Mets eliminated and Terry Collins is not to blame
Although the Mets lost the Wildcard game, Terry Collins made all the right moves
Going into the Wild Card game against the San Francisco Giants, I was worried about many things (if you weren’t nervous, you haven’t been a Mets fan for long). One item that was stuck in my craw was Giants’ starter Madison Bumgarner and his absurd postseason numbers. Another cause for my concern was Mets manager Terry Collins.
As I wrote here, Collins made many curious moves in 2016. I was concerned he would do the same in the do-or-die scenario that is the Wild Card game. It would have left us with an awful feeling if Collins “did not know how fast” someone was, or “did not think of” pinch-running for a player in a crucial spot.
But none of that happened. I thought Collins (along with the front office and coaches) set the game roster properly. I agreed with James Loney over Lucas Duda. The latter is the better player, but having missed four months could not be expected to do well against Bumgarner.
I felt Rene Rivera should have started over Travis d’Arnaud. Rivera is better by far defensively, and for all of his “we’ll take his defense because he hits” defenders, TDA has not hit nearly well enough to overcome his abysmal defense.
I liked the batting order. It made sense to put T.J. Rivera between Curtis Granderson and Jay Bruce, to break up two lefties against the port-side offerings of Bumgarner. I liked Loney batting eighth — I thought it was the perfect spot for him.
After the game began, I think Collins did everything right. I agreed with taking the brilliant Noah Syndergaard out after seven innings (it was a toss-up on whether or not he should have stayed in after Angel Pagan‘s infield single with two outs).
Going to Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia for the eighth and ninth innings respectively made perfect sense. Even the choices of Eric Campbell and Ty Kelly to pinch hit when they did were logical.
The Mets lost not because of Terry Collins, but because Familia walked Joe Panik at exactly the wrong time. Retiring Panik would have brought Conor Gillaspie up with two outs and first base open in the ninth, forcing Bruce Bochy to hit for Bumgarner. The Mets then would have been into the Giants’ bullpen.
But that did not happen. Familia is a lights-out closer who had an off night. I do not agree with this talk of his not being good in the postseason. Familia was money in 2015 against the Dodgers and Cubs, and was betrayed by his defense in the World Series.
As sports fans, when our teams lose, we often look for a culprit — a scapegoat to absorb our wrath. There is no such thing in this case. The Mets lost a game to an incredible pitcher who did an incredible thing (that he had actually done before, too).
This does nothing to salve our wounds. The loss stings, and it will for a while. But as a Terry Collins critic, I felt it was important to give credit where it was due, even in a loss.
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