Following last night’s loss to the Brewers, Jerry Manuel held a 28–minute, closed-door meeting with his team, which he simply described as a ‘family talk.’
According to Manuel, he was the only person to speak.
Manuel later talked to reporters, and explained:
“It was just to get things in order… We talked about a lot of things, private things, some things we saw that were out of order… I’ll give you this, the whole was to say that we have enough, we have enough, we’ve got enough in here to do what we need to get done, so let’s get it done… I think, if we play the game consistently, competing in the right way, executing the little things, it gives us a chance… I just don’t want us to feel sorry for ourselves. That’s the bottom line. You know, we gotta do what we’ve gotta do, we are who we are… I just don’t want us to feel sorry for ourselves…
“It’s hard not to (let the losing and negative outlook seep in), because that’s what we’re based on, the wins and losses. So when you lose as many as we have, in a row, in tough month, you have to check that negativity at the door. Sometimes that seeps in and then you have to address it… Again, the whole key to that is that when that seeps in, individualism seeps in, and we can ill afford that as a group. How we are designed now, we can ill afford individual things to seep in. Period.”
…from what i can gather, manuel basically told his team he does not want them to retreat, give up hope, shrug off teammates and start playing only for their own stats, while not working together as a team in an effort to win as the Mets… essentially, his talk to the team was to say stay positive, focus on what the team is able to do well, focus on the little things, work together, pick eachother up, and move forward as a team…
Manuel also said he will have the entire team travel together on an 11 a.m. bus to the stadium today.
In an interesting post to his blog for Newsday, David Lennon explains, “Barely anyone takes the bus, except for maybe the broadcast crew and support staff. Players usually like to get to the ballpark early — even for day games. Symbolism aside, it’s a bit extreme, but the Mets are in a tough spot”
Later in the night, David Wright was asked if he agrees with Manuel, in that the team has enough talent to ‘get it done,’ which he responded to by saying:
“I do. Hopefully everyone in here feels the same way, because, if they don’t, we don’t want them here. So, I think we have enough, but we have to do little things right, prepare the right way… We have to really do things and win based on preparation, based on doing the small things right. We can’t go out there and beat people purely with talent. We have to be aggressive and do things the right way… When things aren’t going right, obviously people look for reasons why. When you win, there’s no problems, there’s smiles on everyone’s faces. When you lose, you try to pinpoint different things. Like I said, just have to prohibit the individualism Jerry was talking about and go pick each other up… We have to try to have each other’s back, because it’s unrealistic to think we’re going to go out there and play perfect baseball every day.”
…it all sounds great, but it only matters what they do between the white lines… and, of course, i’ll be watching… Lets’ Go Mets…
{ 7 comments }
Like you said, it sounds great but it all depends if they can follow through.
Last 2 years, they always said the right thing in September, but they obviously never executed those glorious plans.
When I heard Jerry’s comments last night, I thought that his 180 degree turn around in attitude was for one reason. I think that since he he has been bordering on being critical the last couple days of the front office not making a move for a bat. I sure Omar came down on him and told him to change his message. I don’t think Jerry believes those statements anymore than the players do.
I don’t mean to point fingers, but I am finding it hard to figure out who the person who was acting “individualistic” (to use Jerry’s term).
I would hate to bring it up, but could it be Johan? I really hope it was not, because he is suppose to be a leader.
But timing and circumstance would be right if Johan had said something that Jerry took as Individualistic.
Who else would be worried about their own stats? Its really only the starting pitchers based on how the team has been playing.
Its not my goal to point fingers but I find it hard to believe it could be anyone else, and I would be quite disappointed to find out it was Johan. So basiscally, what I am saying is that I am confused.
It could be Johan, but I don’t think it’s about stats though. If it was, he’d very hyprocritical. I think he’s just so competitive that he was beyond frustrated last night. And I think it was more of an accumulation thing. We made stupid errors in every game for the last week. And last night, Johan had to deal with it firsthand.
Frustration, that’s all it is. Jerry is trying to bring the players back down, to calm them, and to focus more on the little things.
It hurts the team as a whole to get frustrated with a teammate.
Jerry has been the hypocrite here. His message last night was a complete 180 from the woe-is-me message he’s been putting out there for a month.
Completely unrelated, but Ron Darling is FANTASTIC as a studio analyst. He was right on the money last night, criticizing Jerry/Johan and even the way the organization has handled injuries. It seems like not being in the booth frees him up to be honest and more critical of the team. Like everyone else, I love GKR, but Darling is a huge upgrade over Ojeda in the studio.
A 28 minute meeting and Jerry was the only speaker.
If I had to listen to his wisdom uninterrupted for 28 minutes I don’t think I could do it without either breaking out into laughter or retching.
And this is really the larger issue, isn’t it? If you spend 30 minutes talking, you never hear anything. How can you walk out of a 30 minute monologue and say, “Yeah, boy, everybody sure understands now.” All you did was talk. At them.
I can’t figure Jerry out, and I fear neither can the players. I’m not there (and obviously have limited insight into the reality of the situation), but it seems to me like Jerry has lost these guys. He has certainly lost me. He talks out of both side of his mouth, then laughs about it. Maybe Jerry could appoint Tatis the player-manager.
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