NEW YORK — Terry Collins will experience one of the crowning moments of his 45-year baseball career Tuesday night, when he manages the National League in the All-Star Game as a reward for directing the New York Mets to the World Series last season.
But in the days leading up to the All-Star Game, Collins was more concerned with getting all the Mets’ representatives to San Diego in one piece.
“All’s I’m trying to make sure is that Jeurys Familia will be on the plane,” Collins said Saturday in reference to his closer, one of four Mets selected to the NL squad. “Because for all I know, today he’s going to step on a shoelace and break his wrist when he falls down.”
Familia managed to survive the final series of the first half intact, but the same could not be said for fellow All-Stars Noah Syndergaard and Yoenis Cespedes, who both got hurt against the Washington Nationals on Friday night and had to back out of the All-Star Game.
Syndergaard (arm fatigue) and Cespedes (right quad strain) are not expected to need disabled list stints, but their injuries provided an appropriate coda to a rollercoaster first half for the Mets.
New York (47-41) enters the All-Star Break with a half-game lead on the Miami Marlins in the race for the NL’s second wild card. The Mets are 2 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, the No. 1 wild card and six games behind the Nationals in the NL East.
The Mets would much rather be in sturdier playoff position following last season’s pennant run. But treading water is acceptable for a team that has fielded its Opening Day lineup nine times — and not at all since Apr. 22.
“Every day, you come in, you write a lineup, and it changes,” Collins said. “Couple times, things get going good, and then you lose a big piece, be it a pitcher or an offensive piece. It’s been hard, It’s been tough on everybody.”
Five of the 10 players that started for the Mets against the Kansas City Royals on April 3 have hit the disabled list. Starting pitcher Matt Harvey (thoracic outlet syndrome) and third baseman David Wright (neck surgery) are out for the year while first baseman Lucas Duda (stress fracture in his lower back) hasn’t played since May 20 and has yet to resume baseball activities. Catcher Travis d’Arnaud (right shoulder) missed almost two months while centerfielder Juan Lagares (torn ligament in left thumb) was sidelined for a little more than two weeks.
Outfielders Cespedes (quad, left wrist and right thigh) and Curtis Granderson (right calf) and second baseman Neil Walker (chest, back) have all battled nagging injuries while Opening Day designated hitter Michael Conforto was sent to Triple-A Las Vegas following a long slump. Only shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera has enjoyed a reasonably consistent and injury-free first half.
“This year, we just had higher expectations,” Collins said. “So they’ve been a little more costly than they have been in the past, the major injuries.”
The constant shuffling of pieces, plus a homer-happy approach, explains the Mets’ inconsistent nature on offense. They have scored five runs or more 28 times and two runs or fewer 35 times. New York ranks fifth in the majors in homers (122) yet just 28th in runs (335).
“We’ve got to do a better job in situational hitting,” Collins said. “I’m one of 30 teams saying that at the break, too. That’s going to be the key. When we’ve got guys in scoring position, we’ve just got to realize that a single is going to work. We don’t have to hit a home run all the time.”
The Mets scored 18 runs in their final road trip of the first half, a seven-game trek from June 23 through June 29, before busting out for 55 runs in the first eight games of an 11-game homestand. But they scored just four runs in the last three games, all losses to the Nationals.
Thanks to fortified depth, the Mets have reason to believe they’ll field a more reliable offense in the second half. James Loney (first base) and Jose Reyes (third base) quickly became mainstays in the lineup, with Reyes providing an element of speed New York previously lacked. Wilmer Flores, nudged to a super sub role with Reyes’ arrival, hit five homers in the final week.
“That’s what made us good last year — we were able to move pieces around,” Collins said. “We took somebody out of the game, we had a legit piece to go in there and fill-in. That’s what made us so successful in the second half and I can see that happening again.”
The Mets are getting their usual strong pitching — they rank third in the majors with a 3.39 ERA — but even that area has become worrisome due to Harvey’s injury and elbow scares for Syndergaard and left-hander Steven Matz. Jacob deGrom has regained his velocity following an early-season lull and will carry a 2.61 ERA into the break.
The Mets’ most consistent starter has been the oldest man in the game — 43-year-old Bartolo Colon, who was named to the All-Star team after going 7-4 with a 3.28 ERA in 18 games (17 starts). Familia has converted all 31 of his save opportunities while Jerry Blevins and Addison Reed have been strong in the seventh and eighth inning.
A second-half surge carried the Mets into the World Series last year. Collins won’t predict a similar run this season, but New York’s ability to remain in the race has him hopeful.
“Sometimes we’re not happy where we are, because we think we’re better,” Collins said. “But yet, at the same time we’re realistic enough to know hey, look, we’ll take where we are, because it could be worse.”