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Fire Willie? How silly...

Let's just say I thought that 3 a.m. firings were the kind of thing that James Dolan would do...

At least Willie walks off looking like the good guy in this scenario.

* Willie Randolph's tenure ends with him as the 4th-winningest walk-off manager in Mets history.

Most Walk-Off Wins
By Mets Manager (includes postseason)

55 Davey Johnson
54 Bobby Valentine
35 Gil Hodges
31 Willie Randolph
29 Joe Torre
29 Casey Stengel

Mets Walk-Off W-L
By Manager
(In order of tenure, includes postseason)

Casey Stengel 29-34
Wes Westrum 17-24
Salty Parker 2-1
Gil Hodges 35-27
Yogi Berra 19-34
Roy McMillan 3-6
Joe Frazier 7-9
Joe Torre 29-42
George Bamberger 6-17
Frank Howard 11-3(!)
Davey Johnson 55-51
Bud Harrelson 11-5
Mike Cubbage 0-1
Jeff Torborg 7-13
Dallas Green 25-32
Bobby Valentine 54-39
Art Howe 12-15
Willie Randolph 31-22

* New manager Jerry Manuel had 33 walk-off wins during his tenure with the White Sox (1998-2003). Among those who had a walk-off RBI for Manuel include several with Mets connections: Robin Ventura, Jose Valentin, Mike Cameron and Sandy Alomar Jr.

* Manuel does have one rather notable walk-off loss on his resume. The one season his team made the playoffs, they were swept in the 2000 ALDS, by the Mariners. Seattle won the clinching Game 3 on a walk-off squeeze bunt that scored Rickey Henderson (pinch-running for John Olerud) with the winning run.

* Jerry Manuel did not have any walk-off RBI in his career. However, of his 13 career RBI, six came against the Mets, more than he had against any other team.

* Likewise, new coach Luis Aguayo had 16 career RBI against the Mets, more than he had against any other team. The second of Aguayo's 2 walk-off home runs (September 30, 1987) basically knocked the Mets out of the division race (the Cardinals clinched wth their next win).

* New coach Ken Oberkfell's walk-off history definitely merits further discussion. He had 7 regular season walk-off RBI (4 hits, 2 walks, and a sacrifice fly), as well as one in the 1982 NLCS. He also was a career .340 hitter against Ron Darling, so that should make for some interesting booth chatter.

* New coach Dan Warthen allowed 3 walk-off RBI in his career, though none came against the Mets. Warthen was 2-1 against the Mets, and it could be argued that his best big league moment was a 2-hit shutout against the Mets (albeit one with 6 walks) on September 21, 1976. Lee Mazzilli had the only 2 hits for the Mets.

True Metuels know...Jerry Manuel's last game as a player came for the Padres on May 30, 1982 and had a rather odd walk-off finish.

In his next-to-last at-bat Manuel had an RBI triple, extending the Padres lead on the Cardinals to 3-0. The Cardinals tied the game with 3 runs in the 9th inning, a rally that began with a Keith Hernandez hit.

San Diego scored twice in the 10th inning to go ahead 5-3, but Manuel grounded out with runners on 2nd and 3rd to end the inning. Then, with 2 outs and nobody on base in the home 10th, the Cardinals rallied for 3 runs, the last coming on Dane Iorg's RBI single.

The 3-run comeback with 2 outs and nobody on in the 10th, and the 6-5 final score parallels the events of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. In fact, the two 10th innings share something else in common- Keith Hernandez made an out in each.

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