Mets manager Terry Collins was discussing pitch counts for Daisuke Matsuzaka before Wednesday night’s game and, given that the veteran righty had thrown 117 in a minor league game this season, an estimation of 120 seemed fair.
“Hopefully, that gets him into the seventh, eighth inning and if he pitches like I’ve seen in the past, we’ll be shaking hands when the game’s over,” Collins said.
Well, Matsuzaka threw 110 pitches. But there were no handshakes. And there certainly was no seventh, eighth inning for him. There was barely a fifth.
In his second start for the rotation-ravaged Mets, Matsuzaka lasted only 4 1/3 innings. Betrayed by his control, Matsuzaka walked four, hit two batters and lost again as the Phillies and Cole Hamels dealt the Mets their sixth defeat in seven games, a 6-2 setback at Citi Field.
In the wake of Matt Harvey’s injury news and the trade of John Buck and Marlon Byrd, the Mets have begun looking in earnest at their possible future chips. So Wilmer Flores, 22, got his first major league start at second. Today, Matt den Dekker, 26, will debut and start in center.
But first, there was last night to slough through.
“Today’s game was pretty self explanatory. I was all over the place, all over the zone,” Matsuzaka, speaking through an interpreter, said after exiting down, 2-1, following a plunking of John Mayberry Jr. with his 110th and final pitch. “I wasn’t able to throw the ball where [catcher Travis] d’Arnaud wanted me to throw it.”
The fifth inning got worse as Hamels (6-13) delivered a two-run single against reliever Robert Carson, who yielded a solo homer to Carlos Ruiz in the sixth.
Ike Davis singled in a run in the third and Andrew Brown stroked an RBI double in the seventh against Hamels (eight strikeouts over seven innings) for the Mets. Philly added an unearned run in the ninth.
In his first start for the Mets Friday, Matsuzaka settled down and retired the final 10 he faced. This time, there was no recovery. Matsuzaka dodged bases-loaded situations in the second and third innings then got slapped for a Jimmy Rollins RBI double (out trying for a triple) in the fourth. The fifth inning brought collapse for Matsuzaka who worked with the speed of winter molasses.
“I do know he does take some time between pitches. His stuff’s good enough,” Collins said. “Tonight, the command was off and therefore he was off. When he commands it, he’s going to get outs.”
Collins again stressed the season’s final month-plus is a time for players to grasp opportunity. He emphasized upcoming games should not be viewed as auditions, but rather as a time to learn where guys can and can’t play. Flores played 79 games at second base for Triple-A Las Vegas this season. Since arriving Aug. 6 after David Wright was injured, Flores had made all 16 of his starts at third base.
“It’s just learning the position here,” said Flores, who struck out three times and made an error, but it came at third base. “I’ve been playing it a lot at Triple-A. It’s nothing new. I’m confident. … The hardest thing at second base is turning the double plays. The thing for me is just working my feet.”
Collins said general manager Sandy Alderson “wanted me to get [Flores] in at second base sometime and wanted to see how he’d handle it.”
But that doesn’t mean Daniel Murphy is being cast aside.
“It will be a little unfair for [Flores] because Murph’s going to get the majority of the time,” Collins said. “I’m going to do the best I can to make sure he gets some playing time and not disrupt things either.”
fred.kerber@nypost.com