Francisco not worried despite bad stretch
Frank Francisco #48 of the New York Mets pitches in the ninth inning against the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field. (April 7, 2012) Credit: Jim McIsaac
If he has another day or so like the past few, Mets closer Frank Francisco will be focused on a whole different kind of save. He will be trying to save his job.
In fact, he already might be at that point. After turning an apparent win for Mike Pelfrey into a mess during the ninth inning Saturday, he said he expects to get the ball the next time the Mets are in a save situation. But his manager would not make that same statement.
"I'm going to talk to Frankie tomorrow. I don't like to do too much right after the game is over. He's not happy with what happened," Terry Collins said after the Mets beat the Giants, 5-4, in the bottom of the ninth after giving up three runs in the top of the inning.
All of those runs were charged to Francisco, although the game could have ended without a problem had they fielded a soft fly ball with two outs. Still, Francisco allowed two hits and a walk only about 17 hours after he lost Friday night's game. Two days before that, he was torched by the Braves.
Collins took the strong measure of yanking his closer with one out and two on in the ninth. "The trust issue came when I said, 'Here's the baseball, put a stop to this.' He has been scuffling," Collins said, indicating that he deliberately wanted to give his closer a chance to get on track again. Francisco had been as responsible as anyone for the team's surprising 6-2 start.
"I know Frankie is going to be fine,'' Collins said. "It's early in the season and he has pitched so well and I think the inconsistency of the kind of games we've played, where he hasn't gotten out there three times a week, I'm sure that has a lot to do with it."
Said Francisco of the quick hook: "I was surprised, but you know he's the boss. It was the right choice because it worked out.
"I trust my stuff. It was a little off. I've been there before. I think I know how to make adjustments. What I know is if they leave me in the game, I'm going to give my 100 percent. Things are not going my way right now, but I just got to go out there and keep fighting it."
The club does have an alternative in Jon Rauch, who is 2-0 with an 0.00 ERA. Either way, teammates believe in Francisco.
"I'm not worried about him one bit," said Tim Byrdak, who relieved him Saturday. "You have to have a very, very short-term memory. You can't let what happened the day before affect what you do the next day. The experience is there. He knows his job and what he has to do."
