Having just been rewarded with a new two-year contract, New York Mets manager Jerry Manuel let it be known that things were gonna change in Flushing next year. Manuel specifically charged that, too often in big spots, his team emphasized personal glory over the good of the club. When spring training rolls around in a few months Manuel will make sure that attitude shifts, though given the Mets second-straight September collapse, he didn’t make any headway with the “team first” mantra this season.

Manuel, who was 55-38 after taking over for the fired Willie Randolph on June 17, said too many of the team’s core players emphasized their own statistics rather than making simpler, more fundamental plays.

That selfishness can make the difference in a team reaching the playoffs, Manuel said, and not sitting at home as the Mets are now doing after back-to-back choke jobs on the final day of the season.

“We have to get to the point where, when stuff is on the line, the correct thing is second nature for us and not a struggle for us,” Manuel said. “That’s the difference between a good year and a great year.”

Mets fans might find it insulting for Manuel, or anyone else, to imply that 2008 was a “good year.” This team was expected to win the division, if not compete for the pennant, only got better with the off-season addition of Johan Santana, and was in the driver’s seat for both the division title and NL wild card at the start of September. Maybe the “rah-rah” stuff, which Manuel apparently didn’t bother to try out in his interim season, will work next year. Perhaps he should ask his bullpen to get a guy out once in a while, rather than waste a top-notch Santana start with a ninth inning failure. For the good of the team, of course.

JERRY: SELFISHNESS WON’T BE TOLERATED [NY Post]
Image [USA Today]