"Loosening up a clubhouse is a role that J.J. Putz takes seriously - and he has the whipped-cream pies to prove it.

Putz, however, sees a markedly different attitude with the Mets than on the downtrodden Mariners team he left behind. Putz, in fact, painted a grim picture of a house divided last year in Seattle, contributing to the historic flameout that ensued.

Putz has had nearly two weeks to soak up the Mets' atmosphere, having showed up in Port St. Lucie in early February to work out at the team facility and get acclimated.

"It's different. Big time," he said Sunday. "It's almost like there's a more relaxed feeling. They just know they're going to win. Where in Seattle, a lot of times, it was expectations, and a lot of times we didn't really know how to deal with that. Here, it's a given. We will win. Not 'we're supposed to win this year,' but: We will win."

Asked to analyze the Mariners' demise last year, from supposed contenders heading into the season to losers of 101 games, Putz first cited injuries - including his own, a rib-cage strain that landed him on the disabled list after the second game of the season. He later was sidelined with elbow problems.

"We got killed by injuries, too early," he said. "I don't think we ever fully recovered from that. We lost a ton of one-run games those first few weeks of the season. Like I said, we never recovered. There wasn't enough time."

But Putz also made it clear that he felt there was more to their collapse than just injuries. The Angels, for instance, had far more players get hurt than the Mariners and still won 100 games.

A poorly constructed roster and a long list of underperforming players would seem to be two major culprits. That's just me. But add Putz to the chorus of those who point to a dysfunctional clubhouse as tearing apart the Seattle ballclub. John McLaren and Bill Bavasi, you might recall, both alluded to the exact same thing upon their firing last June.

I started by asking Putz if all that was overblown. He shook his head and said no, and noted that there was an undercurrent of internal tension all season.

"There were just some guys that just aren't really team guys," he said. "There's a lot of guys that are team guys in there. There was definitely some butting heads on certain things. What the hell can you do? Some guys are just stubborn."

He refused to name any names. But his inference was strong.

"I'm not going to throw anyone under the bus," he said. "But I think everybody knows who everybody is talking about. It is what it is. Hopefully, it changes for them over there.""