3
2011
Baseball Like It Oughta Be
An article by 
Only two games into the season, and I gotta tell you, I’m already liking what we’re seeing from Terry Collins a lot. After years of being besieged by watching badly managed games by the likes of Jerry Manuel, Willie Randolph and beyond, I suddenly find myself sitting back and enjoying a ballgame without yelling and shouting profanities at my TV.
I’m watching baseball the way it oughta be.
What a pleasurable experience it is to witness a manager – our manager – maneuver and make the kinds of moves that helped the Mets win a game. For the last few years I was only able to see a true in-game strategist when we played teams like the Bobby Cox led Braves almost always ending in our defeat.
Watching how deep Collins can get into the complexities of a game is new hat for me. That inner fire to win was so apparent and he matched it by brilliantly navigating his team to an exciting victory on Saturday night - his first in 12 years.
Some of his moves were very subtle, but profound to Mets fans nonetheless. We got to see starting pitcher Jon Niese pitch his way out of jams and go an entire seven innings before he was eventually pulled. Then we actually saw our own manager actually leave the dugout to go argue a call with the umps. Now, that was a sight for sore Mets eyes.
I thought Collins saved his good stuff for the ninth inning, when many a battle is won or lost.
After a solid inning of work by setup man Bobby Parnell, all that was left was for closer Frankie Rodriguez to slam the door and seal the victory. To increase the chances of success, Collins replaced Lucas Duda in left field with Willie Harris and Chin-lung Hu replaced Brad Emaus at second. Hu actually entered the foray when he was used as a pinch runner for the slow-footed Ike Davis in the top of the ninth when the Mets came back to take a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the inning. Daniel Murphy took over at first base for Ike as the game wound down.
But after a perfect spring that saw Rodriguez toss ten scoreless innings, K-Rod was tagged hard and the Marlins tied the game sending it into extra innings and handing K-Rod a blown save in his first opportunity of the new season. Typical Mets luck I thought – there was no way we were coming back – or so I thought.
Extra innings – where many a Mets manager would find a way to grab defeat out of the jaws of victorry… But not on this night…
The Marlins skipper made a bevy of moves in the top of tenth and wanted this win badly. He replaced his starting catcher, third baseman, plugged the dangerous Emilio Bonifacio into centerfield and brought in Ryan Webb to hold the Mets down. All good moves, but destiny would be on the side of the Mets.
Jose Reyes led things off with a sharp single, and Angel Pagan was asked to bunt him over to second. But Pagan beat the throw and now we had two on with nobody out and David Wright coming to the plate. How many times have we seen this scene late in games last season? Would it be a strikeout? A double-play? Something worse? How about a run scoring single to give the Mets the 4-3 lead and keep the inning going!
Beltran and Hu would follow Wright and both would strikeout, but newly inserted Willie Harris was coming up to the plate and like he did all spring long, Harris delivered in a big way lashing a double to right field that scored Angel Pagan and David Wright giving the Mets a 6-3 lead. That would be all the scoring, but the damage was done. Blaine Boyer would close it out but not before allowing a run, and the Mets won the game 6-4, their first win of the season.
A satisfying win it was.
After the game, Collins was asked about all the moves he made in the game.
“It’s baseball. That’s what baseball is about. It’s fun. You win big, it’s nice to have once in a while. It’s the games like Saturday that test your character, I think. Obviously they responded great.”
Yep… a satisfying win it was. I’m looking forward to more like this one.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
10 Comments + Add Comment
NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 22 | 18 | .550 | - |
| Nationals | 22 | 19 | .537 | 0.5 |
| Phillies | 19 | 22 | .463 | 3.5 |
| Mets | 15 | 23 | .395 | 6.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 30 | .268 | 11.5 |
Last updated: 05/17/2013
Recent Comments
- Matt Este: on D’Arnaud To Remain In Boot Camp For Two More Weeks: MATT HARVEY IS GOD !!!
- Matt Este: on D’Arnaud To Remain In Boot Camp For Two More Weeks: Promote PLAWECKI !! This kid is not...
- Daniel: on Is Keith Hernandez Slipping?: The New York media is in a...
