On Sunday, Terry Collins pulled Matt Harvey after five innings of one hit, scoreless baseball. This was per the plan that all of the parties agreed to over the weekend.
New York’s bullpen then imploded after Harvey left the game, allowing 11 runs (seven earned) over four innings in relief of Harvey as the Mets eventually fell 11-2 to the Yankees.
Before Monday’s game with the Braves, Collins was asked about pulling Harvey – and he clearly wasn’t happy.
Here are some of the key quotes from Collins, as transcribed by the New York Post.
“Things change. And you have to change with them,” Collins said before Monday’s game. “So taking Matt out after five innings [Sunday] night, was I disturbed? You’re damn right I was disturbed. But that’s what it is.
“… If it keeps us from winning the pennant, I’m not going to be very happy about it. But … you have to adapt to it, as opposed to leaving him in and creating a tremendous mess that you can’t ever get out of, that that’s the last game he pitches for the season. It’s not worth that.”
And some comments from Mets GM Sandy Alderson…
“Matt wasn’t involved in the conversations previously, he has stated he is prepared to do whatever we ask him to do and to this point that is what he has done,” Alderson said. “We expect that to continue. I think his point of view is he will pitch when he is asked to pitch and that makes it incumbent on us to be reasonable and realistic with the demands we place on him.
“Which I think we’ve been since the beginning of the year.”
So…everyone isn’t on the same page? Or they are, but some parties are just more pissed off about it than others?
The Mets have an 85-65 record, and are 6.5 games up on the Nationals in the NL East. Their magic number for clinching the division is seven. New York has two more games left with the woeful Braves, along with four against the terrible Reds and three with the embarrassing Phillies before closing their season at home with Washington.
If this race for the NL East title goes down to that final weekend, I don’t think anyone with the Mets will be happy. New York is also battling the Dodgers for homefield advantage in the NLDS – Los Angeles has a one game edge in the loss column, and the two teams are even in the win column. The Dodgers’ magic number for clinching the NL West is also seven, so both teams could end up clinching on the same day.
