MILWAUKEE — Mets Manager Terry Collins held his hands out, palms up, hopping around, his eyes wide, pleading frantically with the second-base umpire, Larry Vanover.
Collins had come out to argue a call in the fourth inning, when one of his rookies, Darrell Ceciliani, had been thrown out stealing, and now he was so close to Vanover that he could have bumped him with his chest. Vanover ejected Collins, who returned to the dugout, almost muttering to himself.
A palpable tension had been building around the team. The Mets had lost seven consecutive games, their offense was nonexistent, and their roster was in shambles.