Inside the slumping Mets’ extra-long hitters’ meeting and ‘psychology’ lesson

The daily hitters’ meeting that includes Mets staff and position players extended well past the normal 10-15 minutes on Tuesday as the group remained holed up in a small room within the cramped visitor’s clubhouse at Fenway Park.

To the reporters who cover the team on a daily basis, the length of the meeting, which extended beyond a half-hour, seemed odd.

Were players soul-searching as the team looked to emerge from its scoring doldrums? Was the veteran leadership trying to establish accountability for at-bats, as happened last season during a hitters’ meeting in Miami that Brandon Nimmo later credited for helping resurrect the lineup?

In this case, a mixture of levity and psychology accounted for the longer meeting.