We won! Mets 2, Marlins 1. The four-game skid is over.
I was asked to write about reliever Hansel Robles in today’s poem, since manager Terry Collins put him in a bases loaded, none out situation. Robles, a righty, struck out two before lefty Dee Gordon (a legit threat) came up to the plate. Collins took out Robles and put in our left-handed specialist Blevins, who got the out with a shallow fly ball that Cespedes caught on the run, although Gary Cohen on SNY was so excited for the out that he said it was Conforto, not Cespedes. Either way, I’m sure Robles wanted that out more after those first two Ks.
The New York Post even wrote about Collins’s “full-throttle” bullpen strategy for this game and his effort to end the losing streak. GM Sandy Alderson said that it’s not something we’ll likely see again.
The Tenth Mind on the Field
World Series, game five, ninth inning, and Harvey
wants to finish the shutout. No way!
Harvey says to Collins, no way am I coming out!
So Collins lets him back in, and Harvey
sprints to the mound, the crowd cheers
and chants his name, and then he walks one
and gives up a double. Collins throws
his lineup pad, storms into the corner
of the dugout to swear off-camera.
It’s a choice he’ll wish he never made–
he could’ve lost his job because they lost.
He should’ve brought in the closer, Familia,
‘cause Harvey was gassed. So, next season
Collins goes full-throttle, rifling through his bullpen
after days of short rest and high pitch counts
and tired arms, just to win one game,
to not make the same mistake again.
Robles came in, bases loaded and none out
and struck out two, then Collins
yanked him and put in the lefty reliever
to face the lefty batter. He got a close out,
shallow fly to left where the fielder caught it
on the run, but Robles deserved
that third K, and Collins is stuck between heart
and brain and gut. He’s the tenth mind on the field,
the one that sees everything, that has to choose
who stays in, who gets yanked, and who
has the best chance to win.
