Authorization To Tap Dance

There was something not right with Terry Collins’ pre-game newser. A day after he told us that he wasn’t at liberty to discuss Jay Bruce’s and Tommy Milone’s injuries, Collins was asked about the injuries in general, and you can tell he was being set up to explain himself in a way that would get everybody off his back and off Jeffy’s back as well. I’ll paraphrase:

“Well if I tell you how long they’ll be out and they’re out longer, then I look like an idiot.”

Terry, don’t flatter yourself. We know that you’re not to blame for this. It’s admirable of you to want to squash this latest controversy about having a gag order put on you so you’re basically going to play Tony Montana and take all the bullets so that everybody else can skate. You want to take blame for something? Take blame for sending Neil Ramirez up against Wil Myers on Wednesday, when Ramirez was DFA’d by the Giants in April after he gave up a grand slam to Wil Myers. Take blame for that. But when you take blame for something that we all know is clearly an organizational issue and not a Terry Collins issue, then you’re insulting our intelligence. Because it’s damage control, and we see through it. You’re a good soldier, Terry. And we know there are other forces at play here. But come on, now.

After Terry’s tap dance, the Mets had to play a game. I was worried about Dinelson Lamet vs. Jacob deGrom, but we didn’t even get that because Terry and Co. decided to pull deGrom from a rainy night. I can’t be too angry because imagine if deGrom got hurt, or was wasted because of a fourth inning rain delay. The bad news though, is that Rafael Montero got the start, and any thought of Montero being good because he didn’t have enough time to worry about his start went out the window in the first inning as he gave up two runs, en route to an 87 pitch performance in three innings. (Zach Wheeler hurt his elbow just watching.) Dinelson Lamet, meanwhile, gave up one run in five innings (a Lucas Duda home run) and struck out eight. Because of course.

The Mets made it interesting in the ninth after Addison Reed gave up a run in the top half to make the score 4-2 San Diego. But for the second straight night they got right up to the brink against Brad Hand before Hand closed his fingers around the Mets’ throats. The Mets dropped two out of three to a team who were kicking the ball around the diamond, and could be on pace to lose 100 games. Afterwards, my wife informed me that the sports guys on NY1 said that Montero shouldn’t be on the team anymore. I’d agree, but I’m not at liberty to discuss this.

Even if I was, I wouldn’t even know what to say anymore anyway.

Today’s Hate List

1. Luis Torrens
2. Allen Cordoba
3. Miguel Diaz
4. Yangervis Solarte
5. Brandon Maurer