24
2012
Collins Gambled And Lost With Chris Young
An article by 
It’s an oversimplification to think Chris Young made one mistake last night when he grooved a fastball Raul Ibanez drilled for a game-tying, three-run homer.
His biggest mistake that inning was the leadoff walk to Mark Teixeira. Young was already nearing 100 pitches when the inning began. I was surprised he went out, but understood it followed with Terry Collins’ loyalty to his starters.
I never would have let him pitch to Nick Swisher, was given a gift double when Lucas Duda butchered the sinking fly ball.
Then after Ibanez there was the sense the Mets let it get away.
Yes, Collins went too long with Young. Maybe his decision was based on loyalty, or perhaps it was made because he didn’t have confidence in his bullpen. That could have been a spot for Tim Byrdak, but then again Collins might have been thinking he would save Byrdak for later.
It’s only one game, but it stung because it was right there for the taking. We can dissect the seventh inning a dozen was, but the Mets had opportunities earlier to blow the game open against Ivan Nova.
They had their chances later, too.
What they didn’t have was a shutdown lefty reliever like Boone Logan who toyed with Duda and Daniel Murphy.
The Mets will be buyers at the trade deadline, and bullpen help should be at the top of their list.
Thoughts from Joe D.
Yes, bullpen help at the trade deadline, or maybe just give Justin Hampson a shot before we start trading away pieces. But also just as important is the addition of a proven and solid right handed bat so we don’t have to send Duda and Murphy up against a tough lefty late in the game and down by a run. Having a right-handed power bat that we can pair with Duda and Nieuwenhuis would be a significant upgrade. Hairston should start against all southpaws from here on in. We need more than just David Wright from the right-side in the lineup, even if Jason Bay does return from the DL.
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.
11 Comments + Add Comment
NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 23 | 18 | .561 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 19 | .548 | 0.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 23 | .465 | 4.0 |
| Mets | 16 | 24 | .400 | 6.5 |
| Marlins | 11 | 31 | .262 | 12.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
Recent Comments
- Lifelongmetsfan: on Hefner Lasts Just Four Innings In Mets 8-2 Loss To Cubs: another start like this and it's back...
- Markcomic1: on Is Marlon Byrd Finally Coming Around?: fire collins please
- Branden: on Valdespin Won’t Let Criticism Lower His Self Esteem: I am regular reader, how are you...
- metsfaninparadise: on Prima Donnas and Clubhouse Chemistry: A Met Perspective: Lotta conservative people in baseball. Midwesterners...
- metsfaninparadise: on Prima Donnas and Clubhouse Chemistry: A Met Perspective: I don't believe it's anything beyond coincidence...
MMO Mets Chat
Need Tickets To The Mets Game?
Check Out These Great MLB Links!
Photographs From Gordon Donovan
5358 Fans Follow Us On Twitter!
1270 Fans Like Us On Facebook!
2341 Fans Read Our Feed!
1702 Fans Subscribe via Daily Email!
I disagree John, I think it was one mistake and I don’t blame Collins for leaving Young in. Unless somebody “at the time” said they would have taken Young out than i have to call it a second guess. And as for the “loyalty to starters” reference? Where did you come up with that? If Collins was really loyal to his starters the Mets would have more wins by now because of all the times he unnecessarily had taken starters out early before
“If Collins was really loyal to his starters the Mets would have more wins by now because of all the times he unnecessarily had taken starters out early before”
Well there are two ways to look at it….
Did Terry pull them too early and cost us the game?
Is that fact he pulled them the reason we lost or the fact that the bullpen sucked the cause?
If the bullpen doesn’t suck beans then the decision is not a bad one! And truth is the Manager doesn’t get to select his options to go to thats Sandy’s decision!
It’s difficult to say that the manager pulled a starter too quick because you don’t get to see what might have happened if he left him in!
And as I pointed out in the other thread, Sure our record when the starter pitches the 7th is impressive but thats not because of anything to do with letting the starter go longer just a fact that it meant one less bad reliever to have to risk throwing out there that could blow the game.
And a manager has to make his decision to pull a starter based on what he sees from the starter. The fact he doesn’t have a decent option to go to is really not his fault.
Terry has basically been giving a choice between Cyanide and Strychnine…
He can either let the starter blow it or the pen!
