Fred Wilpon has come out and publicly endorsed his GM Omar Minaya and defended the handling of Willie Randolph’s dismissal. “I think Omar has done a great job,” Wilpon told reporters Monday at MLB headquarters while also explaining the thought process behind Randolph’s termination saying it was handled the way it was out of respect for Willie. "You can always look over your shoulder and think things like that, but the intent here clearly was......

The Mets' midnight firing of manager Willie Randolph and two other coaches continues to piss off various parties. The Post uses a little bit of Photoshop magic to place a knife in new manager Jerry Manuel's hand--aimed right at Randolph's back--for today's back cover. Some fans in Syosset sent Mets owner Fred Wilpon a box containing five raw chickens (not on ice, either) plus their season tickets. The fans are Georgi Vodka owner Martin......

The Mets introduced Johan Santana, their newest player and best attempt at getting back to the World Series, in Flushing yesterday. Just last week, the Mets and Santana agreed to a six-year $137.5 million contract that makes the Mets a favorite in the National League. Scores of press were on hand for the introduction, as well as David Wright, Omar Minaya, owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon, and Willie Randolph. Before his official introduction, the Mets......

A day after the biggest end-of-season collapse in baseball history, New York Mets Carlos Delgado, John Maine and a few others cleared out their lockers at Shea (a few lockers, including Tom Glavine's and Billy Wagner's, were cleaned before reporters arrived). General Manager Omar Minaya made comments supporting manager Willie Randolph's leadership ("I believe in Willie Randolph"), and the Post reports that that kind of support will be important: "Mets ownership has ordered Minaya......

Yesterday, the Mets organization and various city and state officials broke ground on the new Mets stadium, Citi Field. There had been criticism about the Mets taking $20 million a year for 20 years (aka a "multi-faceted strategic marketing and business partnership") to name the stadium after CitiGroup, and not name the stadium Shea again or after Jackie Robinson. To which the Mayor said, "The people who said that aren't the ones putting up......

Pedro Martinez was thought to be out for only the playoffs when it was annoucned that he had a torn tendon in his left calf. Now it's being that the soon to be 35 year-old Mets righty will be out for 8 months because of rotator cuff surgery. Assuming Pedro has a speedy recovery, which is a big assumption, he would be back in June. The injury was detected the same day physicians discovered the......

With our expectations low for yesterday's doubleheader against the Braves, the Mets pulled out a 9-7 (box score) win in the first game of the twi-night doubleheader. Aaron Heilman picked up his first win of the season in game one in six innings of work. Heilman gave up four runs and the Mets offense came alive to take the lead in the sixth inning. In game two, the Mets didn't fare quite as well. Paul......

At the start of the season, Mets owner Fred Wilpon was hoping to play "meaningful games" and after 87 games, Wilpon can say the Mets have played several meaningful games and it looks like they will play more to come. The Mets are currently in 4th place in the NL East, but trail the first place Phillies by only two games. With Atlanta, the former juggernaut of the division, and Florida, the reigning World Series......

Is Mayor Bloomberg's secret strategy "no publicity is bad publicity?" At NYU's commencement, he called fellow honoree Joe Torre "Joe Torrez." Jeez, even Gothamist knows that's wrong. Newsday also reports that a "handful of graduates stood and turned their backs on the mayor as he spoke protesting a gaggle of issues, from homeless policies to social-service cutbacks to certain university investments." Gothamist would like to know if anyone was smoking. Lest you think NYU......