"The Meeting"

While the M's continue to play closer to their ability, the importance of "the meeting" appears to grow. The press & media has been pointing a finger directly at the team meeting while talking about the M's win streak.

When teams are playing poorly, there is absolutely nothing wrong with talking it out. To continue on without collectively acknowledging there is a problem is not healthy, as having a divisive clubhouse rarely allows the team to reach it's full potential. And with the current M's, the ceiling is not terribly high. Frankly, they need to come pretty close to maximizing their talent if they want to play at a .500 level this season.

But those of us that follow the team know full well meetings have been held before, and the team has continued to lose. Let's look at the past two weeks timeline-
1) M's win two series in a row before playing Oakland on the road
2) M's are swept in Oakland (0-3, historically almost expected)
3) "The Meeting"
4) M's come home and sweep San Diego
5) M's win first 2 of 3 from struggling Orioles

Looking at the timeline, we see the M's are:
-winning at home
-having troubles in Oakland

Looking at the numbers, we also know Ichiro is hitting singles and Sexson is starting to suck less than he did before. We also know Lopez is continuing to impress. To single out the meeting as being the difference between sweeping the Padres and being swept in Oakland is well.... borderline irresponsible.

"The Meeting?"

It's one very small factor among dozens of others.

But I guess it sells papers...