It was only a matter of time it seemed, but the timing caught everyone by surprise.

The New York Mets fired manager Willie Randolph after the team won its second straight game, which happened to be a West Coast ballgame.

They waited until two hours after the game to announce the firing, which meant calling a 3 a.m. Eastern Time news conference to make it official.

The team tried to almost sneak in the announcement so that no one would notice, but it just came off as being completely cowardly.

Jerry Manuel will take over as the new manager.