PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — On this sunny morning, Terry Collins is his usual ball of energy.
He has been back and forth twice to Digital Domain Park, worked out, returned home to wait for a furniture delivery that never came, loaded his old television into the back of his SUV to deliver to Goodwill and is now in his garage showing off the new ping-pong table his wife Debbie just purchased.
This is not to be confused with the small dining room table that converts to a bumper pool table. At the age of 61, Collins knows it’s time to have fun, and he knows exactly what he is getting into as the new manager of the Mets.
The 5-foot-9 Collins relishes competition and has mapped out spring training plans for his pitchers and position players. There will be tweaks like better utilizing Jose Reyes’ golden
arm in cutoff and relay situations, an emphasis on hitters making more contact and not swinging for the fences, new bunt plays, base-running drills and an overall approach of playing the game with pride.
There is something else that he is planning for spring training that gives you a clear indication this is not the same overly intense Collins who managed in Houston (1994-96) and Anaheim (1997-99).
He is planning on having bowling nights for staff and players. That’s right, bowling.
“You have to have fun, don’t you?” Collins asked. “I don’t even care if you don’t want to bowl or you want to bowl left-handed, but we are going to get together, have some pizza, have some fun and try to draw us closer together.”
He proudly shows off the “His and Her” Mets bowling bags. His ball features the Mets logo and the beautiful New York skyline. Debbie’s bowling ball is a lady-like pink. The rap against Collins is that in the past he alienated some players with his hard-charging style, but the third time around is going to be different, he promises. He’s going to be intense. That’s a given. That’s who he is. But he wants to have more fun doing his job.
“If I wanted to summarize my past managerial experiences, I loved it, but I didn’t enjoy it enough,” Collins said. “I need to enjoy it more. I need to understand that this is really cool.”
In Anaheim, Collins admitted he “did a bad job of managing the clubhouse.”
“This year will be a whole different scenario,” he said. “I think my communicative skills are much more improved through the years, I’ve gotten to know these guys through the last year and will do a much better job of managing the clubhouse than in the past.”
To that end, he held a coaches meeting here last week to explain to his staff that he wants them to have input in clubhouse life, too.
“I want my coaches totally
involved,” he said. “What I’m going to tell everyone in spring training is that we all have the same name on our chests. And my room is their room. And their room is our room. I want the players to have a voice in things.”
He wants preparation, self discipline, maximum effort and a thought process from his players.
“The ultimate compliment we can get,” Collins explained, “is that when a father leaves the ballpark with his son and says, ‘That’s how you play.’ “
This is his message to the team, a message he said that has received “outstanding” feedback.
“We’re not just going out there to think we’re going to let the rest of the league beat us up. That’s not how we are going to approach this,” Collins said. “We’re going out to let them know that every night when they take the field against us they’re in a baseball game and they’re going to have to execute because we are.”
Communication and stability will be the Mets’ new anchor. For example: Carlos Beltran will be either the center fielder or right fielder. Once it is determined which position he will play, there will be no bouncing back and forth even if there is an injury to the other position.
“I’ve already talked to Carlos twice,” Collins said. “We’re going to sit down the day he arrives and we are going to get a plan in place, what’s best for Carlos and what’s best for this baseball team. He wants to win. He wants to do what’s best for the team. I want Sandy [Alderson, general manager] involved in that and together we will come up with the right decision.”
Collins said he will make sure players know in advance when they have days off.
“They are not going to be surprised,” he said. “They also are going to know where they are going to be. There will be a set lineup. Players have routines. They stick with their routines and that’s what makes them special.”
Collins learned that when he was a coach with the Pirates under Jim Leyland in the early ’90s. At that time, Pirates coaches lockered next to players. For three years, Collins’ locker was next to Barry Bonds.
“I consider him a friend,” Collins said.
He said he admires the job Rex Ryan has done with the Jets. There’s a coach who knows how to have fun.
“I like him a lot,” Collins said. “He’s not afraid.”
Collins is not about to bury a dozen baseballs at Citi Field to make the Mets forget their past horrors, but he wants the players to move forward and be in attack mode.
“I’m not afraid of managing in New York,” he said.
Last year, Collins cleaned up a Mets minor league system that was pretty much in chaos, and Debbie followed him to places such as Savannah, Ga., picking up pieces of decorative art along the way, colorful fish that line the walls of their living room.
The couple celebrated their first anniversary last week. It is the second marriage for both. She’s a widower. Collins had been long divorced. This is a love story of second chances because the two first met back in Midland, Mich., in grade school, back when the athletic Terry ruled the playground.
“I remember Terry from third grade,” she noted with a warm smile. “He said he doesn’t remember me until the seventh.”
“We also went to junior high and high school together,” Terry added. “She’s so fun. She’s learning the game of baseball, but we’ve both reached the stage in our lives where we just want to have fun and that’s what’s going to help me with managing.”
Another light-hearted decoration they purchased was a ladder of woven “Silly Birds” to hang over a door off the living room.
“They say each time you walk by the door, the birds bring you luck,” Collins said.
Luck is something a Mets manager could use.
And remember that furniture truck that was supposed to arrive early in the day with new end tables and other items? It finally arrived, at Collins’ other home in Virginia.
All Terry Collins could do was laugh.
kevin.kernan@nypost.com