Two days after agreeing to a contract extension with the Mets, Omar Minaya has removed the "interim" from Jerry Manuel's manager title. The Mets and Manuel agreed to a two-year deal with a club option for a third. The team was 55-38 under Manuel's stint as manager. Guess this means no return for Bobby Valentine and post-ejection mustache disguise.......

As the Mets continue contract talks with manager Jerry Manuel, former manager Bobby Valentine told ESPN 1050 he'd be open to coaching the Mets again. In an e-mail, Valentine, who is coaching the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan, wrote, "I love it here, but I am an American and love great challenges. I was a in a Met uniform in the '70s, '80s, '90s, 2000, and would love to be there in the next decade."......

New York may be going through its first October without baseball since 1994, but that isn’t stopping the local teams from handing out deals to their GM’s. Yesterday, the Yankees brought back Brian Cashman. Today, the Mets announced that they have extended Omar Minaya’s deal for three years through 2012. Minaya, who was signed through 2009 already, could be with the club though 2014 if two club options are picked up. It’s an odd move......

Mets 7 Cubs 6: The Mets are anything but boring. One night after perhaps their worst loss of the season they rebounded with perhaps their best win. Jerry Manuel pushed his luck with Pedro Martinez and paid the price with Martinez allowing the first two runners to reach in the seventh and then Ricardo Rincon came in and gave up a three-run homer. That put Chicago ahead 6-3 and you could sense the despair setting......

Cubs 9 Mets 6 (10 innings): Jerry Manuel took all the questions after the game, but he didn’t have any answers. The Mets jumped out to a big lead and then saw it disappear as they lost one of their biggest games of the year. Don’t blame the bullpen. They held the Mets in the game inning after inning, it was the offense that blew this one. Time after time, the Mets couldn’t get the......

Maybe Mets’ ownership is taking lessons from the Knicks? How else do you explain the news that Omar Minaya is getting a four-year contract extension with the season hanging in the balance? Minaya has done a solid job while running the Mets, but if they do not make the playoffs this year he will have presided over two September collapses. Doesn’t that warrant waiting on a new deal until the season ends? And, if Minaya......

Photograph of David Wright stealing second base by Julie Jacobson/AP Mets 3 Colorado 0: Finally this team is playing the way the fans expected. Make it eight-straight after Saturday’s victory and even Pedro’s early exit couldn’t dampen the mood at Shea. The Rockies only managed one hit against four Mets’ pitchers and every regular in the lineup got a hit. Pedro is going to be ok, it sounds as if Jerry Manuel was just......

According to sources on the Mets' flight to St. Louis, shortstop Jose Reyes confronted beloved former player Keith Hernandez over remarks Hernandez made on SNY about Reyes. Last Sunday, Hernandez criticized Reyes throwing his glove after committing an error during the Yankees-Mets game (which the Mets eventually won) saying Reyes had to "get over that. Enough babying going on now. He's a grown man. He's been around a long enough time. Take off the kid......

Photograph of David Wright being congratulated by third base coach Luis Aguayo after his solo home run by Julie Jacobson/AP Mets 8 Seattle 2: New York came out angry and scored early as they romped to a sweep-avoiding victory. Maybe it was Jerry Manuel’s decision to change the team's warmup routine, maybe it was the thought of being swept by the worst team in the American League. Whatever the reason, the Mets showed some......

Photograph of Jerry Manuel arguing with home plate umpire Brian Runge, who then threw Manuel out of the game, by Julie Jacobson/AP Mariners 11, Mets 0: Yes, the Mets are on the verge of being swept by the worst team in baseball. Seattle rocked Mets starter Oliver Perez for six runs in five innings and the Mets looked lost against Mariners knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. To be fair, they would look lost against a slow-pitch......

Some say that Jerry Manuel and Willie Randolph are too similar, but somehow we can't envision Randolph, the former Mets manager saying what Manuel did on Tuesday night, even jokingly. When Jose Reyes was removed from the game after he experienced tightness in his hamstring, he had a helmet throwing-hissy-fit. Reyes later apologized to Manuel, but the new manager cracked to Reyes:"I told him next time he does that I'm going to get my blade......

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......

Photograph of Alex Rodriguez celebrating with third base coach Bobby Meacham after A-Rod hit a third-inning home run by Frank Franklin II/AP Yankees 8 Padres 5: Is it a coincidence that the Yankees have gone 19-9 since A-Rod returned to the lineup? You certainly have to give Posada some credit too, but the lineup is scoring again and the Yankees have been able to overcome some rough pitching, especially from their bullpen. Wednesday night......

Yankees 8, Padres 0: One day after getting devastating news about Chien-Ming Wang, the Yankees pounded the Padres to continue their domination of the Pacific Coast National League. Andy Pettitte, who put forth a second straight dominant outing got plenty of help, including two homers from Jason Giambi and a bomb to center field from Alex Rodriguez. A few words on Giambi, who was written off for dead: He has unbelievable numbers since May 1.......

The rumors swirled viciously before the game. Willie Randolph was safe for at least the week, but some of his coaches would be fired shortly. Randolph and some of the coaches were about to be axed. There were even erroneous reports that Rick Peterson had been fired. The Mets scored two quick runs in the first thanks to a Jose Reyes walk and a Carlos Beltran homer and made it 4-1 after 2. But, the......

All signs point to this being a critical weekend for Willie Randolph if he wants to keep his job. Ownership is clearly peeved at him, refusing to return his apology phone call and having Omar Minaya do it. The fans are filling the talk radio airwaves with anti-Willie diatribes and the team is not playing well. In fact, they have essentially played .500 ball for over a season. If you go back to May 19th,......