This is Terry Time. This is Terry’s Team. As long as it keeps winning.
In a column for the New York Post, writer Kevin Kernan credits Terry Collins for the Mets’ hot start and that now armed with a team with horses to win, the real Terry Collins has emerged.
“This year, you are seeing more of the real Collins, when he’s managing to win games and holding his team to higher expectations. He has received an amazing start from Lucas Duda, whose two-out single to left in the seventh snapped a 5-5 tie.”
“This year there is less evaluating and more managing,’’ David Wright told The Post. “Terry can worry about tactics instead of having to evaluate, who is going to be the guy there long-term at whatever position.’’
Noted Collins: “I would say a year ago, we don’t win this game.’’
It’s only mid-April, but the 7-3 Mets are in first place in the NL East. Does that mean anything?
“October 1 it will mean a hell of a lot,’’ Collins said.
Thoughts from Joe D.
After an offseason of big talk and bigger expectations, especially from Wright and Collins, the team is truly responding. The team is winning. The team has displayed a lot of fight and resiliency.
Not only are the Mets backing up their big offseason talk, they have even showed us several instances of swagger, most notably when Matt Harvey drilled Chase Utley in the back and gave him the death stare as he sheepishly trotted to first base. Come on, what Mets Fan didn’t get fu**ing goosebumps after that…
Perhaps nobody in the Mets blogosphere has raked Collins over the coals more than I have. Nobody. But I’d be a fu**ing idiot not to admit I was wrong and Collins was right about some of the things I – and many of you – killed him for in the last few months.
This is by no means a full pardon, and I’m in no way planning any billboards to advocate Terry Collins for manager of the year.
I’m just saying that perhaps we overreacted to Bartolo Colon being the Opening Day starter. Perhaps this new lineup deserves more credit than many of us were willing to give it. Perhaps there was a method hidden in the madness of an 8-man bullpen.
You hear what I’m saying?
Collins said yesterday that it’s the little things that mean a lot. I think he’s right. It’s all part of the grand mosaic.
“We have expectations this year, so now some of the little things, they have to be addressed a little bit harder,’’ Collins said.
“The players have to be a little more accountable. It’s easier now to set them down now and say, ‘Hey look, you have had your say, I’ve had my say, we have to make sure this is done right.’ It’s a lot easier to manage that way. We’ve got to play the game the way it is supposed to be played.
“There is a sense they can win. You see a lot of guys on the bench talking baseball and pulling for each other.”
We’ve been crying for six years for this team to show some smarts and play the game the right way. Maybe it’s the blend of youth and veteran leadership from guys like Cuddyer, Mayberry, Granderson, Colon and Wright. But no matter what, you have to give the majority of the credit to the man who calls the shots and fills out the lineup card.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been this excited to tune in for a Mets game in April. I’m loving every ebb and flow of this season so far, and the fight this team has? Man oh man, I never thought I’d see a Mets team this tough and full of personality again.
This really is, “Baseball Like It Oughta Be.”
