Three managers, three hot seats. And it's getting hotter:

Willie Randolph, Mets: Within this week's events Adventures with the Mets, which featured Randolph delivering a full-blown apology before Wednesday's game for having publicly wondered whether he was being held to a different standard than white managers, was this little nugget:

Willie Randolph added some heat of his own with his comments this week. (AP)

Now, while that's an Ollie Perez fastball down the middle just waiting to be clobbered when it comes to any number of jokes about the ineffectiveness of Randolph and his team, it's also completely telling about the current state of the Mets.

A big league manager reports directly to the general manager, yes.

But it's so unusual for a manager to pick up the telephone and call the owner, you'd think the skipper would have enough clout to get through the company voice mail system when he does.

Ominous sign in an organization that still hasn't shaken the drastic fallout of last September's epic collapse.

Randolph has had the backing of GM Omar Minaya throughout, but given the malaise enveloping his team -- poor clutch at-bats, lazy baserunning, shoddy defense, the general lack of inspiration -- this cannot go on much longer before some harsh changes are implemented.

Personally, I find it interesting that Randolph's comments came not much more than a week after the West Virginia presidential primary, in which an appalling one in five voters said in exit polls race influenced their decision. Some who were interviewed were very specific in saying they would not vote for a black man.

There is no question that we're still not nearly as advanced as we should be in this country when it comes to racial relations and how we sometimes view things -- especially in certain pockets on this land. But whether or not Randolph's perception concerning his own situation has even a hint of validity -- and I haven't watched SNY enough to know, but it's difficult to believe the Mets' own cable channel would carry racist undertones -- it was poor timing to bring it up at all while his club is, by unanimous consent, stuck somewhere between badly underachieving and just not very good.

Best replacement candidate (for now) if Randolph is fired: Jerry Manuel, who managed the Chicago White Sox from 1998-2003.

Ned Yost, Brewers: The Brewers angrily spent their off day in Pittsburgh this week attempting to diffuse a blog report that Yost would be fired on the off day (Monday) and replaced by bench coach Ted Simmons. That Yost remains employed and was managing the Brewers-Pirates series live and in person not only was a good thing for him personally, it also pretty much was a sad commentary on the recklessness of what passes in some quarters as "journalism" in today's new media.

There is no question that Yost will not be long for his job if he doesn't get things turned around -- likely sooner, rather than later. Eventually, it may even turn out that Badger Blogger (Badgerblogger.com) was right on Yost but wrong on the day.

Yost and his staff have been subject of high praise in the past. But things did not go well for the Brewers down the stretch last summer, and they especially did not go well for the manager. In the final several days, Yost was ejected in three games and suspended for another.

This year's Brewers have been particularly disappointing and, making it worse is the fact that expectations for this team coming into the season were higher than they've been for more than a decade. That was evident in the one-year, $10 million deal GM Doug Melvin bestowed on closer Eric Gagne -- a deal that is on the verge of backfiring, given Gagne's five blown saves and flight back to Milwaukee this week to have his sore shoulder examined.

Yost was livid over the premature blog report of his demise, admonishing Milwaukee reporters for even giving it credence by picking it up. His anger was perfectly understandable. It's a wholly different world today, the 24/7 news cycle has a voracious appetite and standards for accuracy aren't always met (or they're set lower than they once were). It's a system that managers even as recent as Sparky Anderson and Tom Kelly never had to concern themselves with.

But you play the hand you're dealt, and Yost is a big boy. Somehow, Yost and hitting coach Jim Skaalen must figure out how to ignite a dormant offense. The Brewers at midweek ranked 12th in the NL in runs scored, 13th in on-base percentage and 14th in batting average. Prince Fielder has only six homers. Second baseman Rickie Weeks is batting just .206. Mike Cameron is at .228.

Things don't begin to turn, those won't only be rumors about a pink slip. The Brewers will have no choice but to decide that if they want to move to that next level, it will have to be with a different manager.

