Praise for Terry Collins in a Losing Effort

Blue moons, shooting stars, Haley’s Comet…these rare occurrences happen with greater regularity than admiration for the man being paid to manage the Mets, but Friday night’s game was one in which Terry Collins finally earned his bloated paycheck. 

Consider the circumstances in this game…the Mets were fresh off a dominating complete game victory by Zack Wheeler finally showing what he’s capable of doing.  However, they were facing Henderson Alvarez, a pitcher succeeding against the boys in blue to the tune of a 3-1 record and an ERA of just 2.62 with a WHIP of nearly 1.00.  This game had certain loss written all over it, particularly after seeing the familiar but quizzical decision to start Ruben Tejada (batting .196 for June) over Wilmer Flores. 

Dice-K Matsuzaka, one of Sandy Alderson’s rare wins in the bottom feeding approach to building a roster, was apparently healthy this time around and pitched his way into a surely tradable commodity, giving up just a single run over his 5.1 innings pitched.  He gave up hits, but kept the walks down to just 1 and struck out 4 along the way.  Edgin stepped in at a key moment to induce a key double play and although a single run deficit often feels insurmountable with this lackluster offense, it was at least a game that was still within reach.

Hope turned to the familiar depression in the 7^th inning when fielding miscues undermined Vic Black’s efforts to hold the game close and by the time the death by a thousand cuts was over, the Mets trailed by an Everest-like 3 runs. 

Then the improbable happened.  Rather than bring in Eric Campbell or Wilmer Flores or any other option to pinch hit, Terry Collins nominated Chris Young, the poster child for Met fans’ frustration.  I’m a few thousand miles from Florida yet I could hear the collective groans of the Mets fans watching.  Quickly Young went to his usual 0-2 count but somehow worked out a walk.   Score one for Collins.

Next up was Eric Young.  The best I thought would happen would be avoiding the double play given his great speed, but he surprised stat watchers when he got a hit, putting the runners at 1^st and 2^nd and delivering the tying run to the plate with the Mets’ few good hitters scheduled to appear next.    Like a broken clock that’s right twice a day, Eric Young delivered his second hit.  Score another one for Collins (though benching the .231 hitting Young, Jr. isn’t even in his playbook). 

While Daniel Murphy failed to deliver, David Wright followed up with a well stroked single to left that plated the first run, his second hit of the day.  Maybe he’s rediscovering his swing after all.

Curtis Granderson loaded the bases on a walk leading to a very curious decision by the lefty/righty obsessed Collins.  He lifted veteran Bobby Abreu against lefty Mike Dunn and instead sent up forgotten rookie Eric Campbell.  After working his count to 3-2, Campbell delivered a single to left bringing in the second and what appeared to be the game tying run, but Marcell Ozuna threw a bullet to Jarrod Saltalamacchia who effective (and legally) blocked the plate to tag out David Wright.  Still, score yet another one for the deservingly criticized manager.

In the 9^th inning Terry Collins honestly didn’t have a lot of options left but went with newly arrived Kirk Nieuwenhuis who delivered a double to put the tying run on with no one out.  Score a fourth point for the beleaguered manager.  Collins then went by the book and had Tejada sacrifice (successfully) to send the tying run to third where hopefully either Chris Young or Eric Young could drive him in.  Chris Young hit an apparent sacrifice fly that looked to be a no-brainer to score the run but it was not meant to be as Ozuna easily nailed Nieuwenhuis at the plate for a game-ending double play.  I give Collins (or the third base coach) another point because it was the right call to take the chance. 

So there we have it…five compliments to the man that I (and the majority of Mets fans) want to see relieved of his duties.  He lost, of course, but for once he made me proud of how he handled the team after filling out his confounding lineup card.   Unfortunately, until he solves the first part – playing the right starters – the in-game decisions won’t matter.