Frustrated Mets fans have begun calling for an end to the Willie Randolph era. Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

Why the Mets kept Randolph

The "Fire Willie'' chants rang up at Shea Stadium during Willie Randolph's first game back after the meeting with the club-owning Wilpons in which Randolph retained his job, at least for now.

Meanwhile, the support for Randolph in the clubhouse seemed muted. In providing answers as to whether they wanted the Mets to retain Randolph, it turned out to be just another chance for several Mets to show a complete lack of emotion. Among the stars only Billy Wagner showed enthusiasm in his answer to keep Randolph. Carlos Delgado showed emotion, but only anger that the question was asked of him in a group.

Meanwhile, Randolph's support in the front office has seemed a bit shaky since the club's collapse in 2007. However, Randolph was kept for two big reasons:

1) The Wilpons crave stability in their manager's chair and have been strongly inclined to keep Randolph, who took them to within a few pitches of the World Series in 2006. Club executives found through a study that teams that frequently changed managers don't appear to increase their success rate with subsequent moves, and;

2) Mets people were unsure they had the ideal candidate-in-waiting. Bench coach Jerry Manuel is a pretty good one, but he is seen as similar to Randolph in temperament. Mets people want to see more emotion in the manager's chair.

So for now, Randolph remains in the post. However, his status remains tenuous.

Around the Majors

• Mariners president Chuck Armstrong told the Seattle papers that the team haven't even considered switching managers. And if that's true you wonder what they do think about there. No offense to manager John McLaren, a fine man by all accounts, but rarely has such a good team (on paper, anyway) played so poorly.

• One problem with the Padres is their poor drafts. Shortstop Matt Bush in 2004 is just one example of many bad choices.

• Yankees people can't be happy that their All-Star Game could be so populated with Sox. Five Red Sox lead the positional balloting (Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia and Jason Varitek). Additionally, the team will be managed by Terry Francona. Yankees honchos already weren't happy that Ortiz was tabbed as the one to play Babe Ruth in the "Called Shot'' promotion.

• Jim Leyland doesn't much enjoy losing (he left the Rockies after just one season in which the team went 72-90 in 1999) but in a recent phone interview, Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski said Leyland isn't about to quit on them now.

• Aaron Heilman is throwing 95 mph yet is having trouble getting folks out, leading Mets people to wonder whether he's tightening up in tough situations. They don't see him as a starter. But perhaps someone else would. The Rockies are one of many teams that have inquired over the years.

• Speaking of the Rockies, if anyone has an injury excuse, it's them. Without Troy Tulowitzki, Matt Holliday and Garrett Atkins they've been no match for the Phillies so far this week, losing their first two games in Philadelphia by a combined score of 27-9.

• No matter what his rep, Hanley Ramirez looked pretty darned good at shortstop this week vs. the Mets.

• Congrats to heralded prospect Jay Bruce, 20, who went 3 for 3 in his Reds debut.

• Gary Carter should wait for a managerial job to actually come open before starting his campaign. I guess since he talked his way into Cooperstown he thought he could try to stump for Randolph's job. Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez, who has to be one of the two or three best analysts around, said Carter was "unconscious'' for doing such a thing, which I think meant that he showed no brain activity.

• Roger Clemens added a claim of "intentional infliction of emotional distress,'' to his absurd lawsuit against his former personal trainer Brian McNamee. In the end these false claims should just add to the settlement that Clemens will have to pay McNamee.