ESPN is reporting that Omar Minaya has decided to keep Willie Randolph on as the manager of the Mets. There were plenty of reasons the Mets collapsed and Randolph is certainly not the only person responsible. But, in my mind, a manager has to have a specific skill. The main two, would be personnel decisions and motivation. Randolph is a terrible personnel guy and he proved down the stretch, he is not a manager who successfully motivates his players. If you are of the mind that the Mets should keep Randolph, please explain to me why? What has he done to prove he deserves to manage this team?

The umpire in the Milton Bradley fiasco, Mike Winters, has been suspended for the remainder of the season by Major League Baseball. Though Bradley has a history of blowups, this one seemed unusual. Padres' first base coach, Bobby Meacham, said that Winters' words were unlike anything he's heard in 23 years in the game. Todd Helton, who was at first base at the time, remarked that what he heard was very interesting. He did not go any further than that, possibly fearful of umpire reprisal. If Winters is guilty of baiting Bradley, and this suspension seems to show he is, 5 games will not be a long enough suspension.

It is very unlikely that Willie Randolph would be fired. Regardless of whether the Mets make the playoffs or not, he should not be with the organization next year. I very much understand that New York is a knee jerk reaction kind of sports town. I do not want to come off like one of those fans. The Mets are incredibly talented. Talented enough to make up for countless managerial mistakes.

With this type of talent on the roster, almost any manager can get the team to 85-90 wins. With a talent advantage over every team in the league, it's the manager's job to be smart with personnel decisions and keep the team passionate.

It is pretty unbelievable for a team with the likes of David Wright and Paul LoDuca to show such little passion. I understand that some of the players on the team play in a more stoic manner. Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and Moises Alou come to mind. This, however, is not a team that gives 100% night in and night out. Jose Reyes played like his hair was on fire last year. This year, the unbridled joy he played with last year has been replaced with a going through the motions type of style. Few players are more important to their team's success than Reyes, and when he slumps, the team slumps with him. I feel like Randolph's inability to motivate Reyes has very much hurt the team this year. His statistics are still very good, but there is much less excitement.

The bullpen has been mismanaged all year. Some of the problem is certainly on Omar Minaya. Chad Bradford was very effective against left-handers last year and a key cog to the success of the team. Bradford should be on this team rather than Scott Schenweiss. Guillermo Mota was very effective last year and I understood why he was resigned. Aaron Heilman and Pedro Feliciano are Randolph's horses and are used properly. Billy Wagner, outside of a couple of bad outings, has been fantastic. Now for the problems. Jorge Sosa moved into the bullpen after Minaya failed to make a deal at the deadline. Sosa had been effective out of the pen with Atlanta and I was very much behind the move. The Willie pitched him in 11 out of the next 15 games. It seemed as if Willie thought that since Sosa could go 6 innings in a start, he could 1 inning a night for 6 straight games. But these weren't just one inning outings. These went anywhere from 1-2 innings. Sosa has lost some of his effectiveness, which isn't surprising. He's thrown around 110 innings this year. Randolph's most egregious mistake has been his mishandling of the bullpen since the roster expansion. Before the expansion, I understood what he was doing with Mota and Schoenweiss. Minaya had failed to get him help (outside of Sosa) and he had to use the pair in many tight spots. I felt at first that this was a good thing. Burying 2 of your 5 bullpen arms would have been severely detrimental to the team and my hope was that both would regain some confidence from pitching in important games. It did not work out that way. The bullpen blew many key games. Then September rolled along. The Mets called up Joe Smith (very effective early on, sent down despite his 3.29 ERA), Phillip Humber (former no. 3 pick overall, 95 mph fastball, excellent curve, you know, pen stuff) and Willie Collazo (2.46 ERA, 24 scoreless AAA innings in August). Between the 3 of them, they have 9 appearances. Mota and Schoenweiss have 13. And they have played heavy roles in some devastating losses the last two weeks. The only time the young pitchers made an appearance during the 5 game losing streak was during the ill-advised Brian Lawrence start on Monday. If the Mets do blow this lead, a lot will have to do with atrocious pen management. Randolph has cost them anywhere from 10-15 wins by continually running out ineffective relievers.

