Heyman: Collins errs by listening to Matt Harvey
Terry Collins will be second guessed for his decision to leave Matt Harvey in the game. (USATSI)
NEW YORK — Matt Harvey‘s too valiant and too tough, as it turns out. On a night Harvey dominated and the Royals and raised the specter of the Dark Knight again, he made only mistake: he talked Terry Collins into keeping him in the game.
Harvey, after logging eight beautiful, scoreless innings, appeared to insist on staying for a ninth, and that was apparently one inning too many. FOX cameras caught pitching coach Dan Warthen going over to Harvey in the dugout during the bottom of the eighth inning and Harvey responding to what seem like a suggestion to call it a night, by mouthing “No way!” then beelining over to Collins to plead and win his case to stay in.
Turns out, Collins should have stuck with his gut. Harvey, who entered the ninth inning with 101 pitches, walked Lorenzo Cain and allowed a double to Eric Hosmer. It was only at that point that Harvey was removed for close Jeurys Familia, but it was too late.
Hosmer went to third and a groundout to first by Mike Moustakas, then scored on a one-hopped bleeder to third baseman David Wright when he outraced first baseman Lucas Duda‘s wide and slow throw home. Hosmer made the play of the game, and Collins looked like he was going to be ill in the dugout.
“Just bring in Familia to start the ninth and the game is over,” second-guessed one NL scout. “Harvey’s not going to finish the game anyway with that pitch count. Just let Familia have a fresh inning for once and the game is over.”
Collins is the Sporting News Manager of the Year, and he may be NL Manager of the Year, too, but he struggled to find the right gamer-closing formula in this World Series, which ended with a 7-2 win by the Royals. Familia was called in to finish out a 9-3 victory in game 3, then wasn’t called in to save a 3-2 lead in Game 4 to start the eighth inning.
This time, Harvey’s magic arm and powers of persuasion caused him to stick with Harvey two batters too long. Collins with good humor, mentioned that even his wife questioned him about why he did’t use Familiar for two innings in Game 4. He also revealed she was at the taco stand at the time of the decision. But she wasn’t alone.
“Collins has had terrible game management of late,” the scout said. “he never should have pitched him in a blowout win and then could have used him for two innings last night, one inning tonight, and the Mets are going to KC up 3-2.”
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