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MLB WORLD SERIES: METS VS ROYALS

October 31, 2015

Terry Collins

Flushing, New York - Mets postgame four

Royals - 5 Mets - 3

Q. We've talked about urgency and the way you've managed throughout the postseason. If you can just take me through whether you had a thought of bringing in Familia to start the 8th or what was your thought process to bring Familia in?
TERRY COLLINS: Well, we talked about possibly doing two innings and Jeurys. So we thought we'd start with Clippard, and if the go-ahead run gets on, we'll go to Familia. And when he walked Cain, we said, We've got to go to Familia.

Q. What did you see with Clippard?
TERRY COLLINS: First guy, he pitched him great. Second guy he just missed with his pitches. One thing he doesn't do, he doesn't walk a lot of guys. And we don't walk a lot of guys, period. Like I said, he has pretty good success against the lefties, and when he walked Zobrist, I thought, we'll let him see if he can get Cain out, and then he gets Hosmer.

If they got the go-ahead run on, we were going to go to Familia. We got the ground ball, and we didn't make the play. And the next ground ball you're at double-play depth, it's a different situation, when you didn't have to be. It's certainly one of those situations where we couldn't stop the bleeding.

Q. Duda's double play, Cespedes being that far off base, should he been that far off?
TERRY COLLINS: Obviously the answer would be no. He got a freeze on a line drive a little bit. He got off. I'm sure the first thought in his mind is, I'm going to score any ball that gets in the gap, I'm going to make sure he scores, and he got too far off.

Q. Could you take us through your thoughts and emotions. You're six outs from tying the World Series, and it went so quickly in that inning. What's going through your heart, soul and brain?
TERRY COLLINS: We talked before the inning, we said we're going to start with Clippard, and when they got the first guy out. We said before the inning, if the go-ahead run gets on, we're going to go to Familia. But I didn't want to have to burn Jeurys tonight for two innings, if I could help it. So it didn't work.

Q. You guys have hit like 19 home runs in the postseason, and I think ten of them in games you win. That's a little lopsided for the way you usually play. Any explanation why you haven't been generating more offense?
TERRY COLLINS: I don't have an answer for that. Obviously if I would, we'd probably hit some more. But we have been swinging the bats very well, we had a nice night last night and tonight we just didn't get the hits when we needed them, except for Conforto. It was one of those nights where they stymied the middle of the lineup. They pitched good. But we certainly -- you know, anybody that can give me the answers of why we're not hitting in certain situations, I'd like to hear them.

Q. You knew coming in the Royals were the kind of team to take advantage of mistakes, is that what's hurts the most, the mistakes that are hurting you in the series?
TERRY COLLINS: No question. In postseason, you can't give away outs. You've got to make outs. You can't give good teams opportunities to score extra runs, because they can do it.

Q. I know there's a lot you guys feel you could have done better, but it's kind of the MO of Kansas City, that they're relentless, they just keep coming at you and at some point go past.
TERRY COLLINS: Yeah, they do. We certainly talked about it before, they truly don't ever stop. They have very good lineup from top to bottom. They can do a lot of things. They're athletic. So like I say, you've got to make pitches and you've got to get outs when you have the opportunity.

Steven Matz threw the ball very well tonight. For five innings it was very, very good. And then after that I thought certainly when we had the lead going into the eighth inning, I said if we can get to Jeurys for four outs or something, we'll do that. But again we had our opportunity, we didn't make the plays we needed to make.

Q. Given what you mentioned about Clippard's walks, Cespedes play to end the game, the ball he kicked in the outfield, Murphy having trouble at second, did the Royals beat you or did you guys beat yourselves tonight?
TERRY COLLINS: Well, they've still got to score and they did. When you allow them to have opportunities, like I just said, the good teams are going to beat you, and they're a good team.

Q. Did the fact that Familia pitched last night affect how you were going to use him tonight at all as far as length?
TERRY COLLINS: A little bit. A little bit. But again this is what we've done. To get back in it we knew we had to get through the eighth inning, and again I thought that certainly the way Clippard has been throwing, he's been throwing the ball very well in this series, and the two walks hurt us.

Q. In the third inning when the Royals helped you guys with the run when Rios seems to lose track of the outs, do you think, okay, they're giving us a break, things are going our way tonight?
TERRY COLLINS: That certainly was a big run at the time. Not by any stretch of the imagination did we think the game was over. We knew we had a long way to go, and we still had to get some big outs and we didn't do it.

Q. Was there any thought of pinch-hitting for Matz in the bottom of the fifth? If not, are you concerned at all about the way that the starters have faded a little bit earlier than you would like them to?
TERRY COLLINS: After the home run I thought I'd let him hit. I thought he was still throwing the ball okay. Let him start the game and see if he can get us through the sixth inning, so we can save the pen. That was one of the other things, we had a situation where we certainly used two guys in the sixth inning, three guys to get out of that inning.

Without the home run we might have hit in that inning, yes. But when we hit the home run, I was going to let him go back out.

Q. Michael Conforto was playing in the Penn League last year, and tonight he hits two homers. Does he embellish moments like this? What's his mentality coming into these high-pressure games?
TERRY COLLINS: He's going to be a very, very good player. He's had a rough postseason, he hasn't had a lot of hits. But I've said before, he's had good at-bats. He's dangerous, and tonight he showed that.

So this guy is going to be an outstanding offensive player. I mean this is a great experience for him to get a lot better fast.

Q. Obviously being down 3-1 isn't a situation anybody wants to be in. How much of what you're thinking and how much what you're going to share with the team has to do with having Matt Harvey going on the mound tomorrow, and having Harvey, deGrom, Syndergaard, your three horses lined up?
TERRY COLLINS: Matt has to give us one of those great outings he's capable of giving us. Again, we're in a tough situation, but we're not dead yet. And we've got our three guys that we've turned to. Seems like each and every time we've had a big series, those are the three guys that we run out there, and we've just got to keep getting all three of them.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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