Instead, Amaro was seated in a basement conference room fielding questions about how it all went wrong and what he plans to do about it.
He covered a wide range of topics. The most intriguing revelation, though, came off the first blunt question, which was whether he still thinks the lineup was good enough to get the job done.
He does. He called it a "championship-caliber" lineup with "championship-caliber" players. Then he added this tickler:
"I think we have to go about it a little differently. And that's something I've talked to GG [hitting coach Greg Gross] and also to Charlie [Manuel] about. I think we just have to have a different mindset, maybe a different approach offensively than maybe we would have had in '08 or '09.
"I think it's a different ballclub. In that regard, I don't think we have nearly as much power. I think we're going to have to rely on having better at-bats, being better with two strikes, being better situational hitters. And those are things, frankly, we're going to have to change."
With that, an invisible gantlet seemed to have been thrown down. An unseen "or else" hung in the air. And was that a bull's-eye that just materialized on the backs of Manuel and Gross?
Later, Amaro returned to the subject. "If the guys who are on our club right now, under contract, if they don't make that adjustment, then we're going to have trouble. They're going to have to make adjustments. They're going to have to be committed to doing it," he said plainly.
"And I'm challenging Charlie and GG to help facilitate that."
Well, then . . .
While all this was going on, the manager was watching from his in-season residence in South Jersey. Maybe that's why he didn't seem surprised when his cellphone rang a little while later.
