It’s easy to play Monday Morning Quarterback.
Just look at what went wrong and say you would do the opposite.
Easy and simple.
And the beauty of this game is you are never wrong, much like the same way you would have won the lottery if you went into the store to buy the tickets or the person of your dreams would have been yours if you asked for his or her number.
But sometimes after the fact guessing has some merit, like in today’s 2-1 Met loss to the Colorado Rockies.
If Terry Collins didn’t pinch hit Yoenis Cespedes in the seventh inning with first base open and if he just went with his first instinct and rested Jeurys Familia today, then maybe the Mets would have won the ballgame.
But, of course, it didn’t work out that way.
The Mets should have blown the game open in the seventh. After Rene Rivera and Alejandro De Aza led off with hits to make it second and third with no one out, Collins pinch hit Cespedes.
Of course, Rockies manager Walt Weiss intentionally walked the Mets best hitter, essentially taking the their feared weapon out of the game. He could have sent to Kelly Johnson or Michael Conforto, both of whom would have been pitched to.
Look, bases loaded and no one out, you should score a run, but Johnson struck out, Curtis Granderson struck out and Wilmer Flores popped out.
“We could have blown that game open by some ground balls and haven’t been able to do it,” Collins said. “That’s what it comes down to. Our pitchers, they live on the edge. It’s hard to do every night.”
If Collins kept in a magnificent Jacob deGrom, he wouldn’t have had to use Addison Reed in the eighth, but the ninth and you never know, because deGrom could have hit a fly ball to score a run.
Instead, the Mets caressed a precious 1-0 lead like Gollum holding a ring.
And if you want to give Collins a pass for the seventh, fine. The Mets should have scored no matter what, but using Familia today was just inexcusable.
Sometimes Collins has the inmates run the asylum over there. He was on record saying his closer was going to be given the day off. However, Familia talked him out of it.
“My arm felt OK,” Familia said. “I didn’t feel tired and thought I could pitch. I know my body. I just said, ‘I’m available.’”
And Collins added, “We said, ‘This is the perfect situation to get him right back out there.'”
No it wasn’t. Yesterday was a sign that something may be wrong and he needed a day off. Most ballplayers will want the ball, but it’s up to the manager to make the decisions on whether to use them.
Familia wanted to play, but the right call there was to trust the other guys in the ‘pen and most of them have done pretty good jobs this year.
Collins didn’t and the Mets lost another heartbreaker.
It’s easy to Monday Morning Quarterback, but this time it’s plain and simple.
Terry Collins threw this game away.
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