MILWAUKEE -- Before meeting with his free-falling team before Wednesday's game against the Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets manager Terry Collins shared with media members the message he hoped to convey.
"Just to relax," Collins said. "We're going through a tough time. Unfortunately, every team does it. We're disappointed where we're at. But you know what? It's where we are. So we've got to move on. We're still in the hunt. We win five or six in a row and all of a sudden things look a lot different. We can't get down about it. We've got to move forward."
The Mets (36-36) are on a season-high six-game losing streak and have dipped to .500 for the first time since April 12.
Collins said he also expects veteran players will speak pregame.
"They're going to have something to say, but they've got to know I'm behind them still," Collins said. "This isn't the end of the world."
As for the message to young players who may feel they are in over their head, the manager added, "That's why it's important for not just me, but for the veteran players to say, 'Hey, look, we've all been through this. It's going to be OK.' The one thing you don't want to do is have a young player ever think they don't belong here, because that's a bad feeling. ... They're here because they're good enough to play here. That's why they got called up. It's our job to reinforce that."
