Collins delivers fiery annual team address

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Though Terry Collins vowed not to work himself into too much of a frenzy during his annual team address on Monday, the manager was clearly audible through a wall connecting the meeting room to Tradition Field's media center.

"He starts pretty calm, and just gets progressively louder and louder and more excited," third baseman David Wright said. "He made a point to say he wasn't going to get too fiery during the speech, but by the end of it he was yelling and screaming at us. It was the same old Terry. He has a passion and a fire for what he does, and I think that rubs off on the younger players."

Just because the Mets do not have a room filled with sizeable contracts and household names, Collins told his players, does not mean they are incapable.

"The one thing I don't want these guys ever to think if we get beat or we lose a game, it's because we're not supposed to win because we're not good enough," Collins said. "That's not true. These guys are in the [top] percentile of baseball players in this country, this world. They're good enough."