Departing with dignity
PHILADELPHIA — In the end, when Terry Collins was finally pushed out the managerial door by the Mets on Sunday, he continued to hold his head up high. Good for him. “I wouldn’t say I’m resigning, I’m stepping down for sure,’’ Collins said after a final-day 11-0 loss to the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, ending his seventh Mets season with a 70-92 record.
“This has been a great time, a wonderful experience. We had a good run. This is one of those years that you want to forget, and I will tomorrow, and look forward to opportunities that lie ahead.
“I had a batting champion, I had a no-hitter, I had a team hits’ king, a World Series, I got to watch one of my pitchers start an All-Star Game. So it’s been a blast, but it’s time.’’
Collins will continue to work for the team in an unspecified role. The Mets sure could use his help in a variety of ways.
It will be up to the next manager to get this on-field situation fixed, good luck to Kevin Long or Robin Ventura or whomever follows Collins. Managing the Mets is no easy gig with all the backroom dealings, financial limitations and general mess-ups that are so unique to this team.
Collins, 68, put out a lot of fires and took a lot of bullets for Sandy Alderson and the Wilpons. That is exhausting.
“This is a sour taste, there is no question about it,’’ Collins said. “There are some things you got to be able to do and right now I think this is best for the organization. I’m a team guy, I will always be a team player. Sandy and I have talked recently and we just think this is the best option. I appreciate the fact they want me to stay, that means a lot to me.
“I’m just praying for these guys to come back 100 percent, Michael Conforto and the pitchers, [Yoenis] Cespedes,’’ he said. “I’m going to be there and do the best I can to help out.’’
Here is what Collins said to his team when he addressed them for the final time.
“I just told them, ‘Look, there are a lot of young guys in the room, one year ago today we celebrated [a wild-card berth] here, and the experience [you] had the last month is not what you want. You want to be able to celebrate. Getting to the big leagues when you have talent is easy. Staying here and winning is hard. That’s what it is all about.
“Go into this winter and say, ‘What do I need to do to make this team a champion.’ That’s the only way to approach it. We got some talented kids, we got some great veterans, if that pitching gets healthy, the fans of this team are going to enjoy what they see next summer.
“There was a time this summer when I said, ‘I’m not sure I can keep doing this.’ I cared. I care about the team. It was getting tough. They kept falling down, so did I.’’
Collins’ eyes filled with tears, his voice cracked with emotion. “So, that’s it,’’ he declared. Collins was asked if the Mets had offered the job as manager again, would he have taken it.
“I don’t know if I have it in me right now,’’ he admitted. “I really don’t, but I’m certainly going to get some rest and figure out how to help down the road someplace.
“I’m a baseball guy. There are only 30 of these [jobs],’’ Collins said. “They’re hard to get and they are hard to keep. So to be here for seven years is pretty cool.’’
Collins wrote a final lineup that spoke volumes. Not one position starter Sunday was on the Mets’ Opening Day roster.
To his credit, Alderson praised Collins’ work and vast experience in player development and said of the inexperienced Mets who arrived this season, “I think we could use the help.’’
Collins will be there to help. Once again Sunday he made life a little bit easier for the Mets.