All we know on the morning after Willie Randolph's vote of confidence is that the Mets are 79-83 in their last 162 games. But there is so much we don't know because Randolph internalizes so much. We don't know why Carlos Beltran sometimes plays as if he's lost, or why Jose Reyes pressures himself out of focus, or whether the Mets do the things they do because of overrated talent or underappreciation of the expectations that any big East Coast market presents. We don't know the extent of misunderstandings on different levels of Shea Stadium. We know only that the Wilpons and GM Omar Minaya do not want to blame everything on a man who has represented dignity and championships before this managing job, one who endured a 2007 collapse that has left him scarred by a public asterisk.We don't know what the Wilpons -- who once saw the Bobby Valentine/Steve Phillips chasm freeze-frame their franchise -- can do here, or whether a Pedro Martinez comeback will restore the real Jose Reyes and give the Mets back their swagger. We don't know what it's like to be a Latino player and hear that there are too many Latinos in the clubhouse. We don't know what it's like to wake up every day knowing the fans and the media are speculating that each day's game represents Randolph's future. Or what it's like for his family to sit in the stands, listening to the hailstorms of anger and ridicule. Most of us don't know the needles of subtle and sometimes overt racism and how it plays; we know it still permeates society, be it a presidential candidate's playing the "hard-working white" card to win at all costs, or the shock jocks of the electronic media. We know only that Randolph was forced to apologize after what crossed his mind squeaked out to Ian O'Connor of the Bergen Record.OK, Randolph let it out once since September. But similar words never came out of Ron Washington, who at the end of April was being hatcheted in Texas and has managed the rising Rangers to a 16-9 record in May, developing what may be long-term All-Stars his general manager acquired in center field and behind the plate.There clearly is something wrong with the Mets. Age is a problem in left field, at second base and at first base. Losing Ryan Church to post-concussion syndrome is crushing. Mike Pelfrey hasn't been able to do what the Angels, Red Sox and White Sox young starters have done, and the bullpen at times has been a minefield. Though the Mets should be better than the 79-83 team they've been over 162 games, we should know by now that they're clearly not more talented than the Braves and Phillies and even the Marlins. They're not so much better that it's as simple as replacing Randolph with Jerry Manuel or Jim Fregosi or Joey Cora.Some like to blame Carlos Delgado for not being Thurman Munson. Delgado will never be a baseball evangelist, just a fair, socially responsible man who never self-promotes. Recently, he apologized to Billy Wagner for Wagner's being left in a media storm (even though a family emergency forced Delgado to leave the park), he helped Randolph and Rick Peterson guide Ramon Castro through an experience with a new pitcher, and he pulled Reyes aside on the field during a pitching change to exact his focus. But somehow Delgado's bat speed and character have become blurred lines in the case of a very decent man.Maybe Minaya needs to blow something up, to do something such as trading Beltran, cash and pieces to a smaller media market and bringing back a package with Alex Rios and A.J. Burnett. Maybe Martinez will revitalize them. Minaya tried to sign David Eckstein last winter. Maybe a Scott Hatteberg, Kevin Millar or Ryan Freel would change the mix.In many ways, the Wilpons and Minaya all accepted some responsibility for what has happened since last May -- how they all rode shotgun down the avalanche in September, how nothing has changed. What they don't seem to know is what role Randolph's managing plays in all this or, at this point, who would be the right person to change it.Remember, last May when the Mets swept the Yankees, there were cries for the heads of Joe Torre and Brian Cashman, and the Yankees stormed back into the playoffs. White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf never wavered in his support for Ozzie Guillen when they finished last, and now they're in first. Washington was treated as though he lacked the necessities on May 1, and now the Rangers are one of the most interesting teams. It's likely the music for the Monday meeting at Shea was Bob Dylan's "Let's Keep It Between Us":

Backseat drivers don't know the feel of the wheel,
but they sure know how to make a fuss.

Tony La Russa knows that line because he used to have a sign with it in his office. Solutions with the gold stamp of accountability aren't as simple as clubhouse meetings or not bringing in Pedro Feliciano to face Luis Gonzalez. And no one on the Mets has called up WFAN with the solution.