Although his New York Mets escaped with a 9-6 win over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, California, USA, North America on Monday night, Willie Randolph couldn’t escape the pink slip.

To the surprise of pretty much no one, the Mets manager was finally given the ol’ heave-ho. But Willie won’t be leaving by his lonesome - pitching coach Rick Peterson and first-base coach Tom Nieto were also shown the door. In the interim, bench coach Jerry Manuel will be stepping in the cleats for the removed Randolph.

GM Omar Minaya - who still has his job (for now) - is set to schedule a press conference for Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m.

We suppose now was the perfect time for Mets management to kick Willie to the curb, since he was 3,000 miles away in Southern California.

Long-distance firings are always more convenient - no tearful goodbyes, no face-to-face explanations, no need to be nice. And the office doesn’t even have to order a farewell ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins.

Worst of all, Willie won’t be able to share in the special farewell celebrations for Shea Stadium, or embrace the new ballpark smell of Citi Field.

Maybe he could sneak back into Shea in disguise. It almost worked for one ex-Mets manager.