By LUKE DENNEHY and ED ROBINSON

June 24, 2008

Mets fans think new manager Jerry Manuel stepped in it when he compared them to fertilizer.

"That's garbage right there, what he said. We want Willie back," said teed-off ticket holder Jeff Spiletic of Huntington, L.I.

Spiletic and other members of the Flushing faithful unloaded their ire on the new Mets skipper last night when he returned to Shea Stadium for the first time since taking over for Willie Randolph last week.

Manuel's loose lips got him into trouble on Sunday when he took Mets fans to task for booing underachieving reliever Aaron Heilman.

"It's very, very fertile ground for growth in Shea Stadium," he said.

"It's fertile ground for a team's growth and development. Sometimes, fertile ground has fertilizer."

But Shea fans weren't happy when Manuel's quotes hit the fan.

"We come out here game after game through all the highs and lows and to hear something like that is an insult," said Jamed Scalada, 24, of Manhattan.

Rich D'Agostino of Queens, said "the comments are not justified.

"I think we have had every right to be [ticked] off at Heilman."

Manuel tried to explain his saying that, "fertilizer is a good thing," and some fans were willing to cut the newcomer some slack.

"He probably shouldn't have said it, because that term is offensive to fans," said Ann Wright, 24, of Brooklyn.

"But I can see his point. It's not the right thing to do to boo your own players."