It was a forgetful time in Chicago for the Mets after losing to the Cubs again on Thursday afternoon to get swept in a 4 game series. After losing the night before on a bases loaded walk, Thursday was just as excruciating maybe more. The Mets blew a 5-1 lead and gave up the winning run on a passed ball off Anthony Recker‘s glove.
“I didn’t get the good part of the glove on it,” said Recker.
After the game, an irritated manager Terry Collins decided to challenge the team, mainly the veteran players to step up their game.
“To be honest, that’s why some of those big guys are out there,” said Collins. “This is when they need to step up. This is when the Michael Cuddyers and the Daniel Murphys … need to step up to where all their leadership we talked about, this is the time we need it most.” (Anthony DiComo, MLB.com)
“It starts with me,” said Cuddyer. “You’ve got to perform, that’s no question about that. And quite frankly, for my part, I haven’t gotten the job done up to this point.”
The team’s biggest offseason acquisition Michael Cuddyer was 2-15 in the Cubs series and hasn’t had an extra base hit since the first day of May.
But the last three weeks are not all on Cuddyer. While Murphy is hitting better of late, he is nowhere near the All Star player he was last season. And Granderson may be walking a lot more, but he hasn’t shown much power as his .362 slugging percentage can attest. The team finally scored some runs for Jon Niese, and the veteran southpaw couldn’t hold a four run lead.
“Some days, you get beat and tip your hat,” said the Mets skipper. “Other days, you make enough mistakes to lose. It’s unbelievable, to be honest.”
The Mets are coming back to Citifield for a weekend series with the Brew Crew who are in last place. Perhaps it give the Mets an opportunity to right themselves and get their groove back. But they admit that they gotta play much better than they did at Wrigley this week.
Thoughts from Joe D.
Terry Collins was in midseason form after the game. You could see him hemming and hawing, sighing and grimacing, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head, and basically at a loss for any answers. He responded, “I haven’t a clue” or “I have no idea” a half dozen times to various questions from reporters.
Usually protective of his players, on this occasion he was putting all the blame at their feet despite several questionable decisions by him throughout the series which we’ve covered ad nauseam.
Suddenly those calls for an extension for Collins have dissipated, and rightfully so. Collins, who was being lauded for his leadership a month ago thanks to a hot start, looked like a sad sack yesterday and if he had any confidence left in his being, it sure wasn’t showing.
Instead I saw a beaten man with panic beginning to set in. He wants leadership from his veterans and for them to step up and take responsibility? Sorry, pal, but that begins at the top. That begins with you.
Perhaps it’s time you put all those cute and unorthodox methods you refer to as new age strategies, and you start managing this team the right way. I think most of us had had enough of your fanciful attempts to reinvent the wheel and are craving baseball the way it oughta be. An innovator, you are not.
You are out of excuses. That four year crutch that you were never given a decent team to manage isn’t going to fly anymore. You have your guns and your arsenal is loaded. Now take this team to victory or fall on your sword.
This is all on you and this time there’s no easy way out. It’s only May and the last thing this team needs is a sniveling, clueless manager who goes on the air, shrugs his shoulders, and starts blaming his players publicly instead of privately. Either you lead, or get the hell out of the way and let someone more capable and up for the challenge take your stead.
