I have a new toy. Inspired by the work of Rays clipmaster David Chalk I put myself on the waiting list for a RedLasso account. After what seemed like an eternity it arrived today, enabling me to not only make clips of things that many will have absolutely no interest in, but put them on a computer screen in front their eyes.

My first attempt at this concerns the New York media coverage of the Willie Randolph firing, which as the New York media loves to point out, happened at 3 a.m. (12 p.m. as far as Randolph is concerned). I have to admit, I have little interest in the Mets beyond what Johan Santana and Luis Castillo do for my fantasy team, so my following of the buzzards circling around Randolph’s head the past few weeks has been cursory at best.

But this morning, while I was listening to Baseball Prospectus RadioI was surprised to hear that there was a media outcry at the way the firing was handled, this after weeks of what I perceived as being a sharpening of the ax by said media. Obviously, the Mets have underperformed, and this goes back to last year’s historic collapse. Personally, I don’t think a change was such a bad idea. But suddenly the New York media has a gun to its head about Randolph, much as it seemed to when Joe Torre was let go — even though the New York media is what causes much of this in the first place.

These are from the early morning newscasts in New York. The first reports of the firing. The first is from WNBC:

This second clip is from WCBS. Everyone in the newsroom is stunned. Why does it matter if the team announced it at 3:15 a.m. Eastern Time? That means he was fired at 11:30 p.m. Big deal. Call your wife, go eat a burger and hit the sack, Willie. How many times has Willie Randolph flown across the country in his life? It’s like a bus trip to the mall for him.

Here’s Fox 5 New York with some kind of streaky, pulsating light circling at the newscaster’s hip, followed by some man-on-the-street coverage around Shea (mind you, this is before 6 a.m.). Very sensational. I realize this is Fox News, and they do what they do, but what’s going to happen here is that Randolph’s firing will be labeled as unjust. Just watch, within two years Randolph is going to be managing a medium or small market team to start 2009 or 2010.

“Only to fire him hours later in a hotel room!”

Sounds like he’s reporting a murder. Don’t think I’m naive about the New York media. I lived there for two years and I know what it’s all about. I just thought this was pretty over the top. It’s as if they’re trying to absolve themselves from any blame. Funny.