LOS ANGELES -- The New York Mets have no intention of firing manager Terry Collins, despite the team's recent free-fall, general manager Sandy Alderson said.
The Mets, once 10 games over .500, entered Friday night's series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 40-40 record. In an anticipated pitchers' duel, Noah Syndergaard pitched well, allowing just one run and just two hits with six strikeouts in six innings, but didn't get the decision as the Mets scored on a sacrifice fly in the ninth to best Clayton Kershaw and L.A. 2-1.
The Mets arrived at Dodger Stadium after getting swept at home by the Chicago Cubs. The Mets mustered one run in 29 innings during that series, and it was scored by pitcher Jacob deGrom.
Alderson absolved Collins in part because the team has been missing injured David Wright and Travis d'Arnaud and, until recently, Daniel Murphy.
"We're a .500 team. We haven't been moving in the right direction," Alderson said. "I understand that. We've had a lot of people hurt for long periods of time. ... We've got some young guys in particular that are not hitting. We've got some older players that have had to try to carry the load. I think to put all of this on Terry would be grossly unfair. So from that standpoint, there's absolutely no consideration of that."
Alderson is accompanying the Mets on this West Coast trip, but insisted that has nothing to do with Collins' status.
Collins is 344-384 in five seasons at the Mets' helm. The Mets have yet to post a winning season under Alderson and Collins.
"This is not a Terry Collins watch," Alderson said. "I'm here because this was planned. I'm here this trip because that's the way we worked it out beforehand -- well beforehand. As I said, I think it's very unfair to put a lot of the way we've played over the last few weeks on Terry.
"We've got five or six guys that are hitting under .200 for the last two, three, four weeks -- the month of June. You can go right around the infield. You can go to parts of the outfield. That's got to turn around.
"But I've talked to the hitting coaches. I understand what we're doing. They see progress. I see progress in terms of peripherals. That's not to say we're going to stick with the players that we have, but there are reasons hidden among a lot of the angst that we've experienced for some optimism with the players that we have. We're also looking at ways to change things up a little bit."