Du-da Hustle!
A certain Mets player should have known that, but picked the absolute worst night to jog to first base after hitting a popup. It gave manager Terry Collins the ammunition he needed to send his team a message, perhaps in a better manner than the previous night, when he implied the Mets had quit on the season.
“Something had to be done,” Collins said of his decision to remove Lucas Duda from the game on a night the Mets rolled to a 7-3 victory over the Marlins at Citi Field.
Duda blooped a first-inning single against Jacob Turner that would have been a double had he hustled to first base. As punishment, Duda was replaced in left field for the start of the third inning.
“I didn’t bust down the line,” Duda said. “Terry pulled me out. I would have done the same thing.”
Before the game, Collins said he was frustrated and used his words as a motivational ploy the previous night, when he implied his team had no fight remaining.
“Sometimes you say, ‘What can I say that will maybe make them mad enough to say, ‘You know what, I’ll show that little [jerk],’ ” Collins said. “That was the way I tried to approach it and I don’t ever do that, so that might have been the wrong way.
“I don’t ever want to challenge anybody’s integrity, that is wrong. My players are professionals, and they didn’t get here without being guys that play their hearts out all the time.”
Collins met individually with players yesterday and tried to smooth over his words that followed the Mets’ 16-1 loss to the Phillies on Thursday.
Don’t expect any of the recent craziness to affect the manager’s job status. A club source was emphatic in saying Collins, who is signed through 2013, still has the front office’s support and will return for next season.
Collins said he was grasping at air by questioning the team’s heart.
“As a manager, you sit here and try to fix [things],” Collins said. “You try to figure out how to fix it and pull out all your stops. When you don’t have the answers anymore, it’s frustrating.”
Last night’s victory snapped a franchise-record streak of 16 home games in which the Mets scored three runs or fewer. The Mets (67-83) won for just the second time in 13 games overall and moved to 5-24 at Citi Field since the All-Star break.
“It felt like a playoff win, and they just came out and played like we know they can,” Collins said.
Earlier, Collins said he wanted his players to know he still cares about 2012.
“I read a story years ago about some players who didn’t think the manager cared during some tough times because it didn’t seem like he was angry,” Collins said. “I said, ‘I don’t want that ever said about me.’ I do care. I believe in accountability and it starts with me. I want them to know I will be the first guy to stand up and held accountable for what’s going on here.
“At the same token I want them to know we set the bar high, we set our expectations high and we’re not living up to them. I’m frustrated because I take great pride in trying to create a positive atmosphere … and maintain that atmosphere and therefore I think it lifts the play of the players. It’s not working, so I got frustrated by it.”