(espn) Willie Randolph is out as manager of the New York Mets, fired in the middle of the night 2½ months into a disappointing season that has followed the team's colossal collapse last September. The Mets had Willie Randolph manage the team Monday night in L.A. -- and fired him early Tuesday morning. Bench coach Jerry Manuel takes over on an interim basis for Randolph, who led the Mets to within one win of the 2006 World Series. They got off to a strong start again last year but plummeted down the stretch and have been unable to rebound. A preseason favorite to win the NL pennant, the 8 million Mets (34-35) had won two in a row when Randolph was let go early Tuesday morning -- making him the first major league manager to get fired this season. Pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto also were dismissed in an enormous overhaul that was revealed in a fact-of-the-matter Mets news release at a stunning time -- about 12:15 a.m. PDT (3:15 a.m. ET), nearly two hours after New York's 9-6 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

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