Mets’ manager Terry Collins will have all off-season to ponder his late game pitching moves for the World Series. Like most managers, it comes down to who do you trust out of your bullpen. For Collins, it was Familia and his starters who weren’t starting in this series (Colon, Niese) and Reed who melted down last night. Joe Torre was always very clear about his go to guys but truth be told, he had many more options than Collins.
Surely, Grady Little is smiling somewhere this morning. He had to deal with Pedro in 2003 in the ALCS 7th game vs. the Yankees just as Collins had to deal with Harvey last night. SU says you can’t fault him for putting Harvey out there for the 9th inning given Familia’s track record in the series thus far. But after the lead-off walk, that was the time to make the move. In the end, that was his mistake and as mistakes go, not the worst of all time. He kept him in one batter too long.
SU read on Twitter this morning that the Royals advance scouting report said Duda should be challenged on his throwing, and that Murphy’s fielding would come into play at some point. Good scouting.
When you play close, low scoring games, it’s going to come down to 1 or 2 plays late. If you have Mariano Rivera in your bullpen, life is easy. If you have no bridge to the closer, every game is stressful and unscripted.
The Royals were the better team. After watching the Yankees all season, it was refreshing to see hitters move runners along with ground outs. What a concept! They are not a dynasty but it’s fun to watch a bunch of younger players play as a team with a lot of passion. Free agency will break them up as it does all teams these days. Enjoy them for the moment.
Met fans should be ecstatic for their success this season and strong 2nd half. They will now have some interesting moves and decisions to make with the payroll – as do the Yankees of course. We look forward to the hot stove season to come.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
If you can’t put more than 2 runs on the board all the other deficiencies become even more pronounced. Besides one offensive outburst in game 3 the Met’s bats were mostly quiet against a mediocre starting pitcher rotation. There is one word which defines KC…. and that is opportunistic…. with relentless coming in second place.
You can’t overhaul a team based on a small sample… If that was the case then the Cubs would retool their entire team after being swept. The Met’s needs a solid bridge between their Starters and Familia. If they can upgrade at Shortstop that might be looked at as well. The Met’s have nothing to be ashamed of. They lost to a better team. It was an exciting series. It is only fitting that a Yogi-ism comes into play as “It ain’t over till its over.” KC proved that more than once.
Great points. The offense sputtered at the wrong time. And the Royals are an excellent team. After the Dodgers (a bad team with 2 great pitchers) and the Cubs (a good team that played like the Bad News Bears for 4 games) the Royals looked even better.
Just an observation about the game tying play last night. People are discussing Collins’ decision to stick with Harvey. People are discussing Duda’s throw. To me, Wright is the one who had the game in his hands. He looked the runner to third (not entirely effective because there was no fielder there) and then got the sure out at first. He made the play more-or-less as you practice it. But this is a case of him not really understanding the moment. In almost any other scenario, the out is most important and you expect that the 1B and Catcher will hook up to get an overly aggressive runner at the plate. But in this case, the out was not the most important thing. The runner on third was much more important. Had Wright simply held onto the ball it would have been first and third with one out. Not such a bad place to be.
Hosmer’s dash to the plate was a gamble but it was better odds than being on third with 2 outs against a strong closer. Wright essentially offered Hosmer the opportunity. Did Wright do anything “wrong?” No. Did he have a lot of time to think? No. But he also failed to make a difference in a huge spot. I hate to bring up Jeter here (I know hearing his name may be rougher for Mets fans than a tough Series lost) but this was just the kind of play at just the kind of moment where you could see him making the less obvious, but correct, play.
Seth, I think you are being a little tough on David Wright there. Apparently, some people are saying he should have let the shortstop field the ball while he ran toward 3rd base. I think you do have to get the out there and you don’t want to put the go-ahead run on base with only one out. But I do think Derek Jeter probably figures out something there as well. But I agree with Andy that you have to score more than a couple of runs to win these games. No room for error otherwise.
Didn’t mean to be tough on Wright. He made the play that most would have made. But it was an ordinary play that went poorly. With different instincts he might have done something extraordinary.
