Anaheim, CA (Best E Casino) - The New York Mets fired manager Willie Randolph following Monday's game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Bench coach Jerry Manuel, a former manager of the Chicago White Sox, has been named interim manager.

The Mets also fired pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto, adding Ken Oberkfell, Dan Warthen and Luis Aguayo to the coaching staff.

Randolph, in his fourth season as Mets manager, posted a record of 302-253. The club is just 34-35 this season and sits 6 1/2 games behind first-place Philadelphia in the National League East.

Although Randolph had been on the hot seat for most of the season, serious rumblings about his job began last Friday when it was reported that his status was day-to-day. The Mets then took two of three from the Texas Rangers over the weekend and notched a 9-6 win over the Angels on Monday.

A few hours after Monday's game, Randolph was notified of his dismissal and he had few words to say leaving the team's hotel on Tuesday.

"I'm very disappointed I won't be able to fulfill what my dream is, to lead this team to a world championship," a downcast Randolph said. "This is very difficult right now, but I'm ready to move on."

Asked if he saw the firing coming, Randolph responded, "No. I was really stunned by it, I was surprised."

Mets general manager Omar Minaya spoke about the firing at a press conference in Anaheim on Tuesday afternoon.

"It was a very tough decision for me to make. I know that this past weekend was a tough weekend with all the speculation," Minaya said, explaining that he spoke with Randolph Sunday night, and told Randolph that he planned to make a decision on Randolph's job status by the end of this road trip.

That decision apparently did not take long, and the Mets' win on Monday did little to prevent the axe. "I decided that I had to have closure to this," said Minaya.

"I feel that we have a championship team, we have the talent to do that. This decision was not based just upon this weekend, this decision was based on how I've seen our team play for the past year or so," Minaya said.

The Mets had a winning record in each of Randolph's three full seasons as skipper, winning the National League East in 2006 with a record of 97-65. The St. Louis Cardinals, however, upset the Mets in the National League Championship Series in seven games on the way to an improbable World Series triumph.

New York was in position for another division title last year, but blew a seven-game lead with 17 games to play as Philadelphia rallied to capture the NL East crown on the last day of the season.

After the historic collapse, it was widely speculated that the Mets -- with the addition of pitcher Johan Santana and the highest payroll in the National League -- needed a good start to this season in order to save Randolph's job.

Randolph, who was signed through the 2009 season, was a six-time American League All-Star in a playing career that spanned 18 seasons from 1975 through 1992. He spent the majority of his career with the New York Yankees, winning World Series titles in 1977 and '78, but also played for Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Oakland and Milwaukee before ending his career with the Mets.

Raised in Brooklyn, New York, Randolph spent 11 years as a coach with the Yankees before getting his first managerial job with the Mets when he was hired on November 4, 2004.

Manuel had been a part of Randolph's staff from the first season, serving as first base coach in 2005 before taking over as bench coach the following year. Minaya said Tuesday that Manuel will manage the Mets through the remainder of the 2008 season.

In six seasons as skipper of the White Sox from 1998-2003, Manuel notched a record of 500-471. He was the American League Manager of the Year in 2000 when the Sox finished with the league's best record of 95-67.

Peterson had been the Mets' pitching coach since November 2003, while Nieto was in his first season with the major league staff after serving as catching instructor for three years.

Oberkfell was the manager of the Mets' Triple-A affiliate in New Orleans and Warthen was in his first season as the pitching coach at New Orleans. Aguayo oversaw spring training for the club's minor league teams.