On the Mets beat

Manager Willie Randolph was none too pleased with today's back page story. Tracked down by globe-trotting Newsday columnist Ken Davidoff, former Met Cliff Floyd described Randolph as "confused" in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the NLCS.

Floyd also said Randolph deferred to bench coach Jerry Manuel, who supposedly convinced him to use Floyd to pinch hit rather than bunt with runners at first and second with none out. Predictably, Randolph disagreed with Floyd's version, and did not want to get dragged into a "he said, she said" debate with reporters.

“That’s history,” Randolph said. “I don’t see how he would know that anyway. That’s his opinion. I make all the decisions and my decisions are the ones I stand on. I’ve talked about that many times, and how I went about that situation, if you want me to rehash it again, I will.

“There’s no way he could know what I said to any of my coaches. He wasn’t sitting on my shoulder right next to me when we were talking. I knew what I wanted to do. I made the decision. I said to you guys what I did – over and over and over – on radio, on TV. I’ve been very cooperative on this. Again, forgive me if I don’t play into this. Forgive me if I don’t. To me, you get a little cloud, and the only way it rains is to poke a hole in it. I’m not going to do that.

“Cliff’s entitled to say what he wants to say. Cliff’s always been very outspoken, I understand that. I love Cliff Floyd. I thought at the time he could give us a chance to win the ballgame. It’s all about winning the game.”

As much as the Mets try to move on from that painful Game 7 loss, it seems they keep getting dragged back into that unfortunate series of events. Randolph is tired of explaining his moves, and frankly, I can't blame him for his frustration.