Terry Collins may want to consult the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy before tomorrow’s game.
“Don’t Panic”
After about two weeks of optimism, the Mets seem to have reverted to form as they now have hung a five game losing streak on the wall with this dreadful, 7-0, drubbing at the hands of the Brewers.
And to add insult to injury, Dilson Herrera is now out with a broken finger, which he suffered in batting practice.
Ouch.
“We certainly lost a lot of good players,” Collins said. “We still have to do some stuff – execute plays and move runners along. You can’t feel sorry for yourself. You still have to go play. Play hard and play right.”
Collins knows he is probably first against the wall when the revolution comes, if the Mets continue down on this road the unthinkable a few weeks ago just may occur.
The injuries will give Collins a long leash. He will have every chance to turn this thing around before Sandy Alderson makes a move. That’s probably fair, since the Mets were not as good as their 11 game winning streak and not as bad as they looked in the past week.
Moreover, because the organization has prospects that seem ready to come up, they are still rookie players and there will be some growing pains out there.
Matt Harvey is in his second year of actual playing time, while Jacob deGrom is coming up to one year. Noah Sindergaard has six innings, which leaves Jon Niese and tonight’s starter Bartolo Colon as the vets who have been there before. Colon though will have starts like tonight, because when he’s wild, it’s in the strike zone.
And it’s tough to bring up young relievers and expect them to get outs in the majors. Look at Jeurys Familia, who took a couple of years to become reliable and now he’s the best the Mets have.
The lineup is filled with young players as well, who need to learn how to make adjustments to major league pitching. Be it Wilmer Flores, Kevin Plawecki, Herrera and now Eric Campbell, who was recalled to replace the injured second baseman, the Mets have to expect these guys to have their ups and down.
What you can pin on Alderson and Collins is the up the middle defense. Daniel Murphy was never a gold glove player and Flores looks like a butcher there. This makes it difficult on young pitchers, since they are forced to get more and more outs.
“We are concerned that it’s getting to Wilmer,” Collins said. “Part of my job is that it doesn’t get ingrained in there. He’s got to be able to play through it. When he starts hitting, it may ease up on the pressure.”
Look, Flores is not a shortstop, but the Mets are forced to stay with him because they don’t have anyone else right now. Matt Reynolds could be the answer, but you have the same growing pains as you have with all the other young players.
Flores, though, wasn’t the problem tonight. The Mets would have lost this game if they have the 1999 infield out there. He is a major concern though and may be the next to go if Alderson comes up with a answer.
And no, the answer is not 42.
For now, the Collins Mets will have to endure. There are no miracles on the horizon, but maybe some hope that some of the injured will come back soon.
Otherwise, look at the Hitchhikers Guide and don’t panic. They actually are still in first place.