Willie Randolph opens up after his recent firing as Mets manager  —  Three and a half years and 555 games after it began, my dream of bringing a championship to the New York Mets officially expired a few minutes after midnight in Suite 1602 of the Westin Hotel in Costa Mesa, Calif.

Blue Jays GM apologizes criticizing Reds' Dunn … J.P. Ricciardi, general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, apologized profusely for critical remarks he made about Cincinnati Reds outfielder Adam Dunn earlier this week, and indicated he is trying to reach out to Dunn …

Tavarez designated for assignment  —  Brewers want to hold onto reliever if he clears waivers  —  MILWAUKEE — Julian Tavarez was the odd man out when the Brewers activated reliever David Riske from the disabled list on Thursday.  —  Three weeks after he signed to plug a hole …

McLaren joins Bavasi on the Mariners' firing line  —  The players will apparently get one more chance.  —  John McLaren will not.  —  Three days after firing general manager Bill Bavasi, the Mariners on Thursday followed by giving McLaren the ax hours before the team left for a three-city interleague road trip.

Five ways for the Mets to stay alive  —  So now what?  —  On what has seemed like a roller-coaster ride to oblivion for these Mets, the only person whose season really is over is Willie Randolph.  And after Wednesday's comeback victory over the Angels, this team, now under the tutelage of Jerry Manuel …

SI Players Poll names Derek Jeter baseball's most overrated  —  The Yankees look up to Derek Jeter as their Captain, and fans across the country idolize him - but many players in the majors apparently don't believe the hype.  —  In a Sports Illustrated survey of 495 Major League Baseball players …

Bad sports  —  While old and new media are mending many fences, they're still squaring off in jockland  —  When, sometime in the future, historians trace the rise of the blog as the dominant journalistic form of the 21st century, they'll pay close attention to two recent developments:

The GM shopping list  —  • The all-stars (Brian Cashman, Theo Epstein, Kevin Towers): Cashman and Epstein are both in the last year of their respective contracts, so you never know.  Towers has done terrific work in San Diego for 13 seasons.  But even though he just signed an extension through 2010 …

Former New York favorites Johnson, Martinez to manage Futures  —  CBSSports.com wire reports  —  NEW YORK — Sticking with a New York theme, Davey Johnson and Tino Martinez will manage the Futures game next month as part of the All-Star festivities at Yankee Stadium.

Cintron stays longer at short  —  Reserve to get more time with Bynum slumping  —  While maintaining that struggling Freddie Bynum is still his shortstop, Orioles manager Dave Trembley said he plans to give more starts at the position to Alex Cintron.  —  Cintron started tonight …

Rays sign top overall pick Beckham  —  ST. PETERSBURG — Tim Beckham, the No. 1 overall pick in this year's First-Year Player Draft, signed a contract with the Rays on Thursday.  —  Beckham's signing bonus is worth a $6.15 million, the club announced.  —  Baseball America ranked Beckham …