Post by Fish Troll on Sept 16, 2008 19:49:25 GMT -5
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mets manager Jerry Manuel called a team meeting before the game Tuesday night against the Washington Nationals, hoping to help the team avoid a second consecutive September meltdown.
New York hold a half-game lead over Philadelphia in the NL East but have lost three of their last four. Last season, the Mets held a seven-game lead with 17 games left in the season but missed the playoffs.
Manuel closed the clubhouse for about 15 minutes before the game. He said he decided to call the meeting after a 7-2 loss to Washington on Monday night.
"Just touch base on where we are, what we need to do," Manuel said when asked the purpose of the meeting. "Just try to remind them of the good baseball we played for a long period of time and we've just got to keep playing good baseball."
Manuel was named the Mets' manager on June 17 after Willie Randolph -- who oversaw last year's historic collapse -- was fired.
"You know, a lot of the time, preachers preach to themselves instead of the congregation," Manuel said. "It's probably a good thing for me, kind of let them know where I am and how I feel about it. It'll probably be more for me than for them."
New York shortstop Jose Reyes said the meeting just reinforced what the players already knew.
"It was just to remind us where we are," he said. "Every game from now on is going to be real important for us."
New York hold a half-game lead over Philadelphia in the NL East but have lost three of their last four. Last season, the Mets held a seven-game lead with 17 games left in the season but missed the playoffs.
Manuel closed the clubhouse for about 15 minutes before the game. He said he decided to call the meeting after a 7-2 loss to Washington on Monday night.
"Just touch base on where we are, what we need to do," Manuel said when asked the purpose of the meeting. "Just try to remind them of the good baseball we played for a long period of time and we've just got to keep playing good baseball."
Manuel was named the Mets' manager on June 17 after Willie Randolph -- who oversaw last year's historic collapse -- was fired.
"You know, a lot of the time, preachers preach to themselves instead of the congregation," Manuel said. "It's probably a good thing for me, kind of let them know where I am and how I feel about it. It'll probably be more for me than for them."
New York shortstop Jose Reyes said the meeting just reinforced what the players already knew.
"It was just to remind us where we are," he said. "Every game from now on is going to be real important for us."
sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/baseball/mlb/09/16/bc.mets.meeting.ap/index.html
