To be fair to Terry Collins, he had a number of fine decisions yesterday. He went to Jerry Blevins to strike out Daniel Murphy to preserve the 4-3 extra inning win.

Collins also played a hunch starting T.J. Rivera at second. Rivera was the Mets offense last night, and he was the biggest reason the Mets won. Rivera made two nice defensive plays in the field, but it was his bat that was the difference. He was 3-4 with three RBI and a game winning homer against Mark Melancon.

These heroics were in part due to Collins’ insistence on playing Jay Bruce.

Since joining the Mets, Bruce is hitting .190/.271/.317 with four homers and 11 RBI. He’s gone from the major league RBI leader to just another Met not able to hit with runners in scoring position. He’s gone from an RBI machine in Cincinnati to a near automatic out.

Yesterday was more of the same from Bruce. He was 0-4 with a walk leaving three runners on base.

Since the rosters were expanded on September 1st, with .212/.297/.394 with two homers and five RBI. That coincidentally is the same time Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo were called-up to the majors.  When they were called up, Conforto was hitting .493/.541/.821 with six homers and 13 RBI, hitting both righties and lefties, in his most recent demotion to the minors.  Nimmo was hitting .407/.474/.651 with four homers and 14 RBI in the month of August before he was re-called.

Conforto and Nimmo were hot at the plate, and yet, Collins didn’t care.  He was going to play Bruce no matter what.  Conceptually, you understand it because Bruce was the big bat the Mets added at the deadline.  The cost of adding Bruce was Dilson Herrera.  You want to get him going to help your chances of going to the postseason, and hopefully, the World Series.  Collins is relying on his proven track record.  The only problem is that track record isn’t what people think it is.

For his career, Bruce is a .247/.318/.466 hitter averaging 26 homers and 81 RBI.  Over the prior three seasons, Bruce has been a .237/.303/.433 hitter with 25 homers and 87 RBI.  Keep in mind, Bruce has been hitting in the Great American Ballpark which is a hitter’s ballpark.  Bruce has been a low OBP hitter who has been a slightly better than average home run hitter.

Worse yet, he’s poor defensively.  In fact, he is the Mets worst defensive outfielder.  Playing Bruce moves Curtis Granderson to center field.  Granderson isn’t a center fielder anymore.  Playing Bruce keeps Alejandro De Aza on the bench, and De Aza is the Mets best defensive center fielder.  By the way, Conforto has acquitted himself well in center, and he has shown himself to be a player capable of being a much better offensive player than Bruce.

So overall, on a night were Collins made a number of decisions that helped the team win, his insistence on playing Bruce continues to hamper the team offensively and defensively.