” Minaya said. “It was not fair to the team, it was not fair to Willie Randolph, it was not fair to the organization.”
Pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto also were fired.
Minaya said he made the decision Monday — a day after the Mets traveled to California after a doubleheader split at home with Texas — and stressed it was his alone. He met with Randolph after that night’s 9-6 win over the Los Angeles Angels left the Mets at 34-35.
“I think he was resigned to it,” Minaya said. “When all is said and done, I think he was relieved.”
YANKEES: Pithcer Chien-Ming Wang is expected to be sidelined until at least September after injuring his foot running the bases Sunday in Houston. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday. The sinkerball specialist is 8-2 with a 4.07 ERA in 15 starts this season.
RED SOX: Pitcher Bartolo Colon (4-2, 4.09 ERA) was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday with a stiff lower back, and injured right-hander Curt Schilling was sent back to Boston for an examination with team doctors. Schilling has been on the 60-day DL since spring training with shoulder weakness and has reached a plateau in his recovery.
DODGERS: Right-hander Brad Penny was put on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday with a sore shoulder that has bothered him for much of the season. Penny went 0-7 in his last eight starts and lasted just 32/3 innings in a 12-7 loss in Detroit on Saturday.
CARDINALS: A second doctor’s opinion backed up the team’s hope that ace pitcher Chris Carpenter, whose surgically-repaired elbow has bothered him the last few weeks, might still be able to join the rotation this year. Carpenter, the NL Cy Young Award winner in 2005, is scheduled to throw a bullpen session today.
WHITE SOX: Veteran first baseman Paul Konerko has landed on the disabled list for the first time in his career. He has a strained left oblique muscle, an injury he suffered while hitting in the batting cage Sunday.
INDIANS: Former All-Star third baseman Morgan Ensberg, 32, signed a minor league contract with the team on Tuesday. He was cut by the Yankees earlier this month after hitting just .203 with a home run and four RBI in 28 games for the Yankees.
OBITUARY: Johnny Buzhardt, who pitched for the Chicago Cubs and the White Sox during 11 seasons in the major leagues, has died. He was 71 and had been in declining health. Buzhardt pitched in the big leagues from 1958-68 with the Cubs, Philadelphia, the White Sox, Baltimore and Houston. His best years were with the White Sox when he went 9-4, 10-8 and 13-8 from 1963-65.
Associated Press
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