Mets GM beans NY Daily News reporter*

New York Mets General Manager Omar Minaya announced today that he'd fired vice president of personnel Tony Bernazard for bad behavior and poor judgment, including an allegation that Bernazard had challenged minor leaguer players to a fight.

Then Minaya turned his attention to New York Daily News sports writer Adam Rubin and essentially accused him of biased reporting on the bullying incident to get Bernazard out of the way so he could get a job with the team.

Here's what the New York Times had to say about today's weird press conference:

Minaya said he had questioned the validity of recent articles about Bernazard’s behavior in The Daily News, which first reported the incident involving the minor leaguers. Minaya said the reporter who wrote those articles, Adam Rubin, had previously asked Minaya and other Mets executives about getting a job with the team in player personnel.

The implication from Minaya, although he did not directly state it, was that Rubin had a vested interest in making Bernazard look bad because he himself wanted that type of job.

Bernazard was close to Minaya, who hired him, and even closer to Jeff Wilpon, the team’s chief operating officer. But in what became an almost surreal event, the dismissal of Bernazard was pushed to the side at the news conference as Minaya pointed a finger at Rubin.

“I’m absolutely floored,” Rubin said afterward, as other reporters crowded him, seeking his reaction to Minaya’s comments. “I don’t know how I’m going to cover the team anymore.”

*Updated, 7/28: NYDN reporter Adam Rubin pens a column denying Minaya's charges, says his story was "solid."