Note: The Horizontal Solution
In a report for MLB.com, Marty Noble quotes an anonymous Mets player as saying…
“We play at the temperature of the manager. I know Willie cares a lot, but he’s not showing it much.”
Meanwhile, in a follow-up column for MLB.com, Noble talks with other anonymous Mets and, according to Noble, they all feel ‘a talk, a speech, a meeting or a tirade’ is necessary to snap the team from it’s current funk.
…from what i understand, lo duca had suggested to some people last night that he may or may not address the team before today’s game, with the help of a few other players…
An anonymous player, as quoted by Noble…
“Only two guys in here have the ear of almost everyone: Moises and Carlos Delgado. Maybe Paulie can help.”
…all i keep hearing fans is how the team’s manager, Willie Randolph, needs to be that voice, that willie needs to get angry, and make a scene…the thing is, on a veteran team like the Mets have, it is the players who need to step up more than willie does…
…i talked with two former major leaguers last night, both of whom are considered to be among this organization’s most respected leaders from the past, and from what i can gather out of them, while willie should let the team know he still believes in them, and that he should make it known to them that it is crunch time and time to get it going, it’s guys like lo duca, and Billy Wagner, mo, maybe delgado, which is tough now because he’s hurt, and to a lesser extent even David Wright, not willie, who need to get in their teammates faces, it’s the players, not the manager, who must wake themselves up, get them to hustle on every pitch, get them to raise their chins, be strong, run hard on and off the field, get up off the bench, cheer for their teammates, and essentially lead their teammates to victory…it sounds childish, or like Little League…and it sounds beneath high-paid athletes…but it isn’t…
…in other words, they’re all in this together, and they need to act like it, because you win and die as a team…not as subordinates…
…as one of the former players told me:
‘i’ve been on a lot of teams, with good locker rooms and bad locker rooms, and to really have an impact, to get back to winning, it has to be a horizontal solution, not a vertical one.’…
