Dorisa,
I agree that Omar has helped turn around the team.

The blame on how this (the firing) was handled falls squarely at the feet of the Wilpon's. However, Omar is taking the heat for them AND from them.

Because Willie and Omar actually had a friendship, i'm sure it was difficult for Omar to have to fire Willie. I'm not faulting him for that; I'm laying the blame for the classless way it was handled on Jeff Wilpon, who didn't like Willie, and also Omar's assistant (whose name i can't even come up with, that's what a toady that guy is) who doesn't understand the rank structure that should exist in the Mets organization. If this guy had a problem with Willie he should have taken it up with: 1.) Willie, 2.) Omar, 3.) Shut his mouth.

If the Wilpon's think that the Mets fans are going to forget how low they've (the Wilpon's) dragged the reputation of the Mets organization (and in turn the Mets fans themselves) they've got another thought coming! We remember the Midnight Massacre that cost us Tom Seaver, and this new Midnight Massacre will go down in history.

All that being said, the team can't continue to wallow in this fiasco. They have to adapt, overcome and improvise (to steal a phrase from my military background). We'll accept almost any change to the lineup, hairstyles, beards, superstitions, or just actual quality ball-playing that it takes to get this team out of the cellar.

Guys, we believe in you! Jerry, we'll stick by you. Omar, we'll stand by you, but watch your back.....the Wilpon's are after you!

Tug Said it.....I believe it.....That settles it......
YA GOTTA BELIEVE

As for the actual act of firing willie randolph, i think it should have waited until the all-star break so the players have some time to adjust to the change. but regardless, i agree he had to go. while this team was playing with energy, motivation, and momentum (like the 2006 season) he was the right man for the job, because his laid back demeanor and nature kept the players in check and funnelled their energy into basball. Now, when the palyers are down and not performing, he lacks the fire and leadership to pull them out of it. for this reason, i say we go to someone like bobby valentine, who has a lot of that energy and leadership to motivate the players and hopefully save the season.

what i think is ridiculous is how the media has taken such great offense about the timing of the firing. not the actual timing in the season, but the time of day the press release was released to the press. it was 3:12 am. WHO CARES?! what does it matter the time of day! willie was pulled aside after the game against the angels, which ended around 10:30 PM Pacific time, and he was officially fired through a press release at 12:15 AM pacific time. so what? that way he had the night to regroup, sleep on it, compose himself, and come to terms with everything before the 2:00 press conference tommorow morning, while at the same time not having to immediately answer questions from pesky sports media paparazzi right after such a tough thing to swallow. i would like it better that way! but the media is furious that they weren't able to get their much anticipated story featuring the post-firing interview with willie because they were asleep (notice, it was 3:15 HERE, where the press live, not PT) and so they are creating a firestorm about how terrible and ridiculous the mets joke of a front office is and always has been. it's BS! here are actual quotes ( not word for word, i don't have that good a memory!) i have read from Mets.com, foxfox.com, and espn.com: "the handling of this firing will go down in history as one of the worst baseball decisions ever"...."what a despicable act of cowardice by the mets"..."omar minaya needs to be fired right away and the wilpons should sell the team"..."randolph should be looked at as a martyr"... "those three coaches should be happy they were fired, because they don't have to deal with the mets absurd front office anymore"..."the mets front office is a circus that keeps getting more and more ridiculous"..."this firing is a shameful blight on the mets higher-ups and such an embarrasement will never be forgotten".

WTF?????? these are the same guys who were calling for willie's head a week ago, and now because they were outfoxed by the mets organization and weren't able to make such a huge story of something they wanted to, they are calling for the heads of those and saying that this was a classless act. am i the only one who doesn't see the relevance of firing someone overnight rather than in the day?

Minaya deserves some blame too. I mean c'mon he said that he was going to build up the farm system and did not fulfill that commitment. You could argue that he brought in Johan and made other good moves but remember Pedro and Alou have been two players that have been extremly prone to injuries in their Met's careers. Those are two moves Minaya made. Ultimatly the Wilpons left the decision on when to fire Willie up to Minaya. I'm sick of hearing that the Wilpons fired Willie. Minaya pulled the trigger. I believe Minaya kept Willie around a little bit longer to blame him for the teams problems and tried to evade criticism. We'll see how things go with Manuel, I think the team will respond and be the Phillies of last year.

Your accusations against minaya are different from those listed above, which is a good thing. i can see your point of view, i can't see the point of view of those who think minaya should be blamed for the time of day which he fired randolph. certainly, minaya deserves some blame for somewhat depleting the farm system through all his big name moves. but we are still a lot better off than we were pre-minaya. he has turned the team around, and it is better to be old and talented than old and nto talented! plus, i don't think our future is as bleak as people think. as i said in a different post chain, we still have wright, reyes, pelfrey, maine and fernando martinez as very young, very talented young prospects, which is more than many teams can say. throw in johan, church, pagan, beltran, schneider all lined up to be with the team for 5 or so more seasons, along with evans and our promising 2 new first round draft picks, and we have a lot of talent around to develop for the future. we are the oldest team in the MLB, but i think we have plenty of younger guys to replace these aging ones once they retire/get too old to perform anymore.

pedro was a huge help for 2.5 years before he started getting older and more injury prone, and alou was a free agent, so it didn't cost us anything but salary cap to take him. injuries don't make the players unvaluable, either, and pedro can still maintain a 4.50 era or something in that range and alou can rake when he's actually playing.