ATLANTA — Is Jerry Manuel a dead man walking after listening to the boss man’s squawking?
The embattled manager emerged from a break in his closed-door meeting with Mets COO Jeff Wilpon yesterday wearing a grin, appearing as calm and collected as ever.
“I’ve got a uniform on, don’t I?” the manager said to reporters in the clubhouse.
Last night’s 3-2 win over the Braves had Manuel still calling the shots from the dugout after a hastily called 90-minute summit at Turner Field that included Manuel, Wilpon, general manager Omar Minaya, assistant GM John Ricco, pitching coach Dan Warthen and bullpen coach Randy Niemann.
Wilpon said watching the Mets get swept four games by the Marlins over the weekend told him it was time to hop on his private jet and head south.
Wilpon expects to meet with team brass again today before heading home. He denied coming here to make a firing, despite the team’s 18-20 record entering last night’s play that had pushed the Mets to last place in the NL East and included seven losses in eight games.
“Jerry and Omar both know what’s expected and they are both working at it,” Wilpon said. “We’re 38 games into the season. If I was going to make a change this quick, I would have done it last year.”
In particular, Wilpon said he was interested in Manuel’s plans for the starting rotation, with Oliver Perez recently demoted to the bullpen and Jon Niese likely headed to the disabled list with a right hamstring strain. Hisanori Takahashi will start in Niese’s place Friday against the Yankees and R.A. Dickey is tentatively slated to start tomorrow in Washington.
“It’s time to start playing well again and I wanted to hear all their thoughts on what we should be doing and where we should be going,” Wilpon said. “A lot of decisions have to be made about [the team] and it’s much easier to do it in person than on the phone.”
Manuel indicated his job status wasn’t a focus of the meeting.
“There were no ultimatums or pep talks,” Manuel said.
Players took notice of the closed door that separated the manager’s office from the clubhouse during a time the mood is usually light.
“It’s a reality of the market we’re in, the team we have,” Jason Bay said of Manuel’s tenuous job security. “Is it one person’s fault? Probably not, but that’s the business we’re in.”
Wilpon declined to answer questions from reporters about on-the-field issues. But he added: “I wouldn’t be here if I felt good about everything going on.”
The freefall has been swift after the Mets completed a 9-1 homestand in late April. They still have not won a road series this season and watched Perez and John Maine get shelled in successive starts at Florida before Niese left Sunday’s game in the third inning after aggravating his hamstring while fielding a bunt.
The manager has also juggled the lineup, moving Jose Reyes back to leadoff after an ill-fated experiment with Reyes batting third. Jeff Francoeur has become an automatic out at the plate and Bay, the team’s prized offseason acquisition, still has only one home run.