Six games in a row will calm any clubhouse but this is not about the streak, it’s about how it happened. Manuel’s methods have transformed the Mets from an underachieving club to one with a sense of purpose and direction once again.

That was no easy task either. When Willie Randolph was in the manager’s office, the team seemed to become a 25 limo organization. Players weren’t tight with each other and as we saw in the last month of the Randolph regime, they started to turn on each other as well.

Billy Wagner criticized Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado. David Wright went into a shell and Jose Reyes forgot how to play baseball. All the while Randolph sat there and did nothing to provide a spark to his team. Instead, the erstwhile manager acted like a baseball Nero and fiddled while Shea burned.

It got so bad the Mets couldn’t even fire Randolph the right way. Although the midnight massacre in Anaheim didn’t sit well with the media and the fans back in New York, the result from the Jun. 17 is shaping up as the best decision the organization has made in a very long time.

Manuel seems to be the right man for the job.

First, the 54 year-old won over the media. With his southern drawl and folksy demeanor, Manuel is able to defuse any situation tossed at him. Many times the tough questions are met with a quick joke, usually at his own expense and then his great laugh takes over, which makes everyone in the old Jet locker room just smile.

What he does with the scribes and the talking heads is only part of his job. Manuel has also won over the players, which seemed impossible with this group. Already having a relationship with them as bench coach, the new manager is took it to a different level. He’s approachable, out in the clubhouse and the players respond to his hands on approach. Much like Tom Renney is with the New York Rangers, Manuel treats the players like men and not like someone paid to be their boss.

And when things go wrong, Manuel is there to take care of the problems. The manager has called for stretching and fundamental drills twice during his first three weeks. First after a bad loss against the Mariners, he has the pitchers doing Spring Training exercises the next day and then last Tuesday, he had the team work on a few things after the Phillies came back the night before, even though the Mets held on to win.

Yet, Manuel does it in a professional way where it works.

When he took the job, Manuel was thought to be a Randolph clone, who was too laid back for the rigors of New York. That’s also been proven wrong. He was tossed twice from games in situations where Randolph would never have gotten the thumb and he seems to stick to his convictions, especially if his players are in the right. He defended Carlos Beltran when Brian Runge’s strike zone seemed to be a little too big and took a bump from the umpire, causing an apology – and Runge’s eventual one game suspension – the next day and then on Monday, Manuel got tossed again when Ryan Howard’s fan interfered ball was overruled as a home run.

It’s foolish for a manager to go out looking for the thumb, but there are times where an early shower is warranted, which is something Randolph never learned.

But Manuel seems to have benefitted from his past experiences. His six years as the manager of the White Sox seem to have prepared him for this job and he has gone on record saying he matured as a manager from that experience.

And as New York is seeing now, it’s paying off on the field in Queens.

It’s more than his ability to help the Rangers win. It’s the personality he brings to the team. When he arrived, he automatically became the best quote in the locker room and his on the ice antics always was a good story to cover.

Avery was one of those players that transcended the ice and became more of a folk hero. His game, made for the big Broadway stage will now go down to Big D and hopefully enhance the Stars. There’s a 6 p.m. ET conference call, so I will be on it and will have more of Sean’s reaction here.

That doesn’t mean I don’t have an opinion.

If the reports are true, general manager Glen Sather is making a terrible mistake allowing both Sean Avery and Jaromir Jagr to walk. After covering the two players since the lockout, it crystal clear the Rangers need them in order to be a winner team in 2008-09.

First, let’s start with Avery and the facts are clear. When the Rangers acquired him back in Feb. 2007, they went from a lackluster team to a winning club and since then they went 50-23-13 with him in the lineup and 24-35-9 with the winger wearing a suit during the game. That alone should tell Sather the value Avery brings to the Rangers and how irreplaceable he really has become.

Sure, you have problems with No. 16. Opponents hate him, while some in the locker room may have grown tired of defending him all the time. But who cares? All great teams have players who get under opponents skin. It’s the mark of winning and most Blueshirts will overlook Avery’s antics and outside distractions to have a solid chance to win the Stanley Cup. The fact is Avery give the team that edge.

Without Avery, Sather will have to sign someone like him [Darcy Tucker?], yet there is no one on the market who is Avery’s age, skill and has his fine fashion sense. For what he’s asking, $4 million a year seems to be a bargain. They should pay the man and get it over with.

As for Jagr, it’s a little more complicated. At 36, his skills have diminished and there is a supposed huge offer on the table from don Omsk-Avangard of the Russian Continental League. Even with that, Jagr still wants to play for the Rangers if the price is right.

