By Tom Alexander
Executive Editor, The Sportsman’s Daily
www.sportsmansdaily.com
 
I am a Phillies fan.  Our sworn rivals are the New York Mets.
 
Needless to say I have no love lost with the team 100 miles up the Jersey Turnpike from the City of Brotherly Love.  Still, I need to call things as I see them. Like injustices, when they come along.
 
Willie Randolph always seemed like a decent sort to me. As a kid I remember him playing second base for the Yankees championship teams of the late 1970s.  When he became manager of the Mets, I just took it in stride — no real dislike for the man himself.   I still couldn't stand the Mets of course, but Willie didn't concern me much either way.  Seemed to me he had a fairly even temper and understood the game.
 
Now keep in mind of course, I'll say it again, I still detest the Mets. And that's why their handling of the firing of Willie Randolph confirms my suspicion that they're a cursed team. They're the Bad Luck Schleprock of the NL East.  Their instincts are all wrong.  Do they have talent? Absolutely.  Who wouldn't want to have David Wright or Jose Reyes or Johan Santana on their team?  But there's a darkness that hangs over this organization.  It goes back to when Tom Seaver was dealt away.  Before that, the Mets were (dare I say it?) even lovable.  They walked in the shadow of the mighty Yankees.  You could almost feel their pain, or at least relate to it.  But once 1986 came along and all the chest-thumping, fist pumping arrogance that came with it, they've been unbearable.  But there’s a price to pay for their arrogance and bad instincts.  Their season ending collapse last year wasn’t just due to poor play, it was due to bad vibes. There are other NL East rivals who are thorns in the Phillies’ side. The Braves and Marlins come to mind.  But I never sense these team have an inherent darkness that courses through their collective veins. The Mets do.
 
And they proved it by how they dumped Randolph – in the middle of the night on a west coast trip. Did he deserve to be let go? Well, I understand big expectations, and not fulfilling them. I also understand that’s magnified umpteen times in New York. Maybe it was time for Randolph to go. But the man deserved to be treated with more dignity and respect just on a human level. Or have Omar Minaya and the Wilpons forgotten about humanity?  You’ll find the word in Webster’s dictionary in the H’s…where you’ll also find heart, help, and “handle” with care. Good luck Willie, you deserve better.