Terry Collins apologized to Jay Horwitz personally this afternoon, for what he referred to as “his unprofessional behavior.”
He then apologized a second time to the Mets VP in front of the beat writers in the media room where the incident took place on Wednesday.
Good deal, now let’s move on.
Joe D.
Original Report – June 22
The New York Mets came out victorious on Wednesday, and in the two-game abbreviated set against the defending World Champion Kansas City Royals. The two wins didn’t come easy though, as the Mets witnessed Yoenis Cespedes leaving Wednesday’s game in the sixth inning with left wrist discomfort, and then the bombshell news after the game that Noah Syndergaard left the afternoon game after six innings due to elbow discomfort.
But the story gets a bit more interesting from there. After the game, Terry Collins sat down with the media as he always does after games, and fielded questions from the group of reporters as he customarily does. As Collins was about to get up and leave the conference room, Jay Horwitz, the team’s vice president of media relations, asked Collins to expand on why Syndergaard had left after the sixth inning and only 91 pitches.
“What? There wasn’t any questions on it,” Collins shot back at Horwitz after he asked Collins to speak on Syndergaard. ““The puppy dog wants you guys to know that Noah Syndergaard’s seeing the doctor. His elbow flared up on him. That’s why I took him out of the game.”
As soon as the last word left Collins’ lips, he rushed out of the press conference, and that was that. The question is why did Collins feel the need to lash out at Horwitz, who was only doing his job?
Horwitz has been with the Mets organization for over 30 years, and deserves better than to be chastised in front of an entire room. Obviously it was not apparent to the media that Syndergaard had left the game due to soreness, otherwise Collins would’ve fielded questions for five minutes on that matter alone.
By name calling and belittling Horwitz, Collins comes off as a school-yard bully, and now puts himself out there to be questioned on it Thursday, and more than likely issue an apology to Horwitz. Once again, Horwitz was simply doing his job, and relaying an important piece of news to the media.
The way Collins shot out of the post game presser, it seemed like he didn’t want to talk about Syndergaard’s elbow discomfort, and wanted to keep it private between the team. However, it would come off worse if the team were trying to cover up injuries, and not tell the press about it. Usually if there is an injury or a player left the game due to any type of scare, the press box would be alerted and told this information while the game is going on.
Syndergaard experienced similar issues with his elbow in early May, when he visited team orthopedist Dr. David Altchek, after his May 1 start. He was cleared to pitch for his next start, and missed no time following that scare.
On the day, Syndergaard pitched six innings of three run ball, giving up eight hits, while striking out four. He did not walk a batter, the sixth start he’s not issued a walk in. He’s now 8-2 on the season with a 2.08 earned run average.
WFAN radio personality Mike Francesa went on the radio late in the afternoon Wednesday, due to the early Yankee game, and offered similar criticism as I about the way Collins handled the matter, accusing Collins of “bullying Horwitz publicly.”
“Why would you then embarrass a PR guy — and Jay Horwitz, who’s one of the nicest guys and best guys in the business and has been there 40 years — why would you treat him like that?”
“All of a sudden because Terry Collins won some games last year and went to the World Series, now he’s a tough guy? I mean, that was obnoxious. He owes Jay a public apology.”
Stay tuned for more information, as this is likely going to be a continuing story heading into play against the Atlanta Braves tomorrow.
By the way, the news is good on Syndergaard.
