PORT ST. LUCIE — The swagger is in place.
That is a good thing. The first step to success is believing in yourself and your teammates.
“I want a little swagger, I want a little swagger in the step,’’ Terry Collins said Sunday as he explained the Metsamorphosis he wants his team to go through this season.
“It’s time,’’ the Mets manager said. “We think we’ve put some pieces together. Now we’ve got to go play. Talk is cheap. Now we’ve got to get it done on the field, but there is no reason why, if we execute, that we shouldn’t be playing in the postseason.’’
Embrace October expectations. This is not last year’s 90-win challenge.
This has much more substance.
“We knew we had to fix a couple things,’’ Collins said. “I think we fixed them. It’s going to take execution and thinking about the team. Don’t worry about your numbers, just worry about where the L and W are.’’
There is much more work to be done, and that is what the Mets are trying to start to accomplish this spring training. On and off the field they are attempting to become a playoff team, something they haven’t been since 2006.
Asked to pick one word that best describes what he has seen so far in his first Mets camp, veteran outfielder Michael Cuddyer answered quickly.
“Unity,’’ he said.
“One of the things we all had in common, all the winning teams,’’ Cuddyer said, “is that we were all close. We were close-knit and had the same beliefs on how to accomplish things, too. If you have guys on a different page, it usually doesn’t work out.’’
To that end, the Mets were getting together as a team Sunday night as well, but instead of last year’s Sunday spring-training bowling nights they decided to make it more of an event where teammates can talk to one another, yes, even some baseball talk — and not a public night of autographs, this was going to be a night of playing cards and dominoes in a private area instead of a bowling alley.
Collins wants his team to come together as much as possible now. Dealing with high expectations will be “something we will have to deal with during the season,’’ he said.
That’s a lot better than dealing with no expectations.
“Michael Cuddyer has been in the playoffs, he knows what it takes, he can handle the mental side,’’ Collins said. “David [Wright] has played in them, [Curtis Granderson] has been in the playoffs. We have some quality people in that clubhouse who have been in the playoffs.
“There’s going to be a week where things aren’t going good,’’ Collins said of hard times during the season.
That could be the first week of the season, when the Mets open against the Nationals and that excellent pitching staff.
“But if you put guys in the clubhouse who know how to get through those tough times it makes it easier to get through them,’’ Collins said. “It’s New York, there are going to be some times where you are going to get blasted. It’s the big leagues, deal with it.’’
A lot of the Mets’ swagger is because Matt Harvey is back leading the rotation.
“Even though he has a year-and-a-half experience in the big leagues, he acts like he’s got six,’’ Collins said. “That’s very, very valuable.
“The camaraderie of the guys in the clubhouse is the best I’ve seen since I’ve been here.’’
Collins said the Mets are going to try to pick up their level of intensity from the start in spring-training games, and added the pitching rotation is so deep, if “someone goes down, we may not even miss a beat. We might even get a guy who is better. We have some pieces.’’
It’s a question of putting the pieces together.
Let the swagger and unity continue.