On the Mets beat

... from navy to the Mets' royal blue? It's been five days and 22 hours since my last blog, and after spending the last 48 hours behind enemy lines in the Bronx, I figured it night be good time to sift through the ashes of the Yankees' third straight early exit from the playoffs.

Don't worry. This is not about the Yankees. But what the Yankees can do for the Mets this offseason, as in letting a few of their free agents defect to Flushing.

Just for fun, one topic a few of us reporters kicked around before last night's Game 4 -- were those vultures perched on the monuments in leftfield? -- was the possibility of Joe Torre coming across town. Would the Wilpons reconsider their "vote of confidence" for Willie Randolph if Torre, snubbed by the Boss, showed a willingness to manage at Shea next season? How funny would that be?

If Torre really wanted to get back at Steinbrenner, jumping to the Mets would be the perfect revenge. But Torre would not want to damage his pinstriped legacy by returning to Queens and there's no way the Wilpons are ponying up the kind of ridiculous cash it would take to hire him. But in the off chance Torre starts in a broadcast booth next year, and Randolph's Mets have a 5-20 April, this might get interesting. Or at least become fodder for a back page or two.

How about the rest of the potential ex-Yank mercenaries? Forget A-Rod.The Mets took a pass on him a few years back and he was a bargain then compared to now, even if David Wright said in spring training he'd move to leftfield for him. But how about this? Maybe sign A-Rod, dump Carlos Delgado and move Wright to first base? I'd take that. No more worrying about Wright's errant throws from third or Delgado's lame attitude. Oh yeah, and 50 homers or so from A-Rod is not so bad either.

Getting Jorge Posada may actually be possible if the Mets throw piles of money at him. Obviously they need a catcher -- Paul Lo Duca is not coming back -- and the switch-hitting Posada is a great fit for a number of reasons. The fact that Posada will be 37 next season is not perfect -- he's more suited for the AL -- but his fiery attitude would be welcome in the Mets' tepid clubhouse.

Andy Pettitte? Might be interested in returning to the NL, and if wants to stay in New York, why not the Mets? I doubt the Yankees would let Mariano Rivera slip across town, and Billy Wagner is tough to swallow as a $43-million setup man.If the Yankees turn down Bobby Abreu's $16-million option, he could be worth pursuing for rightfield.

Anyway, just floating a few hypotheticals out there while the Yankees are cleaning out their lockers in the Bronx. It feels like the Mets' season ended a decade ago, so maybe we can get to rapping about hot stove stuff a little earlier this year. Stay tuned.

Can we stop with saying the Mets are the most hated team in baseball because they like to dance after home runs? It's complete nonsense.I've covered the sport for the past 12 years and I've never seen a team joke, laugh and chit-chat with opposing players more than these Mets. During batting practice, whether it's at Shea or on the road, guys like Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, Moises Alou and Carlos Beltran are always talking with other players -- and many of them are close friends.

So now we're supposed to believe that the Mets lost the division because Jose Reyes and Lastings Milledge danced outside the dugout on Saturday. Sure, there was a bench-clearing incident that afternoon, but if I remember correctly, didn't the Marlins' Miguel Olivo leave the pitchers mound to attack Reyes -- while he was standing at third base? Olivo is generally known as one of the most unstable players in the game, and yet him taking a swing at Reyes, supposedly a friend, is because Milledge circled first base with his finger in the air? Gimme a break.

And if firing up the Marlins is the reason why the Mets lost on Sunday, then why did Florida win on Friday? Did Willie Randolph leave a nasty message on Fredi Gonzalez's cell-phone? Was Milledge thumbing his nose at the Marlins' bench? Did Paul Lo Duca dance the Macarena after drawing a walk? What other non-game related garbage can we come up with to explain what was really about playing bad baseball at a terrible time?

If the Mets had won two more games -- that's right, two -- we wouldn't even be having this discussion. Sure the Cardinals mocked the Jose-Jose-Jose chants after they won Game 7 of the NLCS last October. But the Mets don't sing during games. The fans do. Reyes doesn't hold up a cue card with lyrics as he's standing on first base.

Kudos to Willie Randolph for trying to stop the insanity over this whole celebration thing when he was asked about it on Tuesday.

"That’s overrated," Randolph said. "That has nothing to do with us winning ballgames. We have rules and discipline on the team, and we’ve for the most part stayed true to that. Every once in a while players get excited. They get wrapped up in the moment and that happens sometimes. This is a solid group. My coaching staff and I do a great job of keeping a finger on the pulse of our players.

"This other stuff is mostly just fodder. We don’t have to get back to anything. The kids that react to stuff like what you’re talking about – Jose or Milledge I guess is who you’re talking about – that’s just stuff that young players go through every once in a while. They’re enthusiastic. They get caught up. They’re probably not as mature as some of the older guys. So they make mistakes like that. Sometimes they may make it over again. You still don’t get away from what you need to do."

Were the Mets hated last year when they won the NL East and came within a base hit of the World Series? No. Were they hated when they led the division by seven games with 17 left? No. But as soon as they miss the playoffs, because of Tom Glavine's worst game in a Mets uniform, Reyes and Milledge are suddenly MLB's version of Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson.

The 1986 Mets were despised because they not only beat teams, they fought most of them, throwing as many punches as pitches. The 2007 Mets ultimately were failures, and nobody hates a loser. What's the point.

Love him or hate him, Willie Randolph will be back as Mets manager next season. GM Omar Minaya announced an hour ago at a Shea news conference that Randolph will return, despite a historic collapse that cost the Mets a division title that looked guaranteed only two weeks earlier.

It's the right move. Randolph was not the only one to blame for the Mets finishing 5-12 down the stretch. Even the players said so. Firing him would have been a knee-jerk reaction and I think the Mets can win with Randolph at the helm.They did last season, so why not again?

The Mets issued this statement today from COO Jeff Wilpon:

"On behalf of Fred [Wilpon], Saul [Katz] and myself, all of us at the Mets are bitterly disappointed in failing to achieve our collective goal of building upon last year's success. We did not meet our organization's expectations -- or those of our fans.

"We will continue our commitment in providing the resources necessary to field a championship team. We will be meeting with Omar [Minaya] shortly for him to present his plan on addressing our shortcomings so that we can achieve our goal of winning championships in 2008 and beyond.

"Our fans deserve better results. We thank them for their record-breaking support this season."

Just got back from Shea and I have to say I'm a little surprised that GM Omar Minaya refused to give Willie Randolph what I would consider an iron-clad vote of confidence. Minaya was asked no less than four times about Randolph's job security and the GM waffled his way through the answers by deferring to his upcoming meetings with ownership.

Asked specifically if Randolph would be the Mets' manager for Opening Day 2008, Minaya said, "Willie has two years left on his contract. I think if you look back at what he's done here for the past three years, it speaks for itself. I think Willie works hard and my relationship with Willie is good. But I do believe, because of the way we lost, I think it's fair to at least sit down with ownership."

All Minaya had to do was say that Randolph is his manager for 2008 and that would be the end of the discussion. He didn't. In my mind, that leaves the door open a crack.

Do I think Randolph will be fired? No. He still has two years left on his contract and the Mets aren't about to pull the plug only eight months after giving him an extension. Randolph will be on notice, however. A slow start next season, with the Mets showing the same signs that doomed them this year, and Randolph could get the hook sooner rather than later.

It's "garbage-bag" day at Shea today and tomorrow, when players show up one last time and empty their lockers before going home for the winter. I'm headed over there myself to gather information for the autopsy of this season, but I'll check back in later to provide some details.