Willie Randolph to manage Mets next season after historic slide
By JAY COHEN, AP Sports Writer
October 2, 2007
NEW YORK (AP) -- Mets manager Willie Randolph will be back with the club next season, hanging onto his job after New York's enormous collapse.
General manager Omar Minaya made the announcement Tuesday, ending speculation that Randolph might be fired despite signing a contract extension before this season.
"I do believe that Willie is going to continue to work hard," Minaya said. "I do believe that Willie's passion for winning is there."
New York went 5-12 down the stretch, squandering its big lead in the NL East and missing the playoffs entirely. The Mets became the first major league team that failed to finish in first place after owning a lead of seven games or more with 17 remaining. New York, which had that margin on Sept. 12, also matched the largest lead blown in September.
"It's been tough sleeping the last couple of nights," Randolph said. "The way the season ended, obviously, is unacceptable. We had opportunities to get this thing done and as the manager of this ballclub I take full responsibility for that."
Randolph, who grew up in Brooklyn, replaced Art Howe as New York's manager in 2004. The Mets went 83-79 the following year and 97-65 last season, matching the Yankees for the best record in the major leagues. They lost to St. Louis in Game 7 of the NL championship series.
"I've always been associated with winning and it hurts deep down inside, it really hurts to be associated with this type of collapse," Randolph said. "That's not why we play the game and there's no way in the world that I thought we'd be in this position right now talking about this."
Randolph had the Mets primed to go back to the postseason before their September swoon. New York was outscored 115-98 during its final 17 games and left 141 runners on base, an average of 8.3 per game.
"We didn't pitch at times," Randolph said. "Obviously, we didn't hit. We didn't take advantage of our opportunities and we should have. There's no acceptable reason why when you get a chance to close people out you don't. That's something that we'll kind of have to deal with and live with."
While Randolph kept his job, his coaching staff could look a lot different next year. Neither the manager nor Minaya offered any assurances.
"We are going to evaluate everything," Minaya said.
