According Matt Cerrone at Mets Blog, OF Carlos Beltran and Mets manager Jerry Manuel were fined for their fight with umpire Brian Runge during Tuesday night’s game.  Runge was suspended for his actions, likely because he escalated the fight and initiated some of the conflict. 

The fines and suspension stems from an incident from the Mets 11-0 loss to the Mariners on Tuesday.  Beltran was upset with a few called strikes, and Runge seemed to initiate the conflict by approaching Beltran.  Manuel intervened, where Runge continued to escalate things by yelling at Manuel and bumping him.  Manuel was tossed, and then Beltran continued the argument and was also kicked out of the game.   

Ok, it’s fine that Beltran and Manuel were fined, but the real victory here was that Runge was suspended.  He was clearly just looking for some action and to pick a fight.  He found the opportunity and for no apparent reason he escalated a conflict, which is the complete opposite of his duty as an umpire.  It’s nice to see MLB recognize the need for discipline there.   

(AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

There was some fight in the Mets last night but not the kind that shows on the scoreboard. It was the kind of feistiness Mets fans had been yearning for from Willie Randolph but instead it came from the new man at the helm Jerry Manuel. Some will say all the bluster and no runs means absolutely nothing but I disagree. Pulling some emotion out of tranquil players like Carlos Beltran might light a fire that this team so desperately needs.

It may be wishful thinking but reality is tough to deal with right now so let me wish. I enjoyed seeing Beltran show that type of emotion and I like the reason he did it. Beltran explained:

“I just told him what I felt about that pitch and he came out to challenge me,” Beltran said. “But what he (umpire Brian Runge) did to Jerry was what got me ejected. I told him I thought that was weak. It’s the first time I’ve been so angry in my career. If I get punished for my actions so should he.”"That’s a weak move that he did. And being able to bump the (manager) to throw him out of the game? That’s brutal. That’s brutal.”

Manuel was tossed because he wanted to stand up for his player:

“I thought Runge was kind of baiting Carlos when he took his face mask off and began dusting off home plate as he was talking to him,” Manuel said. “Carlos is a quiet guy. I felt (Runge) did step into me. I know I didn’t step into him. “I think what instigated Carlos to continue was I think he saw the contact and I don’t think he appreciated that,” Manuel said of Tuesday night’s incident. “That’s what he said to the umpire after I left. He expressed that wasn’t a good thing to be doing and didn’t seem proper.”

Even Jose Reyes liked what he saw out of Beltran and his new manager:

“We fight for each other,” Jose Reyes said.

So, I am choosing to take something positive out last night. There are plenty of opinions flying around about the Mets and I hear and I read a lot about intangibles, chemistry, that sort of thing. Things that are hard to measure. So, lets hope that last night was one of those ‘things’, a spark or a sign that this team, like Reyes said will ‘fight for each other’, maybe that fight started last night. I sure hope so because only being happy that the rest of the NL east lost last night isn’t cutting it.

Hat tip to the Daily News for the quotes and AOL for the video.

Last night the players finally weighed in on the changing of the guard in the Mets clubhouse, hoping they can finally move on from discussing the fate of their manager day in and day out.

Billy Wagner

“As a team, we hadn’t lived up to expectations. The bad thing is, the manager gets the blame. That’s the way the game is.”

Wagner spoke regarding the way Willie was fired.

“I don’t know if there’s ever a good time to do something like that. I don’t think any general manager likes to fire a coach.”

Jose Reyes

“I just feel sorry for the guy because we weren’t able to play good baseball for the guy. He’s going through a tough time right now, but when I get a chance, I’m going to call him and thank him for everything he’s done for me.”

David Wright

“(Randolph) took this team to a different level while he was here, but that being said, I’m excited about what Jerry can bring to the table.”

Carlos Beltran

“Jerry knew the players as the bench coach and communicated with us. I think he’ll do a great job. He’s communicates a lot and is always positive.”

Former Astros Manager Phil Garner was a guest today on XM Radio “The Show” with Host’s Rob Dibble and Kevin Kennedy. Garner, who managed Carlos Beltran offered some interesting insight about Beltran’s personality and how to get the most out of him:

“Carlos Beltran is not going to be a team captain or a verbal leader and that isn’t a slight to Carlos Beltran or any player for that matter,”…”He always performed best when he was hitting 2 in the lineup, he may shy away from attention sometimes, when I hit him in the 3 hole he struggled.”

Garner also spoke about how he can relate to what Willie Randolph is going through:

“It’s not a good feeling when people are trying to lobby for your job…it’s just not right and if someone is going through that, it’s not fun, believe me.”

Garner goes on to talk about what a bad job the Mets brass did handling yesterday’s meeting and how making Willie a lame duck is counter productive. Go to MLB on XM blog to read more excerpts from this interview.

While many players showed their support for Willie Randolph following his two and a half hour meeting with Mets ownership, Carlos Delgado had this quote regarding if he thinks Randolph should be the Mets manager, on ESPN News

“I’m not in the position to think or not think, they don’t pay me to think. They pay me to play baseball.”

Delgado is right. He does get paid to play, so maybe he should start playing up to the level of money the Mets are paying him.

Jon Heyman of SI.com prodded Delgado, asking him to address the question of if he thinks Willie Randolph should be the manager, to which Delgado replied,

“If you wanna be an ass, I can be an ass too.”

Most players put it on themselves, saying that Willie doesn’t deserve the blame, and that its up to the players to turn things around. Carlos Beltran was supportive, and said Willie should remain as manager. He said that someone should speak to the team about Willie’s status and he’d prefer they tell them that Willie would remain with the team through the end of the season, John Delcos of the Journal News reports.

“I think they should say that,” Beltran said. “It is a distraction. The reality is people say it doesn’t effect the ballclub but it does. You come to the ballpark wondering what’s going to happen.”

Omar Minaya said that Willie was never in danger of losing his job and that the controversy was a creation of the media. They simply wanted to speak to him in person about the comments he made regarding SNY and wanted to discuss a game plan to improve the team going forward.

As players were talking to media, David Wright walked through the clubhouse clapped his hands and said “We got a game to play tonight guys”