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Randolph wishes Wagner kept comments in-house

BY DAVID LENNON | david.lennon@newsday.com

May 3, 2008

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PHOENIX - Just hours before tangling with the mighty Diamondbacks, the best team in baseball, manager Willie Randolph was busy Friday putting out the fire ignited by the combustible mouth of his loquacious closer, Billy Wagner.

Not the start Randolph had envisioned for this six-game road trip through Arizona and Los Angeles, two of the most difficult stops in the NL. But with Wagner ripping teammate Oliver Perez for his brief and brutal outing Wednesday, along with the closer's encore performance Thursday during his regular spot on "The Michael Kay Show" on 1050 ESPN radio, it could not be ignored by the manager.

Randolph said he spoke with Wagner about his assault on Perez but had no problem with his comments - other than the fact that he did it publicly.

"I just told him what I felt about it and he told me how he responded," Randolph said. "He can respond the way he responds. I just told him that I thought that was something better kept in-house. That's all. I spoke to Oliver about that. I don't choose to say anything to you guys before I say something to him about it, but that's how I do business.

"I talk to my players all the time when I feel I need to and if they're not living up to their capabilities or not pitching well. I wasn't there when he was talking to you guys. I don't know how it transpired. But obviously he voiced his opinion, his frustration with how [Perez] pitched that day. So we'll move on from there."

Wagner launched his first salvo at Perez for recording only five outs before he had to be pulled in a 13-1 loss to the Pirates. He followed it up during his weekly spot on Kay's show.

On that radio appearance, Wagner supplemented his earlier attack by saying, "If he goes out there and battles and comes up short, you know what, we're not going to have a problem with that. But you have to battle. You have to go out there and find a way."

Asked if he regretted the comments, Wagner flatly responded, "No" but seemed eager to move on. "I've done all the talking about that because, well, everything's been said," Wagner said. "It's been taken care of. We have to worry about probably the best team in the National League right now. We're past that. It's all been taken care of."

Wagner didn't stop with Perez; he said the team lacked "get up and go" Wednesday. "Well, Billy gets a little emotional sometimes and starts talking," Randolph said. "That's probably how he felt. When you don't play well, you don't execute, you kind of look like that. I haven't seen any consistency to that. We're two games over .500 and on this trip we'll be looking to gain on that. I don't see anything more than Billy expressing what he feels. If he feels that way, that's fine. It's not the feeling of the majority of the team. He doesn't speak for the team. That's just him. That's his opinion."

If the Mets don't show improvement on this trip, those opinions will keep coming. Wagner made no mention of curtailing his comments, and in the absence of another critical voice on the team, he'll keep stepping up to fill that void. He might not continue naming names, but the Mets still could be in need of some internal policing.

"It's not about having a fiery leader," Wagner said. "It's nothing about that. We want to take care of our own business. The lucky thing is that we're a veteran team so you really shouldn't have to say anything. It's all taken care of now and we don't have to really worry about it."

Saturday

Mets at Arizona

3:45 p.m.

TV: Ch 5

Radio: WFAN (660)