"'Don't worry about it,' " [BILLY Wagner] said the manager told him. " 'You are the least of my worries.' "

If Wagner had been the least of [Willie Randolph]'s worries, then [Jerry Manuel] wouldn't be receiving his mail these days at the manager's office at Shea. For over a stretch of nine appearances from May 23 to June 12, when the Sword of Wilpon dangled over Randolph's neck as if he were a direct descendent of Marie Antoinette, Wagner blew four of eight save opportunities while allowing seven runs on 10 hits in nine innings.

Too bad Randolph didn't put his arm around Wagner the way Manuel did. If he had, maybe Wagner wouldn't have felt it necessary to say of Manuel (and, by extension, did not say of Randolph), "When you make a mistake, he says, 'It's OK, just continue to play fearless.'