Matt Harvey was dominating in the most important start of his career. The Mets ace was in the process of throwing a complete game shutout against the Royals through eight innings with New York’s season on the line, and entering the ninth inning he let manager Terry Collins know he wanted a chance to finish what he started.
Collins was going to replace Harvey, but the pitcher told the skipper ‘I’ve got to have this game,’ and he went back out there and subsequently allowed the Royals to rally, which kept the game alive, leading them to win the game and World Series. Going against his gut decision, and betting on Harvey’s emotional response cost the Mets big and Collins said he’s going to question the decision for the foreseeable future.
“I’m going to second-guess myself for a long time, but I truly believe you’ve got to support your players once in a while and that kind of heart and that kind of desire is hard to find,” Collins told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. “I’d have taken him out and we’d allow the runs and it would have been the wrong decision anyway.”
Collins admitted Harvey’s plea, along with his pride in trusting his players swayed his decision in letting him pitched in the ninth.
“I know he was throwing well, but one of the things I’ve tried to pride myself in here is really trust my players. It’s one of the things I’ve learned through the years of managing,” Collins said. “This kid, who has had a tough year, he looked me in the eye and said, ‘I’ve got to have this game.’ And for what he’s been through and what he’s trying to accomplish, I said ‘you can go out there and get the job done.’ It just didn’t happen.”
Collins said in a post-game presser he let his heart get in the way of his gut, and put the blame solely on himself. Managing is no easy gig. You could argue either way on Collins decision, and what could have happened should he sat Harvey down, but unfortunately for him it didn’t work out on the biggest stage of his managing career. That’s a tough pill to swallow.
