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NEW YORK -- Wilmer Flores starts at shortstop on Tuesday at Citi Field, and actually has started three of past six games at the position. Aggressively asked why Flores is not the regular at the position over Ruben Tejada, Terry Collins lost his patience pregame. Collins noted Flores only came up because the Mets wanted a hedge because Tejada was drilled in the helmet with a 94 mph fastball last Wednesday in Seattle. And Collins noted the Mets are playing just fine overall, even though it was noted to the manager that Tejada is slumping (4-for-38 over his last 14 games). Here's the transcript: Reporter: "When you take a look at Wilmer Flores, when he was up here in May, when he played in five consecutive games, he hit. When he plays every other game he doesn't hit. Is now the time to see what Flores can do on an everyday basis?" Collins: "It all depends where you're going to play him." Reporter: "You don't have confidence in him at shortstop?" Collins: "No, no. I didn't say that. The other kid [Tejada] is playing pretty good. I don't know what games you've been watching, but we've been playing pretty good lately." Reporter: "He's 3-for-29." Collins: "We're playing pretty good lately. You know, Ike Davis wasn't hitting and we were winning games. So you pick and choose your spots. Wilmer came up because Ruben got beaned, so we were concerned about having a backup. So that's why he's here. There were no instructions to play him everyday. We're going to try to get him at-bats. That's why he's in there today." Reporter: "What do you need to see from him to keep him in the lineup everyday?" Collins: "Nothing from him. We've got to figure out if he is going to be the shortstop, or if the other guy is going to be the shortstop."
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