willie.jpgANAHEIM, Calif. — Willie Randolph, fired as manager of the Mets in the early hours of the morning Tuesday, said he was “stunned” by the decision to let him go nearly three months into another disappointing season.

It was just 17 months ago that Randolph received a new multi-million dollar contract as a reward for invigorating the franchise and guiding the Mets to their first division title in 18 years, coming one win away from the World Series.

But he has since presided over one of the greatest collapses in baseball history, from which this year’s team has yet to recover.

“To the fans, I’m really sorry that I wasn’t able to fulfill what I really said I wanted to do here and get this team to a world championship,” Randolph said to reporters in the lobby of his hotel in Costa Mesa, Calif., where the team was staying during its series against the Los Angeles Angels. “That’s what I’ve been about. It’s just very difficult right now but I’m ready to move on.”

Randolph, the first African-American to manage a baseball team in New York, was replaced by the bench coach Jerry Manuel, who Randolph hired to serve as his first-base coach, but promoted him to bench coach before the 2006 season. Manuel, 54, managed the Chicago White Sox from 1998-2003, leading them to a 95-67 record in 2000, when he was selected as the manager of the year by The Associated Press.

willie2.jpgThe Mets also gutted their coaching staff, firing the pitching coach Rick Peterson and the first-base coach Tom Nieto, while promoting three coaches from the minor leagues.

Peterson told reporters Tuesday that he appreciated the opportunity the Mets’s owner, Fred Wilpon, and his son, Jeff, the team’s chief operating officer, gave him to come to New York five years ago. “I appreciated the opportunity and they welcomed me into their home, and homes go through renovations,” Peterson said. “I’m the hardwood floor that’s getting ripped off and they’re going to bring in the Tuscany tile.”

Peterson, saying he will “walk out in peace,” added: “hopefully, the Tuscany tile will do a lot better than the hardwood floor.”

Peterson will be replaced by Dan Warthen, the Class AAA New Orleans pitching coach, who worked in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization with Peterson in the 1980s. He said he considers Peterson and Randolph friends.

“I’ve been fired before and I’ve had somebody else take the same spot that I’ve been in,” Warthen said. “It’s tough. It’ll happen again somewhere down the line, guaranteed.”

As far as the Mets’ pitchers are concerned, Warthen said he knows Aaron Heilman and is familiar with Mike Pelfrey. “What can you do with Pedro and what can you do with Santana,” he asked rhetorically about veteran Pedro Martinez and ace Johan Santana.

“I’m probably going to work with Santana with his changeup tonight,” Warthen joked. “I’ll work with him before the game and let you know how he does afterwards.”

Ken Oberkfell, the New Orleans manager, and Luis Aguayo, the organization’s field coordinator, will also join the major league staff in roles to be determined.

General Manager Omar Minaya is to meet with the media at 2 p.m. Pacific time (5 p.m. Eastern) on Tuesday afternoon at Angel Stadium, and Manuel is scheduled to speak afterward.

The announcement was released to the media at 12:12 a.m. local time — 3:12 a.m. in New York — slightly less than two hours after the Mets defeated the Angels, 9-6. That victory, the Mets’ third in four games, improved their record to 34-35 but had no bearing on Minaya’s decision. The organization plotted the firing on Monday morning, and Minaya arrived here Monday night but did not attend the game.

As Randolph managed the game, answered postgame questions and drove back to the hotel separately from the team bus, Minaya waited. He fired Randolph, Nieto and Peterson when they returned.

Minaya had been Randolph’s strongest ally within the organization, but his patience, and that of the owners, had worn thin. They were tired of watching their team, loaded with All-Stars such as Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran, underachieve.

Randolph’s fate may have been sealed last October, when the Mets kept him dangling for 48 hours before taking the odd step of holding a press conference to announce that they were retaining him.

It was an awkward and uncomfortable tableau, Randolph standing beside Minaya, and it was duplicated on May 26, after Randolph met with the team’s owners for two and a half hours to explain and apologize for comments he made to The Record of Hackensack, N.J. suggesting that SportsNet New York had portrayed him differently on its television broadcasts because of his race.

The Mets won seven of their next 10 games, taking some of the pressure off him, but their maddening inconsistency revealed itself yet again in last weekend’s series in San Diego. The Mets were swept in four games, losing the first three by the same 2-1 score, and then lost two of three to Arizona at Shea Stadium.

On Friday, when speculation that Randolph’s job was in danger again began to intensify, Minaya refused to guarantee that Randolph would remain as manager, saying only that he had his support and the support of the team’s owners. By the end of the weekend, Minaya would not say that. During his three-minute interview with reporters after Sunday’s doubleheader, Minaya did not use the word “support” once and was more noncommittal about Randolph’s future and that of the coaching staff than he had been at any time.

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