Skipper’s fishy Trout plan
Collins almost gave free pass to Angel with bases loaded in ninth
In the top of the ninth inning Saturday night at Citi Field, Mike Trout, the world’s greatest hitter, walked to the plate with the bases loaded and his Angels trailing by three runs.
Inside the home dugout along the firstbase line, Terry Collins’ mind immediately wandered to an infamous play from May of 1998 — when then-Diamondbacks manager Buck Showalter intentionally walked Barry Bonds with the bases loaded and his team up two runs in the bottom of the ninth. With yet another potentially devastating bullpen collapse unfolding — the Mets entered the ninth with a fiverun lead only to escape with a 7-5 victory over the visiting Angels — Collins said he “absolutely” considered giving Trout a free pass and walking in a run. “I had pretty much the
same feeling (as Showalter),” Collins said after closer Addison Reed finally nailed down the win. “I might want to walk this guy, pitch around this guy (rather than) give him a chance to hit. But fortunately, Addy made some good pitches.”
Reed opened the at-bat to Trout with a called strike up and away. Then he fired a second 92-mph fastball low and down the middle, right in Trout’s wheelhouse. The two-time MVP fouled it off. After taking a ball on the next pitch, Trout lifted the fourth offering of the at-bat to right center for an RBI sacrifice fly. Crisis averted.
When told Collins was thinking of walking Trout in the ninth, Reed responded sternly.
“No,” Reed said. “I feel confident no matter who I’m facing. I don’t care who’s in the box. Obviously he’s one of the best players in baseball right now. As a pitcher, you’ve got to have all the confidence in yourself, and I felt good out there.”
It was only fitting that on the night Collins became the longesttenured manager in franchise history, the Mets had to a pull an escape act to earn a victory.
The Mets led 7-2 entering the ninth after RBI hits from Wilmer Flores and Jose Reyes in the previous half inning had extended the lead. But then Collins made the peculiar decision of calling upon Neil Ramirez to pitch the final frame. The Mets signed Ramirez on Monday. The righthander entered Saturday with an 8.71 ERA and had already been designated for assignment by both the Blue Jays and Giants this season.
“I just thought it was an appropriate game to try to get him in there,” Collins said, while noting Jerry Blevins was not available to pitch because of workload.
Ramirez proceeded to walk the leadoff batter, then load the bases on back-to-back weakly hit singles.
That led Collins to bring in Reed, who allowed three runs to come home, including one on Trout’s sac fly.
Reed then forced Luis Valbuena into a popup before striking out pinch hitter Danny Espinosa to end the game.
Nothing comes easy in New York for Terry Collins.
“After seven years of watching games like that, I guess we might as well have that one be exciting,” Collins said with a smile. “And it was.”