Collins made the right decision on Harvey
— -- NEW YORK -- The New York Mets were three outs away from sending the World Series back to Kansas City when Terry Collins, weathered baseball lifer, did something that weathered baseball lifers are not supposed to do: He surrendered to his human instinct. He locked eyes with his pitcher, Matt Harvey, and listened as the kid spoke passionately from the heart.
"No way. No way. I'm not coming out," the Fox camera caught Harvey saying.
"I want this game. I want it bad. You've got to leave me in. ... I want this game in the worst way," was how Collins said he heard it.
Harvey had been as electric in Game 5 as he has ever been, pre- or post-Tommy John surgery. He'd struck out nine Royals, and he'd delivered a mid-game stretch of six consecutive outs on whiffs. He'd given up four singles over eight shutout innings and 102 pitches and, of equal consequence, he'd carried himself like a man possessed by a redemptive spirit, releasing primal screams during the game and even encouraging the packed house at Citi Field to pump up the noise.
Towel slung over his shoulder, Harvey was some fire-breathing sight in that dugout as he confronted his manager, ordering him to send him out for the ninth so he could shove that innings-limit fiasco down the haters' throats once and for all.
