Quote: Not a lot of Effort or Desire
In the Daily News, Mike Lupica writes the following about the Mets, who are 14–12 and tied in the loss column for first place in the NL East:
“The team in baseball with the most to prove, the one that suffered the worst collapse in the history of their team and their city, acts too often as if it has nothing to prove…A year ago the Mets were the most entertaining team in baseball and too often now they seem like the opposite of that.”
According to the Lupica, ‘the Mets do not put teams away when they can; they do not blow teams away when they should; and occasionally there is a game like yesterday…when the Mets do not even bother to show up at all.’
Meanwhile, according to Mike Vaccaro in the New York Post, yesterday was, “a microcosm of what we’ve seen from the Mets for the better part of a full calendar year now.”
Wagner, speaking to reporters, about his teammates, following yesterday’s game:
“It’s easy to say, hey, you’re going to have games like this…But when there’s not a lot of effort and desire, that’s when you worry…I just think that today, we just didn’t show up. I’m not saying that Pittsburgh can’t beat the New York Mets. I’m just saying there’s no way we should have this lopsided of a score…There was no get-up-and-go, and that can’t happen. It’s something that can’t continue to linger…I guess it’s good to be in April and have a winning record and doing well in our division, but this isn’t something you want to transcend into May and June…these other teams are going to get better and we’ve got play with the same urgency and come out ready to play every day.”
…to me, it’s a matter of focus – not necessarily effort or desire…i feel like this team first lost focus last June, when they went through a 4–14 stretch…from that point forward they have looked like a different team than the one i watched from September 2005 through May 2007, after which they have played just over .500 baseball, all while looking like they have lost their confidence, or ‘swagger,’ looking as if they do not believe in themselves…
…i do not believe the answer is yelling and screaming…this is not the movie Major League…that is fiction…this is not…
…fact is, i do not know what the answer actually is…i think such a solution is difficult to suggest without actually knowing the personalities involved…but, i will say this, something isn’t right here…it feels like hesitation, or tension…that’s the sense i get from watching them play, talking with people who spend time in the clubhouse, watching and reading post-game quotes, etc…it’s like something is blocking their collective drain and it needs to be dislodged in order for these guys to ‘get going,’ as wagner says…i don’t know if they need someone to be fired, someone to be traded, released, acquired, promoted, etc…but, something needs to happen…maybe it’s as simple as a bit of team unity and a road trip to Arizona and Los Angeles…then again, maybe it’s more complicated than that…
…i’ve always been one to hold off on major moves until at least Memorial Day…the thing is, Memorial Day is now just a few weeks away…so, the clock is ticking, gentlemen…