It was a wonderful and unexpected pleasure to be a Mets fan this year. The team far exceeded my prediction of 83 wins and credit must be given to Sandy Alderson for “going for it” when the Nationals faltered and our young pitching matured ahead of schedule.
That being said, phase one of the rebuild is over and it is time to move on. It was heartwarming to see TC finally have some success as a true baseball lifer and he certainly did help nurture a young team through many difficult situations. But it is time to move forward!
The Mets were beaten in the bullpen, on defense, and the ability to play small ball. And yes, we were thoroughly beaten in the Manager’s seat. There have been many head scratching moves this year by TC and I think most would concur that he cost the team 3 or 4 wins at a minimum.
TC evolved from a task master to a players coach over the course of his career. But his loyalty to his star players proved costly last night. Somebody needs to be the responsible adult in the room deciding what is best for the team. Allowing Cespedes to finish his at bat when he could barely stand was totally irresponsible, both to the player and the team. An additional run scored with the bases loaded and nobody out would have helped a lot.
Allowing Matt Harvey to start the 9th will be debated for years. Letting him stay in after walking the leadoff man was incomprehensible. He was gassed in the 8th and adrenaline can only push you so far and it does not help your command as we witnessed last night.
So thank you TC! We appreciate your dedication but it is time to move forward! Wally Backman, welcome back to New York!
LET’S GO METS! 2016!
Jeff
Great comments today, everyone. Jeff, interesting that Mets Nation is looking to unload Terry Collins. I like that you have identified his successor in Wally Backman vs. just saying that they should replace Collins. Backman strikes me as a Billy Martin type who may have short-term success but whose act wears thin over the course of a long season. I would be shocked if they let Collins go but time will tell.
Little doubt that the plan was for this to be the final rebuilding year and they would add some offense and probably change managers in the off season. In some ways, this season’s success may disrupt the plan. All of a sudden, keeping Collins is an option. Plus you’ll have some fans lobbying a to keep Cespidis and/or Murphy. Had the Mets failed to make the playoffs, Alderson may have had more freedom to fine tune the team than he does now.
I think the disappearing act at the plate by both Cespedes and Murphy gives the Met’s brass the latitude to look objectively at both players and their contract demands. If it was August, I think the inclination was to keep Cespedes at all costs because of the incredible run he was having. Same as Murphy in the NL playoffs. Now I think the emotion is out of it and they will pursue those players at the right price, not at any cost. Their starting pitchers are the real cornerstone.
Great analysis above by all posters. The only point I disagree with is that I don’t know that Met fans hate Jeter. He was an incredible player that let his play stand for itself and was never shooting his mouth off so I think he transcended the typical rivalry norms.
Though it appears that Cespedes will not be back due to the $$$’s involved…. I understand that BUT who will replace him? Are the Met’s going to hang in their during next year and wait until late August to pick someone up on the cheap? This might be a good idea as both the Mets and Bluejays did just that and were successful in separating themselves form their respected contenders in their division. I wonder what would have happened if the Yankees picked up Price and Tulowwitzki last season? Hmmm
For some Knicks chatter: I was watching the Knicks / Cavs game last night and the Knicks are clearly a better team than they were last year. I’ll give a pass to Porzingis since he was probably still hurting after Melo sat on his neck but despite his decent point total he didn’t look like a player who knew where to stand and how to move on the court. He certainly had some flashes but unlike some players who seem to have a sixth sense, he’s not quite there yet. Of course being a fluid 7’3″ small forward with a good shooting stroke will cover up a lot of flaws.
I watched as well last night and was actually very encouraged by Porzingis. Face it: anyone who plays with Melo is not going to know where to move to in the event the ball actually moves. I now tune in not to necessarily watch the Knicks but to see Porzingis. He has good potential for sure. Plus the 2nd unit is also fun to watch. I still have no interest in watching Melo do his thing but the young guys and additions on the 2nd team play hard and run (what a concept!). Perfect time to trade Melo for an expiring contract and build around the youngsters.