Mets' Terry Collins Tears Into Team After Ugly Loss
NEW YORK (WFAN/AP) — His team had just unraveled late in the game again, and Mets manager Terry Collins was seething.
"I'm sick of trying to describe seventh innings — about five in a row," the fiery Collins said Wednesday night after dressing down his club following a 9-3 loss to Pittsburgh. "I'm running out of ideas here."
Kevin Correia became the first eight-game winner in the majors and the pesky Pirates scratched out five infield singles in a five-run seventh, sending the frustrated Collins into a postgame rant.
During the decisive inning, first baseman Daniel Murphy, third baseman Willie Harris and pitcher Chris Capuano all made clumsy mistakes on defense. Plus, the Mets got a tough break on a missed call at third.
"Do we play hard? Absolutely. That's not the issue," said Collins, in his first season as Mets manager. "It's about execution. We have to add on some points when we get the lead and I'm not looking for home runs. I'm looking for quality at-bats. We can't make careless mistakes. We do. We give up at-bats. We can't do that. We don't have that kind of team."
LISTEN: An upset, fired up Collins meets the press after Wednesday's loss
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Capuano (3-6) was a hard-luck loser after carrying a three-hit shutout into the seventh. He never retired another batter and was pulled after giving up five consecutive hits — four that didn't leave the infield.
"We were cruising at that point. It just goes to show you it can happen quick and before we knew it, they put a few runs on the board," Capuano said.
The Pirates have won seven of 10 road series and can take another one with a victory Thursday afternoon, when All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes is expected back in the New York lineup.
Reyes has been on the bereavement list the last three days following his grandmother's death.
"It's not one guy. It's not two guys. This is a whole team thing. And I sit up every night trying to figure out what we can do to get us over the top," Collins said. "I don't have the answers. I'm searching. I'm wringing the rag dry of coming in here and having you look at me like I'm a stinkin' fool. And I told these guys: 'We're good enough. We've got to go play the game right, and we just can't continue to make foolish mistakes."
Ruben Tejada fisted a two-run single that put New York ahead 2-0 in the fourth and Justin Turner homered in the eighth to cut it to 9-3, snapping a long power outage for the Mets.
Minus injured boppers David Wright and Ike Davis, they had gone 10 games without a home run for the first time since a club-record drought of 17 games in 1980.
"Nobody cares about our injuries," Harris said, "and we can't feel sorry for ourselves."
Collins was more concerned with the lack of execution.
"They're big league players. They should be able to do it," he said. "I told the coaches, 'We've got to do a better job. We've got to take responsibility for this. I mean, I'm the manager. It comes back on my shoulders. ... Maybe I have to make some adjustments. And by God, they'll be made. I don't know if it comes with finding different players, but something's going to be changed."
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