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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

Chipper Jones' average falls below .400  —  Blanco wants bat leadoff  —  Arlington, Texas — Chipper Jones asked what the date was Thursday afternoon after the Braves' loss to the Rangers, while he was filling out a check to tip the Texas visiting clubhouse attendants.  —  He might remember it for a while now, actually.

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:

Yanks' power mustache  —  But Kevin Long, the Yankees' hitting coach, told Giambi each day that he was doing nothing wrong.  Long studied every one of Giambi's at-bats on video from when the Yankee first baseman was hitting .150 in May and thought he was just mired in bad luck.

Mariners dismiss manager McLaren  —  Riggleman named replacement for remainder of season  —  SEATTLE — The so-called dream job that landed in John McLaren's lap almost one year ago ended on Thursday morning when he became the latest victim to the Mariners' nightmarish season.

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 …

Sox, Cubs fans get ready for Wrigley rumble  —  Judging by the numbers, this weekend's crosstown clash between the Cubs and White Sox should be a monster: Both teams stand atop their divisions, their TV ratings are up substantially and tickets to the series at Wrigley Field are fetching unprecedented prices.

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 …