During the Yankees dominant years, there was one constant on the bench. Joe Torre had Mel Stottlemyre sitting right next to him. Torre bounced many ideas of of Mel through the years and I feel like Mel kept Torre from making a lot of bad decisions. I think Mel's departure after the 2005 season has led to many poor on field personnel decisions by Torre and the press has certainly picked up on them. Last was similar for the Mets. They employed the best young manager in baseball, Manny Acta. Though Sandy Alomar is the Mets official bench coach, Acta was the guy sitting next to Randolph while the defense was on the field. If you have watched the Nationals all year you know that there is not a ton of talent on the field, but they run through walls for Acta. They have scratched and clawed for every win they've gotten. And if hindsight was 20-20, Acta would be my manager of the Mets.

I don't think Acta will be joining the team anytime soon. Randolph will be the manager next year. Maybe he has not done enough to be fired. But he has done enough to prove he is not the man to take this team to the next level. In New York, with this payroll, with this talent, that should be enough for the team to start looking for his replacement.

In Christianity, Sunday is the Sabbath. God should have plenty to do on Sunday's, but yesterday, he decided to take in the Lions-Vikings game. And according to Jon Kitna, he got involved. After Jon Kitna suffered a concussion in the second quarter, God took action. God realizes if Kitna is going to throw 50 TD passes this year, he is going to have to play as much as possible.

Here are the details of Kitna's Miraculous Resurrection.....

These LSU fans take devotion to the next level. 1300 miles away from Baton Rouge, they created their own Death Valley. Complete with a mascot being pulled by a purple and gold SUV.

Chad,

I come to you utterly embarrassed. I've come to despise my own kind. I always considered New York to be an educated sports town. I know the Yankees fans can sometimes misrepresent us, but most of them are bandwagon jumpers and would be gone the second things go south. Us Jets fans have grown up under a different kind of success. Or lack of success. Things began to change when Bill Parcells came around. You may have never played under him, but I know he appreciated who you are. One of his last acts as a Jets executive was to draft you in 2000. It was one of the best moves the Jets ever made.

In 2002, we pinned our hopes on an aging Vinny Testaverde. The season was seemingly lost when we started at 1-4. Then Vinny got hurt and things changed very quickly. You came in and had a stunning debut. The team went 8-3 the rest of the way and won the AFC East. The Jets proved they could be a playoff team without Parcells. You picked apart nearly every defense you faced. 3,120 yards and 22 touchdowns in 11 games. Not bad for a QB who couldn't throw the ball downfield.

Then the injuries started to come. In 2003, we lost you for the first 6 games after Brandon Short broke your hand. When you came back, we rallied slightly, but the team just wasn't very good.

2004 was different. Halfway through the season, you tore your rotator cuff and missed 3 games. Most mortals would miss a year, but you came right back and led the team into the playoffs. When we played a dominant 15-1 Steelers team, you put us in position to win. We had no business beating them and we didn't. But it wasn't because of you. It was Doug Brien's two shanks and Herm's conservative coaching.

The effects of playing with a torn rotator cuff came into play in 2005 and you didn't play much. At the end of the year, you put your cards on the table and took a pay cut. You knew you had something to prove.

In 2006, you did just that. The rotator cuff surgeries had really affected your arm strength. Luckily, it was a new regime and Brian Schottenheimer understood just how to utilize you properly. With no running game, teams played a base nickel against the Jets. But thanks the Schottenheimer's play calling and your accuracy; you played well enough to lead us back into the playoffs. You were comeback player of the year. In a rebuilding year with undermanned personnel, we went toe to toe with the Patriots.

I thought you had taught the Jets fans and the New York media that you did not need a major arm to win football games. It helps when you don't make mistakes. 1 career turnover in the red zone is pretty unprecedented. I mean, your career record is 21-16 and in your time, the Jets have never had exceptional personnel. There are plenty of Billy Joe Tollivers and Jeff George's who could throw a football through a brick wall. Most of them have never won anything. There is one man who has completed a higher percentage of his passes than you. It's not Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. It's another quarterback with questionable arm strength, Kurt Warner. He won two MVP's and a Superbowl.

In 2007, you again proved your incredible toughness. High ankle sprains usually cost players 6-10 weeks. It cost you one series. You came back and picked apart one of the better defenses in football. Then you placated the fans by sitting out the rest of the game.

The fans in the stands got their wish. They have short memories. They remember the touchdown passes Kellen Clemens threw against 2nd and 3rd string defenses. They don't remember the injuries you gutted your way through. They don't remember how efficiently you work in the red zone. But I do. I know you give the team the best shot at winning games. I know because it is all you have ever done. I wanted you to know that one fan is still cheering for you...