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ATLANTA -- After Thursday's 10-1 loss to Washington, a defeat that completed a 1-8 homestand, a frustrated Terry Collins said that the "perception I have right now is we've folded up." On Friday the skipper said that he wasn't referring to a lack of effort by his team. He felt it was more a lack of focus and a resulting slippage in execution. "We spent some time talking to a couple of guys about game football some things that have to change," Collins, not naming names, said before the opener of a three-game series with the Braves. "But they know it." Collins doesn't regret his heated words and said that the outburst was "spontaneous" rather than calculated. "These guys have to know I care," he said. Going into the homestand, the Mets were a game under .500 and firmly in third place in the National Leag game football ue East. They begin this road trip with the chances of a break-even season remote, and a last-place finish possible. "They were as frustrated as I was," Collins said of his team after being swept by the Nationals. "Make no mistake about it -- those guys are proud, and nobody wants to play like we did this last homestand. It bothered them as much as it did me. "It's not the effort side. It's execut game football ion. We went out for five months, and these guys played their hearts out." The Mets can still affect the NL Wild Card race, with a series in St. Louis following the one in Atlanta. "To me it's like, suck it up ... and finish strong," Collins said. "When you start to get a little fatigued, or when you are fatigued, [that's] when you've got to focus that much more," he added. "They have to know I ca game football re. They better know I care the way the game is played. ... The people who pay to go in that ballpark, they deserve an effort. They deserve all these guys have. And I'm not saying they didn't try. But we've got to execute better." Schwinden earns himself two more starts ATLANTA -- Lost amid the Mets' late-game collapse on Thursday and manager Terry Collins' pointed words afterward was how well game football Chris Schwinden pitched in his second Major League start. Collins certainly took notice, though, and said on Friday that the right-hander will stay in the rotation the rest of the season. He will start in St. Louis next week, and again in the final series at home, against Cincinnati. "I was very happy. I thought he threw the ball very good," Collins said. "That was certainly the Chris Schwinden game football that I know." Although he took his second loss, Schwinden allowed just four hits and an unearned run over five innings against Washington. That was certainly a better outing than his debut, against Atlanta on Sept. 8, when he gave up eight hits and five earned runs in five innings. "I thought his breaking ball was as good as I've seen it," Collins said "He moved the ball around, pitched side to si game football de and moved some guys off the plate. I thought he pitched a good game." Schwinden, who turns 25 on Thursday, was 8-8 with a 3.87 ERA for Triple-A Buffalo this season and recorded 139 strikeouts in 148 2/3 innings. "The nerves weren't there as much," Schwinden said. "I felt much better." The only thing bothering Schwinden on Friday was the nail on the ring finger of his right hand, hurt in a weigh game football t room mishap. "I mashed it a little bit," he said. "But I'll be good to go." Collins sets lineup for remainder of season ATLANTA -- Terry Collins went into his first season as Mets manager envisioning a top of the lineup featuring Jose Reyes, Angel Pagan and David Wright hitting ahead of Carlos Beltran. And except for Lucas Duda batting cleanup instead of the departed Beltran, that's the line game football up Collins plans to use the rest of the year. "I went back to the lineup I first thought about," Collins said before Friday's series opener against the Braves. "I just inserted a different name." Collins made it clear that he is trying to win as many games as possible, not just look at players for next season. "I'm obviously trying to get the guys called up [from the Minors] some playing time," he game football said. "But we have to compete, and I'm going to play the guys who have been here all summer." Collins also made it clear that he isn't concerned about Wright's fielding problems at third base, and will take a hands-off approach. "I don't even want to put it in his head -- 'Geez, are you getting the yips?'" Collins said. "He's played so well, to all of a sudden have this spell is not him. It's not game football going to happen very often." Prospect Moore receives 50-game suspension ATLANTA -- Pitching prospect Brandon Moore was suspended on Friday for the first 50 games of the 2012 season after his second violation of the Minor Leagues' drug-abuse policy.Moore, 25, went 10-8 with a 4.47 ERA in 26 games this season with Double-A Binghamton. The right-hander was a 14th-round pick by the Mets in the 2 game football 008 Draft out of Indiana Wesleyan University and was selected for the South Atlantic League All-Star Game while with Savannah in 2009. game football
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