Palladino: Terry Collins Has Work To Do In Not-So-Meaningless Final Week
By Ernie Palladino
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These last handful of games will take on the character of so many others the Mets have played this late since the Years of the Great Drought.
Meaningless.
Only this time, it's not a sad, thirsty trudge to the end. Now, they march into the final week-and-a-half with their heads up, shoulders back and all plans to hit the links or track that prized eight-pointer postponed, at least until someone knocks them out of the playoffs.
The NLDS beckons, but not immediately. Until the schedule officially wraps up next Sunday at home against the Nationals, the Mets can exhale. They did what they needed to do. They can forget that 2-6 stretch that had people whispering that they would back into the NL East title. Three straight wins that saw them ring up 28 runs over the Reds stopped that talk as they walked into the crown through the front door Saturday.
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But it's not as if Terry Collins can just sit back and watch his team run out the string. He had his own celebration Sunday, running out a makeshift lineup that produced plenty in supporting Jacob deGrom's six innings of one-run, nine-strikeout ball in the 8-1 win.
Now, the manager must come off his perch on cloud nine and get back to work. He has things to do -- meaningful tasks -- even though none of them will change the fact that they'll be facing the Dodgers when the NLDS starts two Fridays hence.
The most important involves shoring up the shaky middle-inning relief. Assuming he makes the postseason roster, Jon Niese could be joining Bartolo Colon in the bullpen, which means Collins would do well to get both some work out of there in these final games.
Having the left-handed Niese out there would certainly give Collins a stronger option than he has now. Though he has made only one relief appearance in his career -- two runs on two hits in a third of an inning -- he's still someone who can theoretically get a tough lefty out in the sixth, or handle the seventh.
Colon, who pitched a scoreless inning against the Red Sox this year -- his seventh career relief appearance -- can come in for a power frame or two to get his team to Jeurys Familia.
Then there is Matt Harvey, who finished this division run Saturday just as he should have, with 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball. Scott Boras probably swallowed his tongue as Collins left his co-ace in for 97 pitches. So what? Now, Collins can send him out for a leisurely catch in preparation for what one would hope is a full postseason workload. That means letting him go as long as his performance warrants, regardless of innings or pitch count, Boras' panicky concerns notwithstanding.
This is for the money now. Harvey can rest in the offseason.
Then there's the matter of the lineup. It's likely that one of the Mets' four key trade acquisitions, Juan Uribe, won't be available for the postseason because of his chest contusion. That means even more pressure on the squad's true savior, Yoenis Cespedes, who got the day off Sunday.
As much as Cespedes has done to get the Mets to this point -- just about everything, in other words -- his job isn't over. Lucas Duda's grand slam Saturday may have been impressive, but he's not the rock on which this division run was built. David Wright can get all the hits he wants, but he is not the key to this offense anymore.
Cespedes is.
He's starting to heat up again after a lull, having gone 6-for-17 (.353) in the four games leading up to Sunday's finale. But he hasn't hit a homer in 44 at-bats, since Sept. 14 against the Marlins. Seeing the power come back would take a lot off Collins' mind, not to mention the fans who reveled from afar as the Mets sprayed champagne after Saturday's game.
Sunday's win marked the first day of the rest of the Mets' season, a happily meaningless stretch as far as division chases and playoff positions go. But for the Mets and their manager, it marked the first day of a period of experimentation, adjustment and maintenance.
What happens next sets up the strategy for a series the Mets haven't sniffed since 2006.
No so meaningless after all, huh?
