Darryl Strawberry knows what it’s like to be part of a talented Mets team.
But the current Mets, loaded with talent and still under .500 after last night’s 9-5 loss to the Diamondbacks, have one big difference between Stawberry’s teams of the 1980s.
“The bottom line with us [the teams of the ’80s] was that we didn’t care,” Strawberry said yesterday while in New York signing the recently released DVD commemorating the six best games played at Shea Stadium.
“We didn’t care what was said about us; good, bad or indifferent. I think sometimes [the current team] has trouble dealing with the pressure that comes with playing in New York.”
Never was that pressure so measurable as it was two weeks ago, when manager Willie Randolph, GM Omar Minaya and principal owner Jeff Wilpon met to discuss the future of the team, 58 games into a 162-game season. Randolph’s job was in jeopardy and his skills as a manager were in question.
At the time the Mets were 23-25. They now sit at 30-33, 7 ½ games behind the Phillies in the NL East.
“It’s unfair for Willie because Willie has been nothing but a winner,” Strawberry said of the outside pressure to fire Randolph. “The real question is whether the team is taking heed to what he’s saying.”
One place where Strawberry finds common ground between his teams (winners of a World Series in ’86 and a NL East crown in ’88) and the current squad (most famous for blowing a 7-game division lead with 17 games left last year) is the influence of big personalities.
In Strawberry’s mind, his teams succeeded because they had a swagger that was mostly beneficial.
“When teams came into Shea, they knew we were all business,” the 46-year-old said.
But big personality plus big talent does not equal wins. It takes something else, something Strawberry thinks his teams had and this team is struggling to find.
“The talent is there with this group, no question,” Strawberry said. “The curiosity is, how much do they want it? Everyone is puzzled, including former players. There’s a lot of questions about if it’s going to happen for them.”
Questions abound for the Mets, and one that is hitting this team particularly hard is the level of their dedication.
“It takes a special group to win,” Strawberry said. “They have it. You can see it from time to time. The whole thing is you have to see it on a consistent basis.”