With Terry Collins signing a two year contract extension to stay in New York, the Mets’ manager says he’s ready to move on from the 2015 season. Collins’ fateful decision to leave Matt Harvey in the 9th inning of Game 5 has been the subject of intense scrutiny and is one that he immediately regretted.
“I already had all my second thoughts that night,” Collins told The Post on his way into Citi Field Tuesday morning, shortly before GM Sandy Alderson arrived. “I’ve got to move on. Everybody does. … I replayed everything that night. Then I forgot about it.” (Dan Martin, NY Post)
“The decision to leave Matt in hurt a lot that night, but the next day you thought about it and reflect on the whole season and you’ve got to move ahead,” Collins added. “As I said in the press conference, I believe in my players, I trust them and try to support them the best I can and made the decision to stay with the guy and we didn’t get it done, so we move on.”
Collins is now putting all of his attention on 2016, and he is determined to lead the Mets back into the World Series.
“We have to think about how we can get back here,” he said. “That’s what you play for, a chance like that. It was a disappointing ending, but we got beat by a good team. That’s life.”
It truly was a disappointing ending of the season, but Collins shouldn’t be too hard on himself. It was still a memorable year for him and the team as they outperformed all exceptions and came so close to winning it all. He was named manager of the year for his efforts, and the award was certainly well deserved.
On a separate note, Rangers’ coach Alain Vigneaul took a jab at Yoenis Cespedes, who exited the final game of the World Series with an injury. Vigneaul was asked if he ever had a goalie he pulled talk himself back into the game, and he had this to say.
“No,” Vigneault said. “How about the one when you take the ball off [the knee] and you take yourself out of the game in the World Series?” (Andrew Gross, NJ.com)
