Omar Minaya: Coward, weasel, disgrace

The fish stinks from the head down, as my ancestors used to say. In this case, the head is Omar Minaya's -- and it obviously should roll.

The gall of this bumbling halfwit is unbelievable. If the Wilpons tolerate it, they are no better than James Dolan or Jerry Jones.

"What matters is what this team does on the field," Keith Hernandez said on SNY before tonight's game at CitiField against the Colorado Rockies.

Sorry, Mex. You are one of my all-time heroes, but in your heart of hearts, you know that organizations win top to bottom -- and vice versa.

This organization has been defined by callousness, obnoxiousness, unprofessionalism -- and all of it in the front office. I'm just waiting for someone in management to squirt bleach on someone.

Minaya more or less produced the equivalent: Out of left field (literally), he mentioned that Adam Rubin, the Daily News writer who first broke the story about the trouble that Tony Bernazard brought on the organization, had been lobbying for a player development job with the Mets -- as if that had anything to do with Bernazard's intolerable behavior.

This is only the latest stink bomb lit by the Wilpons' so-called brain trust.

A new ballpark doesn't make the stench of how poorly they treated Willie Randolph go away. Nor does it excuse Minaya's stubbornness to stand pat while star after star went down this year.

The Phillies weren't going to keep losing forever. Yet Minaya, whose team was within striking distance before the All-Star Game, decided the best move in the worst division in baseball was no move. Then he inexplicably dumped Ryan Church -- by all accounts, a solid citizen inside and out of the clubhouse -- and called it a season.

Same as he did by signing Gary Sheffield, when the Mets clearly needed some serious supporting bats, just in case Carlos Delgado's 2008 season was a last hurrah.

Those are moves made and not made that directly affect what happens "on the field," Mex. In and of themselves, they're enough to raise questions about Minaya's performance.

But his unprofessional, cowardly behavior is the tipping point.

Take your pick: Omar is either arrogant or stupid. Either way, he needs to go -- now.

He's done nothing to make this team better. The Mets pulled all-time chokes two years in a row. And now, with a slim chance to hold onto a season heading south, they've turned into the Brewers -- decent enough to make you wonder, but so far behind in talent that only a miracle could have them playing meaningful games come September.

It's a shame, too. For the most part, this is a group of solid citizens playing as hard as they can for as long as they can. Couldn't say that earlier in the season, when Reyes was hot-dogging and Castillo refused to charge anything.

Minaya is not only a poor general manager. He's a lousy excuse for a human being. He proved it today.

The facts told him he had to unload a lower-level operative who lacked self-control. So instead of simply issuing a news release and moving on, Minaya held a news conference. There, he admitted that he was surprised by some of the things his human resources department told hm that his boy Tony did.

Far worse, he lost control himself -- basically dropping a popup that was designed to put this incident in the books. And also, by the way, cementing a reputation as someone who will NEVER get a job in major league baseball again.

You know what they say: If it walks like a jerk and talks like a jerk....