The Mets are currently 8-11; certainly not where they wanted to be at this point. However badly Mets fans are panicking, there is none of that behavior allowed in the Mets clubhouse. That is a rule established by the Mets’ leader Terry Collins.
“You look at this team, what they did last year, guess what, you’ve got to do it again,’’ Collins told Kevin Kernan of the New York Post. “That’s big league baseball. The Yankees got off to a slow start and now they went on a run. As good as the Nationals are, as good as the Cubs are – the Cubs won a World Series, they came in here and lost four straight last year, they got knocked around pretty good.”
“There is going to be a time when they lose six out of eight, it’s just the nature of the game,” Collins continued. “It’s not that you are not trying. Hey look, you run into a team that’s hot, you get beat sometimes. It’s a tough time, but we will get through it.”
Because of Monday’s rainout, the Mets will have had two consecutive days off after losing to the Nationals. Neil Walker, who had a two-run home run in Sunday’s contest, spoke with Kernan about Collins.
“He instills confidence in us,’’ Walker said of Collins. “Really, with how things went last year with injuries and everything, he never panicked. Players can tell when a manager panics. We never sensed that last year in him, and we haven’t sensed that this year.’’
“With the guys that are in that clubhouse, you can’t show panic,’’ Collins said. “They are winners. They have been there before. They’ve slumped before and they’ve all been through this. Now you gotta have some patience.”
Jay Bruce also weighed in on the situation, telling Mike Puma, also of the New York Post, “It’s easy to push the panic button, it’s easy to say, ‘Oh, shit,’ but we are too good for that. We are a legitimate World Series contender, I believe, and I wouldn’t just say that. This is a team that is stacked. We just have to be healthy and play well.”
It is important that while the team is not panicking, us fans should not either. It is easier said than done, but we must trust that these professional ballplayers will be able to do their jobs and earn their money, thus helping the Mets win ballgames and make it less embarrassing for me to wear a Mets t-shirt to class.
The reality of the situation is that the Mets are a team that should be playing well but have not been. These two days off could do wonders for them, as well as getting to face a relatively weak team in the Braves. Listen to Terry Collins, Neil Walker, and Jay Bruce. Sandy Alderson built a good team, the wins will come!
