Mets fire Bernazard but pick fight with reporter, win third in a row

The Mets put out a fire storm by firing Tony Bernazard. But another one hit the Big Apple when Omar Minaya attacked beat writer Adam Rubin of the NY Daily News. Minaya accussed Rubin of lobbying to land a front office position with the Mets. Rubin felt that Omar meant that he tried to get Bernazard fired, but their is no evidence to support such a claim. Rubin also accurately reported the Bernazard story. There was absolutely no reason for Omar to make a claim like that in front of the media. First of all, again as far as I know, everything was reported with accuracy. Minaya created a public relations nightmare with this - talk radio went beserk after his press conference, and the papers tomorrow will rip him to shreds.

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The only good thing that came out of this press conference is that Minaya did what was necessary in firing Bernazard, who obviously had to go after his behavior in Binghamton, his remarks towards K-Rod, and the lack of class in which he represented the organization. The Mets had an opportunity to save face once they gave Bernazard the pink slip, yet they just made things worse. Now the target is on Omar's back, and if he stumbles again he could be the next one to leave Flushing.

It is tough enough when the team is underachieving, even though the Mets have been decimated by injuries this year. What makes this season worse is the off-field antics. In this case, Minaya acted unprofessional and created another distraction for the team with his actions towards Rubin. He could be upset that Rubin reported the story since he is very good friends with Bernazard, but that doesn't absolve Minaya. If anything, it helps him that Bernazard is gone because there were rumors that Tony had more power than Omar because of his strong relationship with the Wilpons.

I am thrilled that the Mets canned Bernazard, not only because he was a divisive force within the organization, but because of the way he treated the Binghamton Mets, and his poor reputation around the majors was a weak link for the Mets. With the Mets recent track record of not making the right choices in these spots, I thought they were going to keep him around until the end of the season and then make sweeping changes in the front office. New York handled the firing well until the Omar/Rubin confrontation, and the best part was that they didn't announce the move at 3 AM eastern time.

.The Game:

Despite all the controversy, the Mets still had a game to play and a winning streak to build on. They won 7-3 to increase their winning streak to three, and the hero was Fernando Tatis, who smacked a pinch hit grand slam in the 8th inning.

Oliver Perez still struggled by throwing too many pitches and lacking command. 103 pitches in 5 innings, and he has walked at least 4 batters in all his starts since returning from the DL.

Jeff Francoeur has been on a roll since the deal, hitting 3 homeruns and 15 RBI. He went deep again tonight. He has been finding pitches to hit and stroking the ball with authority.

Castillo, Murphy, and Wright continued their hot hitting. The Mets 2B had two more hits today and is doing a great job getting on base. Murphy had an RBI double and he has hit for more power in July with 8 doubles. Wright is starting to come around these last few games, and hopefully a hot Francoeur behind him will give him some pitches to hit.

(AP Photo Rick Silva), (AP Photo Kathy Willens)