Best replacement candidate (for now) if Yost is fired: Third-base coach Dale Sveum. While Simmons was the rumor du jour, and while everybody in the industry agrees he has one of the most brilliant minds in the game, he's worked in front office and scouting capacities since 1988. This is his first season as a coach. The Brewers likely would be better off promoting the respected Sveum -- even if it's only interim at first -- and continuing to use Simmons' smarts as bench coach. He does have managing experience in the Pittsburgh system.

John McLaren, Mariners: Seattle has major problems, not the least of which is the fact that McLaren's club was expected to contend after acquiring ace Erik Bedard from Baltimore over the winter. Instead of contending, however, the wheels have come off. The Mariners had lost 15 of their past 20 games through midweek to battle San Diego for the worst record in baseball.

Worse, the pitching staff is in the midst of an uprising against catcher Kenji Johjima, who is not calling games to the liking of either Bedard or Jarrod Washburn. So McLaren paired Jamie Burke with Washburn in Detroit Wednesday (and Washburn still was KO'd in the third inning), and the manager said he likely will use Burke behind the plate most of the time for Bedard's starts as well.

The numbers with Bedard pitching are dramatic: With Burke behind the plate, Bedard is 1-0 with a 1.67 ERA in three starts. With Johjima catching, Bedard is 2-2 with a 6.92 ERA in four starts.

Johjima's crime, according to the pitchers, has been calling games too much like catchers do in Japan -- specifically, asking for the changeup and breaking pitches an inordinate amount of the time.

The club's woeful performance reflects not only poorly on the manager, however, but also upon the organization's actions in general: Johjima earlier this season signed a three-year, $24 million contract extension. The fact that he's also hitting only .222 with just two homers and 12 RBI, in addition to his struggles communicating with the pitchers, currently make that a questionable investment at best, and possibly an outrageously poor decision at worst. Especially with catcher Jeff Clement, the club's first-round pick in 2005, inching closer to the majors (though he hit poorly in his recent promotion, .167, and was shipped back to Triple-A Tacoma last weekend).

Best replacement candidate (for now) if McLaren is fired: Bench coach Jim Riggleman. He interviewed for the Mariners' managing job before being named to the coaching staff, and he's previously piloted San Diego and the Chicago Cubs. If the club does decide to make a move, Riggleman should be able to hold things together while ownership decides on the next direction.

More hops

•  From the outhouse to the ... penthouse? Not quite yet, but it was only a month ago when Texas manager Ron Washington was hot on the griddle coming off of a brutal trip to Toronto, Boston and Detroit during which the Rangers lost seven in a row and compiled a 7.95 ERA. Club president Nolan Ryan and GM Jon Daniels even met and declined to promise anything about Washington's future. Since then? The Rangers have gone 16-9, actually got back to .500 a few days ago (22-22) and, for now, at least, the vultures have moved on (as you've just read). Sidney Ponson -- Sidney Ponson! -- pitched Texas' third complete game of the season the other night. Last year, the Rangers had zero complete games. The Airborne Rangers also have scored 10 or more runs in a game this season a major league leading nine times.

•  If this were Stephen Colbert's show, the Word of the Day would be "accountability." Big, meaningful word, and it's come into play in a couple of crucial situations in recent days. One, of course, was the erroneous Badger Blog item reporting that Milwaukee's Yost would be relieved of his duties by the end of this past Monday's off day. And as the Mets circle the drain and attempt to avoid going down, closer Billy Wagner last week all but said point blank that teammates Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado weren't accountable after they ducked out quickly following another loss, leaving Wagner to attempt to explain the club's futility again.

•  Perfect. I barely finish writing that "Cleveland's incredible run of starting pitching is the first sign that anybody is capable of taking control of the AL Central" and the White Sox embark on an eight-game winning streak with Thursday's triumph. Seriously, I wrote the Cleveland words last Thursday -- same day Ozzie Guillen's team won its second of what now is seven in a row, and counting.

