Willie Randolph spoke to reporters outside his Franklin Lakes home this morning for the first time since the Omar Minaya press conference yesterday.

“I can’t control how things were handled. All I can do is control myself.”

Randolph wasn’t prepared for the firing.

“I thought he was talking about whacking a couple of my coaches. I felt all along that this team was going to play better. This, in my mind, all happened way, way too early.”

Willie watched the game from home for the first time in years.

“Those are my guys. I still think about David (Wright) and Jose (Reyes) and Marlon (Anderson). I lived and died with those guys for four seasons. We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs. We’ve had a lot of heartache.

Randolph spoke about how he wishes to manage again.

“Yes, I want to do it again. Once you get a taste of managing, that’s what you want to do.”

Randolph felt there was still time to turn things around.

“I felt all along this team would play better and we would eventually get into the season and really do well. In my mind, this all happened way, way too early. We all know baseball is a long season, a marathon, so for me, it was a little abrupt. You can talk all you want to about expectations and stuff and this team didn’t play up to its capabilities, but I felt like we were going to start to do that. I wish I had the opportunity to see it through, that’s all.”