Without No. 68, the Rangers will have to get another first line forward and with only Marian Hossa out there on the market, Sather will have to pay the Penguins free agent or suffer maybe a crippling loss.

With Jagr, the Blueshirts will be pretty much still intact with the offense focusing around Scott Gomez, Chris Drury and No. 68 himself there shouldn’t be too much of an adjustment period next season, unlike the past one where both Drury and Gomez went through some sort of early season slump. [Drury’s was greater than Gomez’s].

Jagr is also a proud man, who seems to thrive when people are telling him he is finished or his team will struggle. As evidenced by the last month of the regular season and the first round against New Jersey, the future Hall of Famer carried the team on his back. Jagr can still be a central figure on the team.

Now Sather shouldn’t break the bank for Jagr. It would be silly to give him more than two seasons and if he walks because another team gives him a long term deal, then so be it. But based on what the right wing said when the team broke up at the end of the season, he only wants to be in the NHL for two more years and then return to the Czech Republic.

Yet, that’s years away and right now both Jagr and Avery are needed on Broadway. Unless something is done by Tuesday it may be a long season at MSG, much like the one I am experiencing now at Shea.

Playing on a team of stars in Colorado, he seems to be ready to be part of that atmosphere again in New York. He said he was ready to put the team first, even if it means less ice time for him. Drury said: “The deeper your lineup is, the more success you have.”  

As for locker room leadership, Drury thought about taking more of a back role as the season starts. He said when he was in Buffalo he had to immediately take the leadership because the roster was so young.

Much like Gomez, he also said he will wait and see where he is lined up with.

Finally he said he looks forward to playing with Brendan Shanahan because he “was an idol” of his growing up.

I will have more later today from practice. Feel free top leave a comment or two as I will be blogging from my Blackberry again today.

Also, you can check out NYSportsDay.com for an article about Henrik Lundqvist.

Talk soon….

The Irish Tenor is signing God Bless America before Game 2 tonight at the HSBC Arena.

Apparently, according to the Buffalo News, Tynan has adopted the team as his hockey outlet. Much like the Yankees, he sings at big events and even was at Nassau Coliseum last week for Game 3 of the Quarterfinals.

Actually, there more to it. The Sabres actually use Tynan for inspiration and has spoke to the team several times. When you walk into the Sabres locker room, there’s a place with this inscription:

“The will is inside you. You just have to bring it out….The team player gets the results. Not one man. If the team is together in thought and in spirit, then you have an army”  -Ronan Tynan, Dec 14, 2005

Maybe it will help the Sabres, and Tynan is an amazing man. BUT for my money I would take a John Amirante National Anthem anyday of the week.   

It’s funny, I was sitting in front of my TV just hoping it would not go into overtime. Not because it would end at 2 a.m., but because the reporter in me came out.

Everyone wants to see the miracle ending and yes, it’s much easier to cover a winning locker room compared to a losing one, but the last second comeback makes every reporter rip up a story and start anew.

I remember doing that last year for Game 7 of the NLCS, where I had a nice story written about Endy Chavez – called “Leaving Us Breathless” [Yes, only I can compare baseball to a girly song by the Corrs] – to tearing it up and penning “The Tears of Shea Stadium” [Unlike the daily guys, I have to write my own headlines and usually they come up bad]. It’s not fun. And sometimes your best work goes on the cutting room floor. Nobody wants that.

Anyway, no one wants to do twice the amount of work, so the miracle comeback is not conducive to easy journalism, especially for the daily guys who are on tight deadlines. That’s why Game 3 at the Garden was such a joy to cover.

Ok on to more pressing matters, like the ECSF. The Rangers open up on Wednesday in Buffalo. Here are the keys to the series for the Rangers:

1) Great goaltending: Yes, Henrik needs to outplay Ryan Miller. He needs to be as sharp as he was in the first round and may have to cover up defensive a mistake or two, which didn’t happen against the Thrashers.

2) Stay out of the box: Let’s face it, Atlanta’s power play was terrible, and even though, Buffalo’s isn’t that much better [They are ranked 17^th]. Their fast attack is not going to be conducive to the Rangers penalty kills. On the other hand, the Blueshirts can take advantage of the Sabres a man down, since Buffalo was ranked only 20^th on the penalty kill.

3) The third and fourth lines are key: Buffalo can roll four lines at even strength. Not saying the Rangers can match that, but with a pretty good third one with Matt Cullen, Petr Prucha and Ryan Callahan, the checking line of Blair Betts, Jed Ortmeyer and either Colton Orr or Ryan Hollweg will come into play. If they can get meaningful and productive minutes and not burn the top two lines, the Rangers have a chance.

Oh and I promised a prediction:

Rangers in 7