When the owner files in, when there’s a public dispute between a pitcher and the organization, when the questions posed to the players are about the future of the manager’s employment, there is one place of refuge for the Mets.
“The field,” David Wright told The Post following Sunday night’s 6-4 Subway Series clincher over the Yankees. “For three hours, that’s our sanctuary where we get away from it all and focus on nothing but baseball.”
The focus this week is on the Phillies, but the larger issues continue to circle around the Mets, including the status of John Maine, who yesterday was diagnosed with rotator-cuff tendinitis after days of personally proclaiming long and loud and to anyone who would listen that he was not injured.
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This, of course, included his confrontation with manager Jerry Manuel in the dugout in Washington last Thursday after he was yanked from his start following five pitches. It was an episode that served neither man particularly well but one that apparently hasn’t had much of an impact within the clubhouse.
“I have three younger brothers and we get into fights all the time, but we have each other’s back,” Wright said. “That’s the way it is here with our team.
“There are always going to be a couple of situations where somebody is unhappy with somebody. There are always going to be disagreements, but a lot of the time they actually bring the group closer together.
“We’re all competitors. We’re not going to always agree with the way certain things are handled or the way certain decisions are made, but that doesn’t carry over onto the field.
“Whatever is going on with the organization, or in any of our personal lives, you leave that behind when you go onto the field,” Wright said. “That’s our time, when nothing can intrude.
“All the stuff that’s circling around, we understand that winning is the way to solve those issues. Winning is the only way we don’t have to keep answering all of these questions.”