* On a personal level it is natural to feel for Willie Randolph, but there is nothing new about firing managers in MLB. The media sensationalism around this story is ridiculous. Randolph lost to an inferior team in the NLCS in 2006, presided over an awful collapse in 2007, and had the clubhouse in total disarray in 2008. He had no support from his players and let the dissent grow unchecked. He had to be fired, but of course there is little news in that alone so the headlines had to make it more dramatic. Thank you Omar Minaya and the Wilpons for making this move – and thank you Andrea Peyser [“Race-card joker dug his own grave,” The Post and nypost.com, June 18] for shooting straight.

JOHN BENEDICT

Danbury, Conn.

* Omar Minaya has taken way too much flak from the press as a result of the perceived mishandling of Willie Randolph’s firing. Remember first that the Mets are a business (although the fans might not see it that way) and in business when a company or a division falters, someone usually gets fired, even when they alone are not solely responsible. Forget who made the decision and when: Minaya did the right thing by getting on a plane to tell Randolph himself, which was far better than his finding out from anyone else.

LARRY SCHACHTER

Demarest, N.J.

* Who really cares how Willie Randolph got fired? So what if he got on a plane to Los Angeles and wasn’t let go until the next night? Poor baby. Look, Randolph seems to be a great guy, but considering his lack of experience and his Yankee-bred sense of entitlement, he’s lucky he got hired in the first place.

IRV GOLDFARB

North Woodmere, N.Y.

* Willie Randolph plays the role of the victim to perfection. He was “shocked” to learn he was being fired? Really? How shocking can it be when his team has underperformed for over a year and there had been speculation about his dismissal for months prior. Randolph said his firing came “way, way too early.” Maybe he was fired too early in the morning on Tuesday, but it certainly was not too early in the season. If anything, it was probably too late.

MATT CHERRY

Manhattan

* Mike Vaccaro summed up the Mets’ treatment of Willie Randolph perfectly in his column on the firing [“Midnight massacre an Amazin’ act of cowardice,” nypost.com, June 17]. The Mets have proven, yet again, that they are a classless, second-rate organization. They’re an embarrassment to the city.

JOHN NARDELLA

Brooklyn

* Willie Randolph may not have been a great manager, but he was a decent manager, guiding the Mets to first-, second- and third-place finishes. As a result, he didn’t deserve to be fired so unceremoniously at three in the morning (EDT) in the midst of a West Coast road trip. Either fire him at the end of last season after the September collapse, or give him a chance this season to turn the team around. Firing him at this stage of the season not only demoralizes the Mets, but for all practical purposes ends their season. So firing him now isn’t fair to him or to the team.

KENNETH L. ZIMMERMAN

Huntington Beach, Calif.

* Willie Randolph, the manner in which you were fired was disgraceful. You are a class act and deserve better. I wish you the best in continuing your managerial career. Part of me hopes that the Yankees hire you back in some capacity. You belong in The Bronx with New York’s number one franchise. Keep your head up high, Willie. To Yankees fans you will always be a winner!

RAY WOJTUSIAK

East Hampton, N.Y.

* Come home to The Bronx, Willie Randolph. New York’s major league team wants you back.

ERIK LANDER

Brooklyn

What a Tiger!

* What we all considered to be an amazingly courageous performance as Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open while limping in pain turned out to be much more as we learned that he actually played with broken leg. No athlete has ever been more determined or proficient in what he does than Tiger. Nobody has ever made a bigger impact on their sport than he has. His absence for the balance of the year will have a tremendously negative effect on the PGA, and will diminish our chances of winning the Ryder Cup. Tiger, here’s hope for a speedy and full recovery.

ED MICHAELSON

Staten Island

* Here we go again. Now Tiger Woods is superman, all because he won the U.S. Open with a bad leg. Yes, he is a great golfer and it was a valiant effort but let’s not go overboard. Football and hockey players perform with excruciating, painful injuries all the time. Emmitt Smith played half a game with a separated shoulder. Jack Youngblood played two games, including a Super Bowl, with a broken leg. They didn’t walk around a golf course and swing a club a few times, they were being blocked and tackled by 275-pound monsters. Tiger put forth a great golf performance, but let’s stop with the ridiculous statements that he’s one of the greatest athletes in the world. LeBron James, LaDainian Tomlinson, Alex Ovechkin – these are athletes. You need to have certain skills to golf, bowl or play pool, but make no mistake, that doesn’t make you an athlete.

ROSS MANNINO

Nutley, N.J.

No Garden parity

* Kudos to the Garden, the Rangers and James Dolan. Their challenging of Gary Bettman and the NHL monopoly is well within their rights. There is no longer any autonomy for individual teams to market their club as they see fit. People have complained about the current ownership at MSG, but they have kept ticket prices at a much lower level than the rest of the pathetic, centrally-run NHL. To force the team to conform to league-wide uniformity would be borderline criminal. Go Mr. Dolan!

STEVEN FISH

Staten Island