Terry Collins Loses His Patience

During the postgame on SNY last night, Terry Collins lost his composure. Just a few of his quotes:

“I’m sick of trying to describe seventh innings. This is about five in a row. Kid pitched his butt off tonight. What’d they get eight hits — seven of them infield hits? We look up and we’re behind. That’s what I thought about the seventh inning. … Gotta take a guy out of the ballgame who’s pitched his ass off?”

Dave, I’m running out of ideas here. … Did we play hard? Absolutely. The issue is not effort, that’s not it. … Execution. We need to add on points when we’re ahead. … We give up at-bats … we can’t do that, we’re not that kind of team.”

“I sit up every night trying to figure out what can we do to get over the top. … We don’t get bunts down … we get in situations where we got to make a pitch and we don’t make the pitch. … I don’t have the answers. But I’m searching. I’m wringing the rag dry of having to come in here, and I’m tired of coming in here and having you guys look at me like I’m a stinkin’ fool.”

“Ill take all the suck and blame that anyone wants to hand out … maybe I got to make some adjustments, and by god, they’ll be made … if I have to find different players, but they’ll be made. Something is going to be changing.”

I can certainly understand Collins’ frustration. What concerns me is that this is coming out in public after only 55 games. Where will Collins’ head be when it’s midseason and the team is out of the race?

After Collins’ Q&A, Bobby Ojeda responded like he was still a player, which was kind of cool — he was very fired up and inspired. I agreed with much of what Ojeda said, though not all. For example Ojeda said that there are some players who feel “I did my job” rather than are concerned about the final score, and he suggested that the clubhouse culture needs to change. I’m not close enough to see what’s happening in the clubhouse, but it seems to me that the clubhouse isn’t necessarily the issue. And I’m curious to know which players he thinks are selfish and more concerned with doing “their job” than the final score. Because to be completely honest, I’m not sure who I’d peg with that — and you know I’m pretty critical / judgmental. If anything, the issue is that the Mets have mediocre, improperly prepared ballplayers on the roster. Collins made several nameless references to Willie Harris in his postgame remarks, and Harris was playing out of position. Should Harris have been more prepared in regard to knowing what to do with the ball before he touched it? Absolutely, but that’s part of the reason he’s been a marginal bench player for most of his career. One of the reasons he was moved to the outfield when he was young was because he couldn’t cut the mustard as an infielder. So it shouldn’t have been a surprise that Harris was clueless last night — it’s who he is.

Speaking of Harris, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him cut or demoted within the next few days. He’s not hitting and now he’s not fielding the way the Mets need him to, and Collins is obviously frustrated with him. I like Willie because he plays hard and is a stand-up guy, but unfortunately that’s not enough to justify taking a spot on the 25-man roster. Though, I’m not sure who the Mets have to replace him right now. Chin-Lung Hu?

What are your thoughts? Are you pleased that Terry Collins blew his stack? Do you think it will make a difference in the Mets performance going forward?