- metsanity: on Mets Minors Report 5/17: Lara Twirled Gem, Syndergaard Firing Bee-Bees, Boyd Hammering Out Hits: Rainy is an good name cause the...
- jcutiger: on Matt Harvey Does It All In Mets 3-2 Win Over Cubs: All wins are good, especially when the...
MMO Mets Chat
Need Tickets To The Mets Game?
Check Out These Great MLB Links!
Photographs From Gordon Donovan
5354 Fans Follow Us On Twitter!
1270 Fans Like Us On Facebook!
2341 Fans Read Our Feed!
1702 Fans Subscribe via Daily Email!
‘Baseball Like It Oughta Be’….minus the KRod blown save.
Don’t mind admitting I thought the same way after the 9th – no way we’re winning this game now. It’s the last several years conditioning that will take a while to get past…..
Some of that blown save has to battributed to pinch running for Ike and putting a so so glove at first.
Ike would have stopped that ball that tied the game.
But it could be argued that if we didn’t pinch hit we might not have gotten the lead in the first place.
Can’t really knock Collins yet but I did scratch my head when he pinch hit for Thole in game one and Put HU in for Ike.
One thing is for certain we are not going to hear many complaints about the bench not getting enough game time.
Collins is growing on me more and more and I almost feel like a heel for being so against his hiring in the fall. The more I see of him the more I like. There were a few times yesterday that I thought the game felt like a loss, that we actually won felt very good.
me too,
I noticed the Mets being more aggressive on the bases during ST. He seems like a nice guy but also will take no crap either. It looks like those guys want to play for him and did anybody notice how animated David Wright was during the post game interview? It’s like Collins rubbed of on him, i’ve never seen Wright that way.
If “Laughing Jerry” was the manager last night no way the Mets win that game. Collins gave this team a chance to win. I also like how he let Jon Niese bat in the 7th inning last night, no way that happens last year.
I was concerned about Niese but remembered how many times last year he worked his way out of trouble.
David looked like a player on a mission last night, he was going to carry this team to victory whether they wanted to or not.
Once again, K Rod falls in love with his off speed pitch which the batter can tell is coming by his body motion when he throws it, sheesh, when will Collins and Warthen talk to him and Thole about the love affair with his sinker/slider/curveball.
Hadn’t realized until yesterday home tough the Marlins have played us, wow just what we need another division opponent that is tough to beat at home.
Great win and looking forward to R.A. and his floating butterfly pitches to confound this young squad.
I’ve been interested in Terry Collins since the introductions of him and Sandy at Citi Field last fall. So, I read up on both of them, and they are for real, and they Love Baseball – played the right way. Now they are proving it to us.
Nolan Ryan has all his pitchers go seven innings unless there is lightning around or they have fainted. Everyone on the field seemed to be paying attention, just to make sure that Terry knew they were ‘in the game’.
Ah, there are some good times to come at Citi.
Gotta love the way Collins gave the guys a great chance to take the Matlins hearts, and keep fighting! A life long New York family that now lives in SWFL, we made the trip to Sun Life stadium and hoped for the best after a tough first game. Nothing was more satisfying than hearing “Let’s Go Mets” over every Marlin chant possible! These Mets looked charged with positive energy right from the BP session…so far, so good! Let’s Go Mets!
Love it! Love it! This is why I loved Sparky Anderson, Earl Weaver and, yes, even Billy Martin. It was about time. Just hiring Terry is gonna make at least a 10 or 15 game difference in the win column.
Collins did a great job this weekend. He got everybody into the action and he pressed all the right buttons. A point Joe D. made: It was great to see a manager actually go out and argue a call!! I think Terry was right call, the guy swung. Another point, Sunday late, Terry was happy just to sit back on a lead, he went for more, bringing Beltran in to pitch hit with the bases load, a great move!!
I’m glad we won, and I’m excited for Collins to lead the team. But he didn’t do anything special in that game. And in 3 games I’ve seen the Mets run into 2 out on the bases. And There’s already been a small bit of curious bullpen usage. Love the Mets, looks a lot like the same club. Just with a better attitude and less useless parts