•  A big reason St. Louis continues playing above preseason expectations is the Cardinals' better-than-expected pitching. The Cardinals rotation, buoyed by the spring training signing of right-hander Kyle Lohse, currently ranks fourth among NL starters with a 3.88 ERA. Lohse is 3-2 with a 4.71 ERA and proudly holds the title of Key Move of the Season (So Far) from slugger Albert Pujols. "Best move of the offseason, and it came after spring training started," Pujols says.

•  What really impressed the Cards is what kind of shape Lohse was in when he reported following his mid-March signing. "I was working out, doing my thing to be as prepared as I could be," Lohse says. "I didn't want to be a week or two weeks behind everybody." Lohse told the Cardinals he was ready to go the day he arrived, but being that they had been in camp for a month and that Lohse was working out on his own ... "We didn't believe it," manager Tony La Russa says. "He said he had thrown some simulated games at local colleges." So Lohse threw a bullpen session just so pitching coach Dave Duncan could watch him, then he threw a simulated game, and the Cardinals soon learned Lohse wasn't kidding. "He did a lot of working out by himself," La Russa says. "A lot of guys don't."

•  Closer Jason Isringhausen may have had his share of shaky moments so far while saving 11 games (he's currently on the disabled list with a right-hand laceration), but the Cardinals bullpen leads the majors with 42 holds. Rookie Kyle McClellan leads the majors at 13, and Ryan Franklin is second at 12. Part of that, though, has to do with the way La Russa maneuvers relievers in and out of games. They also lead the majors with 12 blown saves.

•  Though the Cubs continue to lead the NL Central, the Cardinals were only two games back at midweek. Ask Pujols, and he knows exactly why: "One thing I like about this team is the way we bounce back. When we lose a game, we're back the next day. I think that's the biggest difference from last year's team to this year's. Last year, it sometimes took us three or four games to bounce back."

•  Pujols was shaken when his hard line drive smashed into San Diego pitcher Chris Young's nose. As Young was being attended to, Pujols and San Diego first baseman Adrian Gonzalez said a few prayers together in the infield. In particular, Pujols was having flashbacks to the time when former teammate Juan Encarnacion was struck in the face with a baseball during batting practice a couple of years ago. The broken eye socket effectively ended his career. "It was a pretty tough night, man," Pujols said following Wednesday night's game. "After that, I couldn't concentrate on my other at-bats. ... It's something you don't want to happen to anyone."

•  Yes, that's journeyman Darrell Rasner that moved to 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA in beating Baltimore on Wednesday night, while Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy remained winless and the Yankees began the process of stretching out Joba Chamberlain for conversion into the rotation as soon as he's ready. Rasner, a non-roster invitee to camp this spring, was claimed off of waivers from the Washington Nationals two Februaries ago. He's 27 and a right-hander that throws a fastball, curve, cut fastball and changeup. "I love pitching under the radar," Rasner says. "I love being able to do my job and just go pitch." That's what manager Joe Girardi has come to appreciate, too. "What I like is, he hasn't changed anything," Girardi says. "He pitches the way he pitches. He's the same guy."

•  Regarding Joba to the rotation, it's not in reaction to the struggles this season of Hughes and Kennedy. Rather, the Yankees started the season intending to re-make Chamberlain into a starter while looking for a way to limit him to around 150 innings pitched. They figured a delayed entry into the rotation would do it.

•  While the Marlins have signed veteran outfielder Jacque Jones, they don't plan to install him as their everyday center fielder. Manager Fredi Gonzalez remains partial to Cody Ross. The Marlins want Jones not only as a guy who's been around the block and can spot start and play center field some days, but also as a guy who can offer advice and support for a very young team.

•  Don't ask Detroit manager Jim Leyland to pick a winner in the Detroit-Pittsburgh Stanley Cup Finals. While he works in Detroit, he's lived in Pittsburgh for years. But being that Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch also owns the Tigers and signs Leyland's checks, what we do know is that he sure could never root openly for the Penguins.