Regardless, the Orioles sure didn't allow Perlozzo to twist in the wind the day after his last home game, as the Mets did with Randolph. Didn't let him fly cross-country with the team, ignorant of his fate, as the Mets did. Didn't let him manage the next game, as the Mets did.
Didn't send out the weaselly-est news release of all time two hours after the end of the game, in the wee hours back home, without telling the players and leaving them to find out from the stunned, awakened media the next morning, as the Mets did. Didn't conduct a news conference the next afternoon that presented general manager Omar Minaya as a combination hand puppet and human shield, unable even to keep his stories straight about how Randolph got the ax, as the Mets did.
Perlozzo wasn't happy about being fired by the Orioles. But chances are that as he compares how the Orioles got him with how the Mets got Randolph, he feels a lot better. Michael Corleone showed more sensitivity when he whacked Fredo.
In the year since the big shake-up, the Orioles have gained not just respectability, but also respect. It's hard not to make a connection between their record and the increasingly professional way they've handled their business. The cynical public has gone beyond less-alienated all the way to revitalized, possibly on the way to die-hard again.
Meanwhile, the Mets' boorishness has its longtime faithful bailing out. Two lines of reasoning emerge from the enraged fan base: 1) Randolph had to go, but he didn't have to be treated like garbage. 2) Losing stinks, but losing and being back-stabbing, cowardly jerks is unforgivable.
Organizations that skulk around in the middle of the night, sowing mistrust and harvesting bitterness, generally keep losing. The Mets deserve nothing less.
The Orioles, by turning away from that path a year ago and taking the high road instead, are also getting what they deserve.
david.steele@baltsun.com
Listen to David Steele Wednesdays at 9 a.m. on WNST (1570 AM).
