After Colonis considered, Gsellman gets it done
PHILADELPHIA — Terry Collins did not want to risk upsetting his pitchers’ routines, so Friday night he sent out 23-year-old rookie Robert Gsellman for the biggest start of his young career. The Mets manager had toyed with the idea of starting Bartolo Colon on short rest but dismissed it.
“We got together with everybody involved, including Bart, and we just said they all got to pitch this way anyway so the best thing is to not try to get too cute and to allow them to have their regular rest and their regular routine and then go from there,” Collins said. “He bought in, he said that was great with him, so that’s what we’re going to do.”
Gsellman did just fine, allowing one run over six innings in the Mets’ 5-1 win over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. He gave the Mets and Colon a chance to clinch a playoff spot.
Collins is hoping the Mets can take care
of that on Saturday so he can use Noah Syndergaard in a limited, 25-pitch start on Sunday to keep him sharp, and then pitch him in the win-or-go-home game. That was a little easier with the Mets going into Friday night’s game with a magic number of two to clinch a wild card.
Friday, Collins was too focused on getting the playoff berth to talk about the possible machinations to his rotation.
“That’s down the road,” Collins said. “I’m worried about this game tonight.”
Despite the fact that Colon had been dealing with a sore calf, Collins said that the 43-year-old’s health was not a factor in the decision. They said they would still consider bringing Colon back on short rest on Wednesday if need be.
“Would you bring a 43-year-old back on three days’ rest? We don’t know yet if that’s our best option, we’d probably have to consider it,” Collins said. “We just said I think we’re really pushing a little too heavy to know about Wednesday, when tonight’s a big game. Tomorrow is going to be a big game. We got everybody set up to where they’re natural going to pitch and let’s leave it.
“If we have to make adjustments because we have some success tonight and somebody else gets beat then we can make other adjustments. We didn’t want to mess with it.”
Collins just wants to clinch that playoff berth first and then worry about his pitching.
“It’s not done by any means and we’re certainly aware there is one thing that can make the Philadelphia Phillies have a nice year and that’s to take care of business this weekend and knock us off the pedestal. We got to go out and take care of our business.”
FLORES FINISHED
As much as the Mets hoped Wilmer Flores might be able to get back from a wrist injury this season, he’s done.
The utility infielder said that he tried to swing a bat Friday and it did not go well. He will see a doctor back in New York on Monday and he said that he was not sure if surgery would be necessary.
Flores has not played since Sept. 10 when he injured his wrist sliding into home plate. After two cortisone shots and rest, Flores still has pain in the wrist. It is a huge blow. He is their best right-handed hitting option off the bench for a possible playoff run, especially with the possibility of facing lefty Madison Bumgarner, in the wild card game.