Amazin’ big arms also carry some big sticks
LOS ANGELES — Bartolo Colon must have inspired his colleagues.
Before Jacob deGrom’s 0-for-2 night Tuesday in the Mets’ 3-2 loss at Dodger Stadium, Mets pitchers had a three-game hitting streak, a stretch that began with Colon’s first career home run, on Saturday in San Diego.
Matt Harvey followed with a twohit game against the Padres and Steven Matz delivered an RBI double against the Dodgers a day later.
“I think we all take pride in it,” Matz said. “We all like to swing up there.”
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Manager Terry Collins credited assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler for the pitchers’ recent success at the plate.
“He’s the one who put this in, the whole philosophy about having the mindset of being more offensive and those guys have worked hard at it,” Collins said.
Matz indicated moderation is the key during batting practice.
“You don’t want to swing and get sore from that,” he said. “Every day we are in there bunting and if
we feel all right, not too sore after our starts, we’ll definitely swing as much as we can.”
Josh Edgin completed his rehab assignment and was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas. The lefty reliever underwent Tommy John surgery in March 2015.
Neil Walker was absent from the starting lineup for a third straight game because of a right shin bruise, but will play Wednesday, according to Collins. The second baseman was concerned about leaving the Mets short-handed if he started Tuesday and needed to be removed from the game. Michael Conforto was in the lineup against lefty Alex Wood, but was dropped to sixth in the order.
“You would like to leave him in the three hole if I thought he was going to do some damage,” Collins said. “We said, ‘Hey, look, let’s just put him where we don’t have to put so much heat on him against this particular left-handed pitcher.”
Conforto went 0-for-3 with a strikeout against Wood before striking out against Dodgers righty closer Kenley Jansen in the ninth.
Collins ventured to the Dodgers TV booth before batting practice to see Vin Scully, who is retiring after this season. Collins was managing the Dodgers’ TripleA team in the 1980s when first got to know the legendary broadcaster.
“He’s one of the finest human beings on the face of the earth,” Collins said. “He’s who he is and he treats you like you’re something special, when he’s the one who is special. I can’t imagine the Dodgers without him.”