Tag Archives: Terry Collins

Jun 22

Today in Mets’ History: Franco climbs save list.

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John Franco has always been one of the more popular Mets. You can catch him on SNY from time to time.

FRANCO: Hall worthy?

On this date in 1994, Franco passed Dave Righetti for the most saves by a lefthander with 253 in a 5-2 victory at Atlanta.

Franco finished with 424 saves, an average of 26 per season playing for the Reds, Mets an Astros. He had eight seasons of 30 or more saves – five of them with the Mets – with a career best 39 with Cincinnati in 1988.

That season was one of three times in which he led the National League in saves.

Franco is fourth on the career list behind Trevor Hoffman, Mariano Rivera and Lee Smith, but has received little consideration for the Hall of Fame, largely because he has one save in 15 postseason appearances.

Franco has always been a straight shooter, which accounts for much of his popularity among Mets fans.

During the summer of 2009 when the Mets were hit hard by injuries and struggling, Franco wanted to hear none of the excuses and pointed in a different direction.

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Jun 15

Hot Gee and Reyes lead Mets tonight.

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The Mets feature two of the National League’s hottest players in tonight’s game at Atlanta in Dillon Gee and Jose Reyes.

Gee is attempting to beat the Braves for the third time and become the first Mets starter since Dwight Gooden in 1988 to win his first eight starts.

GEE: Going for eighth straight win.

Gee has already beaten Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson, giving up just one run in 12.2 innings.

Despite his success, Gee is taking nothing for granted.

“There’s definitely still a lot of work to be done,’’ said Gee. “I don’t want to look into (the streak) too much. I definitely feel like I’m gaining more confidence every time out. But it’s hard work here, and I have to keep working to maintain where I’m at and gain a little better, too.’’

Also blistering is Jose Reyes, who leads the majors with a .346 average. Over the last 18 games, Reyes has sizzled with a .438 average, five triples, two homers and 12 RBI with 21 runs scored.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody sustain it the way he has for three and a half, four weeks,’’ manager Terry Collins said.

 

Jun 15

Complaining about field helps Mets.

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The Mets whining about the field last night might have been the turning point in the game. After Jose Reyes slipped leading off first, the Mets complained the field was too soggy and asked the umpires to have the grounds crew apply a drying agent.

REYES: Scoring in the first.

Reyes promptly stole second and scored, which turned out to be a big play as the Mets won by one run.

Although this worked out for the Mets, I don’t really like it. So the Braves watered down the infield to slow down Reyes. Get over it. It’s gamesmanship and teams have always tailored their field to their own advantage.

Wear the metal spikes Jose and move on. To complain makes the Mets look like whiners.

Teams have forever let the grass grow in the infield to slow down ground balls, sloped the baselines to help their bunters and watered down the infield to slow the opposition.

 

Ron Darling made an interesting comment when he said are they going to next make them cut the grass.

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Jun 10

What’s the answer for Bay?

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Terry Collins floated the idea several weeks ago, but never followed through with batting Jason Bay second in the order behind Jose Reyes.

Theoretically, Bay would get more fastballs with running threat Reyes on first. Batting second snapped David Wright out of funks before, and perhaps it would do the same for Bay.

BAY: Strike three. You see this a lot.

 

Obviously, dropping him to sixth didn’t work. He’s still chasing breaking balls away. He’s also not turning on the fastball, and his plate presence is terrible.

Bay’s problems are physical and mental, and there’s no quick fix. Afterall, this has been lingering for two years with no signs of coming out of it.

I don’t believe sending Bay to the minor leagues is the answer, because what good does beating up on those pitchers do? Assuming, of course, he does beat up on them.

Bay needs to work himself out of this by playing, so an extended benching isn’t the answer, either. Hitting second might not work, but it hasn’t been attempted.

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Jun 02

Collins rant rings hollow.

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It was humorous and a little sad to listen to Terry Collins’ post-game rant last night in the wake of another seventh-inning meltdown. He sounded desperate and out of control, much how his team is playing.

First, he praised the Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen for his hustle and hard play and said that’s how his team should be playing, then stopped short and said effort isn’t the issue.

Well, is it or not?

COLLINS: Where's that smile now?

He said his team played hard, but lacked execution. Passion, but poor performance … kind of like his speech.

Collins railing in front of the Mets logo wasn’t quite Patton in front of the American flag. You remember … Americans love a winner.

The problem is his Mets aren’t winners.

They are losing again and the problems are many beginning most recently and significantly with the bullpen, which imploded again. Over the last ten games the pen has given up 32 earned runs.

Last night a strong performance by Chris Capuano was wasted. Last night also featured several defensive lapses, two from Willie Harris, and the Mets’ first homer in 11 games.

Poor pitching, defense and no power won’t win you many games.

Clearly peeved, Collins ran over the same litany of issues that have burned and burdened the Mets for years. Lack of timely hitting; giving away too many at-bats; that no one player is to blame, that this is a team thing; not making the right pitch at the right time.

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