Yep, that was Willie Randolph's blood. It was splattered all over the Phillies, even Charlie Manuel. Someone call 911. There's been a "Mets' Midnight Massacre," as the New York Post breathlessly reported on its Web site yesterday, and the Phils are as guilty as Mets general manager Omar Minaya and team owner Fred Wilpon and whoever else is pulling the strings in New York.

After weeks of leaks and hints, those classless, dysfunctional, crumbling Mets finally fired Randolph yesterday, announcing the move at the unseemly hour of 3:14 a.m. New York time, as if no one would notice. The Phillies noticed, and knew. They were as guilty as anyone. They cost Randolph his job.

The only real surprise was that it didn't happen earlier, say on Sept. 30, when the Phillies completed that monster comeback - and the Mets that colossal collapse - to win the NL East on the final day of the regular season. That would've been totally warranted. That would've been understandable. But to take Randolph on a cross-country trip to Los Angeles for a series against the Angels, only to fire him after a win? That indignity was unforgivable, even worse than if they had fired Randolph on Father's Day.

"Evidently, they weren't satisfied with the start they had this year, and that probably all started back last year when the expectation was high," Manuel said last night before his first-place club lost, 3-0, against Major League Baseball's gold standard.

"They always talked about how they were going to win, and even last year I remember they talked about - even with two or three games left - they said they were going to drink the champagne and they were going to enjoy it and things like that. But at the same time, you go out there, and the games are played on the field. That's just kind of the way it goes."

Suffice it to say, there was no remorse inside the Phillies' clubhouse, no sense of wrongdoing or regret for costing a good man his job, even in this dreadful economy. Shane Victorino saw the news when he logged into his Hotmail account yesterday morning. "That caught me off guard," he said.

It shouldn't have. Victorino had blood on his jersey last night, too.

Remember Sept. 12, when the Mets had that seven-game lead in the division? Randolph's record after that: 39-47. The Mets lost 12 of their last 17 games of 2007, in large part because the Phillies got hotter than the inside of a car parked in the summer sun. The pressure shift was so evident even Kathy Orr noticed. The Phils' three-game sweep at Shea could have axed Randolph right then. When the Phillies popped the bubbly instead of the Mets on that delirious Sunday, Randolph was all but done.

Only his was a prolonged death. The Mets flexed their muscle in the off-season by adding Johan Santana to their inflated payroll, and still they managed only 34 wins heading into last night. After the Phillies took control of first place June 1, New York lost eight of 14 games. The Mets have had no answers.

For the record, Minaya explained yesterday that he had to fire Randolph because the losses and the constant speculation about his job status were hurting the team. You think?

Asked whether he felt at all responsible for Randolph's demise, the Phillies' skipper was defiant.

"Absolutely not," Manuel said. "Absolutely not. If I had my way, we would've beat them by 20 games. Absolutely not. This is dog-eat-dog. This is a good chair to sit in. Let me tell you something, you can learn a whole lot: If I can beat you by 50 games, we'll do it, believe me."

Manuel's chair was quite comfortable yesterday, but that wasn't always so. Had things not turned out the way they did at the end of last season, Manuel could have been the one bloodied and battered. He knows it.

He also knows this about the Mets: "They've got some really good pieces, but they've also got some holes."

And this about his Phils: "I think if we play the best baseball, we're going to win our division, and I think we have a real good chance of winning our division."

Then there is this nugget worth savoring from the 64-year-old Manuel, who signed a two-year extension in October and obviously isn't feeling threatened in the least: "Hey, look, I'm happy managing the Phillies. I'm very happy. Really. I could do this another 10 or 15 years. I wouldn't have any problem doing it."

As for the Phillies, well, they can pat themselves on the back for this one. They're in first place with an offense that has shown glimpses of brilliance but, for a variety of reasons, has not totally come together yet, and their biggest rival is in turmoil. Nice going.

But, please, wash the uniforms. Those bloodstains are freaking me out.

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