New York Mets manager Terry Collins hated pulling Matt Harvey

NEW YORK -- Before game No. 150, New York Mets manager Terry Collins resorted to using golf analogies in relation to right-hander Matt Harvey and his innings limits.

"I like to play golf," an exasperated Collins said during an entertaining press conference Monday afternoon, hours before the Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-0. "The more I play, the better I play. I play every 15 days, I'm not worth a damn."

And so it is that Harvey will pitch fewer innings every five days for the rest of the season, instead of a normal outing on extended rest.

The season-long debate over Harvey's innings in his first season following Tommy John surgery gained a 10th or 11th wind Sunday, when the Mets had to pull him after five innings even though he was throwing a one-hit shutout against the New York Yankees. The Yankees promptly scored five runs in the sixth and went on to rout the Mets, 11-2, in the Subway Series finale.

Afterward, the 66-year-old Collins candidly acknowledged the old-school baseball guy inside him hated pulling Harvey but that he had no choice other than to adapt and conform to baseball's new rules. He was just as candid and fiery on Monday.

"I told you yesterday: This is a different era at a different age, OK?" Collins said "Things change and you have to change with them.

"So taking Matt out after the fifth inning last night -- was I disturbed? You're damn right I was disturbed. But that's what it is. And so I did it for the good of Matt, hopefully for the good of the organization and the future."

The present has become increasingly trickier to navigate for the Mets, who have to figure out a way to curtail the innings for Harvey, whose agent, Scott Boras, wants him to throw fewer than 180 innings in his first season following Tommy John surgery, while also keeping him sharp enough to contribute in the playoffs. With Monday's win, the Mets increased their National League East lead over the Washington Nationals to 6 1/2 games and reduced their magic number to seven.

By pitching him at least twice more this season on something close to normal rest, Collins hopes Harvey will be sharper come October -- even though it's very likely he'll hit the postseason having pitched beyond the sixth inning just three times since Aug. 1 and having thrown fewer than 25 innings in September. Harvey has thrown 176 2/3 innings this year, including 16 2/3 innings this month.

"Our option is this: Once every 12 days or more often (over) 15 days, every five days, at a lower amount of work," Collins said. "The only way to stay consistent is to get him out there."

Whenever that is, and for however long that is.