Aug
12
2011

Collins Did A Nice Job Handling Niese

An article by John Delcos

After winning the first two games of this series, coming away with a split is definitely disappointing. It’s not as if the Mets had a realistic chance to catch the Braves for the wild-card, but after losing seven of their last 10 they are now 10.5 games behind Atlanta.

After another one-run loss this afternoon (that’s 18 on the season), they are headed to Arizona and San Diego, where it won’t be easy. The Mets are at their point of the season where the goals are fundamental, such as finishing above .500 and making value judgments on the future.

With the latter, I liked how Terry Collins handled Jonathan Niese this afternoon. Collins gave Niese 122 pitches worth of rope and stuck with him in the eighth when most managers would have been seduced by the pitch count and gone the conventional route.

Most managers would have yanked Niese after Cameron Maybin’s leadoff single, and definitely after the stolen base. Then, after an intentional walk and double steal, Jerry Manuel might have been on his second reliever.

With runners on second and third, Collins gave Niese a strong vote of confidence and allowed him to pitch to Aaron Cunningham. Perhaps it was a vote of non-confidence in the bullpen, but this was important to Niese’s development.

Cunningham grounded a ball to Ruben Tejada, who, instead of getting in front of the ball, tried to one-hand it. The ball went off the heel of his glove and Niese was on his way to becoming the hard-luck loser.

Even so, Niese got the ground ball he needed, indirectly rewarding Collins’ confidence.

A couple of years ago teams called the Mets asking for Niese and they wisely eschewed. It was one of Omar Minaya’s better decisions.

Niese still has a way to go, but this was definitely something to build

About the Author: John Delcos

I am an active member of the BBWAA and have covered Major League Baseball in several capacities for over 20 years, including ten in New York working the Mets' and Yankees' beat. I covered the Baltimore Orioles for eight years and the Cleveland Indians before that. I currently serve as an editor and senior staff writer for Mets Merized Online. Follow me on Twitter @jdelcos.

6 Comments + Add Comment

alex68 August 12, 2011 at 8:40 am

just as alderson did back in december of 2010, i too see this team done for the 2011 season… they fought, gave us good thrills and all, but.. when injuries happen the way they did, with crappy players sign to surround our core, with a crappy bullpen, made into a s***** bullpen after the krod trade, and with the beltran trade, there was no way this team was going to compete throughout the whole season, reyes carried us for 2 months or so, but he got hurt, wright, bay never really stepped up as they should’ve, it was a tough season for the mets. and as i said before, is not looking any brighter in the upcoming years, this team is not gonna wanna pay anybody big money, and the pitchers on the farm won’t be ready till 2014, so.. good luck for those season tickets holders, anyways, FOOTBALL is back .. so.. let’s go mets in 2014??
NJstuckinTX August 12, 2011 at 8:45 am

Is it a testament to Collins that he had faith in Niese, or is the sorry & sad state of the BP that Collins has a lack of faith in? Honestly, might as well let Niese try to get out of the jam than have the BP come in and straight out lose it for him.
- alex68 August 12, 2011 at 8:48 am
  
  agree stuckinTX.. igarashi, beato and parnell, are just garbage right now.. i knew the bullpen was going to be bad after the krod give away, but i didn’t think it was goin to be THIS BAD..
- METS62FAN August 12, 2011 at 9:25 am
  
  DOESN’T ANYONE PAY ATTENTION TO THE PREGAME ANALYSIS ANYMORE? I BELIEVE IT WAS POINTED OUT THAT TC WAS WORKING WITH A SEVERLY SHORT PEN SANS BEATO,PARNELL & ACCOSTA.(LOL-I THINK RONNIE WAS A SUPRISE SHOWUP ON HIS DAY OFF AS AN “EMERGENCY ACTIVATION” ALTERNATIVE)
  
  NIES HAS ALWAYS HAD A LOT OF BULLDIG IN HIM AS HE’S ALWAYS PITCHED TOUGHEST WHEN MOST JAMMED UP SINCE HIS DEBUT. JON NIESE IS MY PROJECTED OPENNING DAY SP FOR ’14 AS MOST SENIOR ROTATION STUD.
  - alex68 August 12, 2011 at 9:34 am
    
    62: i see is not only me and sandy alderson the ones thinking about 2014, you my friend have joined the 2014 club as well………
sarge August 12, 2011 at 1:04 pm

Quite a few of the losses pinned on the starting staff have been of the type in Niese’s start, an error or mental lapse causes a finely pitched game to turn into a demoralizing loss.

BP has to be at top of list for SA this off season plus signing Jose and maybe replacing Pagan who is 2nd in league with 8 errors, 8 errors for a premium position like CF is un-exceptable and has to be addressed.

Niese has stones, as does R.A. and Gee so here’s hoping rest of season brings them good wins vs tough losses.

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