This was late on the evening when the Mets eliminated the Dodgers from the National League Division Series, inside the long, winding Dodger Stadium corridor that stretches to the visiting clubhouse. Walking this way – slowly, unhurriedly, as if he were savoring every step – was a slight man whose hat, shirt, and shoes were soggy and soaking.
“I squish when I walk,” Terry Collins said. “And it’s the greatest feeling in the world.”
That evening had been a quintessential test for a playoff manager: Do you stay with your scuffling starting pitcher, or yank him? Do you really bring in your rookie fireballer for the first relief appearance of his career in an elimination game?