It really doesn’t matter in that situation what he decides does it?
And if he had a pen worth a damn we wouldn’t have lost any of those games where the starter got an early hook!
I’m saying I would have left him in based on what i’m seeing from my starter.
That’s all i mean.
Not saying your wrong there Bay…
Just pointing outit is usually a gut call and you should have the Bullpen that doesn’t make the decision so important in the first place…
The whole reason for having a pen is to be able to take over for a guy who may be getting tired and give up hits the third time through the order…
If you don’t have those guys to turn to it really doesn’t matter what you see because even if you stick with the starter that inning it’s game over the next inning anyway!
Ideally you want to have a pen that will always be better than a starter who has 20 Pitches left in his pitch count!
Then the decision is not as costly.
We don’t have that!
Well Ibanez is not the kind of guy you bring in Byrdak for…You keep him in your pocket to deal with Cano and Texiera who hit .230 from the right hand side vs Lefties.
Ibanez hits only .244 vs Righties, and .225 vs RHSP so it made a ton of sense not to bring in Byrdak to face him….
What we should consider here is the fact Young did as well as he had for as long as he had at all…
The guy is a high zone fly ball pitcher pitching to a team tghat leads the league in the long ball.
Not even a good combination in the old citifield.
But he did a great job in keeping them at (Jason) Bay, and the real culprit is the offense seemingly taking a day off and not giving him the run support.
If Ike was not sick and in the lineup I suspect we get a much better result.
Valdespin plays LF, Murphy at 2B, Ike at 1B, all facing the RHSP, so when a guy like Logan comes on you have available Hairston, Cedeno and Turner to face him.
The Bats just didn’t get the job done and no decision Sandy could have made would have changed the outcome.
In the end when Terry did pull Young what happened?
Rauch gave up the game winner!
So there was no move Terry could have made to win that game!
I can’t fault Collins for leaving Young in there. He’s had one lefty in the BP he could rely on all year so far. I’m sure that sometimes lends itself to decisions some fans believe are the wrong ones.
Also, as we found out after the game – FF was unavailable for last night’s game. That had to factor into his decisions about BP use last night.
I know it’s early but going forward have to wonder what they’ll for a closer do if FF goes on the DL.
The other reason not to use Byrd there is that he would not have faced Ibanez. Guaranteed that Ardru Jones would have been sent up to PH. And given how crappy Raul has been lately, that was probably a better match up (vs. Young).
obviously guys like Teix or Cano are not being PH for later on.
Personally, I started cringing when Young came out to pitch the 6th. After that frame, I felt like we got away with something. From what I’ve seen, Young can fool the lineup twice, but the third time through he’s toast. HOWEVER…
I can’t blame Collins because what was his other option? Replace Young with a reliever from MLB’s worst bullpen?
Mets need help in the pen fast! Bring back catcher-pitcher Rob Johnson! His heater is faster than Young’s! haha
me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCApuPQStoM
here is some truth to what you say about young…
The key to hitting him is make him get the ball down. He relies on throwing in the high zone, letter high to get you out.
As the game goes one he gets tired which means the ball doesn’t stay up as well as it should and if it drops enough to get good wood on it’s out of the park!
Especially against a team who leads the MLB in HRs.
You don’t save your only LH for a possible situation against Tex or Cano cause game was lost in 7th inning not “possible” at bats later in game.
That is why closer’s are over rated cause they come in with clean slate while others come in with runners on base and “save” game.
Terry should of brought in Byrdak for Ibanez/Jones whatever cause he was better than Rauch any day.
Second guessing the manager’s decisions about these kind of things is fruitless. While Dickey has been great and Santana has pitched beyond expectation, the fact is that our starters are generally “cooked” by the 7th inning. The bullpen is again overworked but we have seen this for years now. Byrdak has been pretty steady but the rest of the guys have been up and down constantly. People have been ragging on Frank Francisco who has a pretty good save record but his ERA is high and he too often has us reaching for “Rolaids”.
I still think that Bobby Parnell is our best bet for a closer down the road as he develops his secondary pitches. Mejia is also thought to become a bullpen guy in the future. The rest of our guys are journeymen pitchers and they are going to struggle as they are being overworked!