Welcome to the Queens Zoo

Bobble on the Bookshelf
Originally uploaded
by Rich Renomeron.

Today is a lousy day to be a Mets fan.

After weeks of playing the “will-they-or-won’t they” game with Willie Randolph, they fired him today, or rather, early this morning, after a win no less. The reasons for doing the deed when it was done include “they didn’t want to fire him on Father’s Day,” and “they didn’t want him to hear about it from the media.” But it seems to me that the Mets’ brain trust could not make up their collective mind on What To Do about their underachieving team.

After last season’s epic collapse, it was pretty clear that Randolph was “on notice” – and despite public pronouncements like “Willie is the manager, and he has a contract,” there’s been a feeling that they might drop him the moment things went south. There were rumors floating around in the media such as, “if they don’t take this series, he’s gone,” or “another week like that, and it’s over.” Constantly. Since April.

Today I read that Omar Minaya may have been pressured by the Wilpons to act, and it very much reminded me of the Steinbrenner Way, particuarly the mid-’80’s edition. They called the Yankees’ organization “The Bronx Zoo” for a reason – and I certainly hope that something similar is not happening over in Queens.