DENVER — After giving him a brief reprieve yesterday, the Mets put Willie Randolph’s job right back in serious jeopardy today.
Fresh off a 4-1 loss here to the Rockies, Randolph is set to face the music tomorrow when he meets with Mets owner Fred Wilpon, chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon and GM Omar Minaya at Shea Stadium.
Whether Randolph will still be the manager when his team faces the first-place Marlins later tomorrow remains to be seen after the Mets looked lifeless yet again today while losing for the sixth time in seven games.
Randolph was defiant when asked after if he expected to keep his job during today’s meeting, saying: “I don’t see why not.”
Minaya, whose trip to Denver for this series was ominous because he rarely travels with the team, wasn’t as definitive as Randolph. The two met behind closed doors for more than 20 minutes after yesterday’s game.
Minaya issued a tepid vote of confidence Friday but still refuses to rule out a change in managers by the Wilpons. Minaya said before the Mets fell to 23-25 today that the furor surrounding Randolph “is over,” but later clarified himself by saying he was talking only about Randolph’s controversial comments last week on race and the team’s TV network.
“His job status is the same as it was when I got here,” Minaya said, not elaborating further.
Randolph’s players did him no favors at Coors Field today, committing two errors — one of which turned the game — and going down meekly against Rockies starter Aaron Cook.
The Mets failed to get a runner past second base after the third inning against Cook (7-3), who used a dominant sinker to scatter four singles, improve to 3-0 lifetime against the Mets and throw Colorado’s first complete game since last August.
Counterpart John Maine was keeping pace with Cook and took a 1-0 lead and a no-hitter into the fourth inning when Jose Reyes set the stage for the Mets’ demise by allowing a Ryan Spilborghs groundball to shoot through his legs.
Reyes’ error wasted a potential double play that would have gotten Maine out of the inning. As if on cue, the misplay immediately haunted the Mets when the next batter, rookie right fielder Seth Smith, drilled a three-run homer — the first of his career — to put the Rockies in front for good.
“No excuses,” said Reyes, who one inning earlier was picked off for the second time on this disastrous trip. “A ground ball like that, I have to make the play.
Reyes couldn’t make the play, though, and with the Mets mustering just five baserunners all game against Cook, Maine was doomed to have his record drop to 5-4 despite eight strikeouts.
The bigger question now is whether the Mets’ disappointing start will doom Randolph to the unemployment line, perhaps as soon as today.
If Randolph does get the ax, several of his players said they deserve the blame more than their manager.
“It’s not him — it’s us,” catcher Brian Schneider said. “We’re not getting it done right now. Willie’s still doing the same stuff he’s been doing, which is staying positive. He’s always there, and he’s our biggest supporter out there.”
How much longer Randolph is in position to do that remains to be seen. Minaya wasn’t exactly encouraging when asked his feelings about a trip that began with such promise a weekend ago with two wins in Yankee Stadium before crashing in Atlanta and Denver.
“I’m not one to change my mind from game to game,” Minaya said. “I try not to get too high or too low. It’s a long season. But that being said, we wish we were going home with a win. You wish it was a more productive trip.”
bhubbuch@nypost.com