Mickey Callaway’s Mets anger may be coming too late
PHOENIX — That short leash on Mickey Callaway just got shorter.
Remember the 6-1 homestand. Forget it. This is who the Mets are right now.
Steven Matz continued his horror-show first innings, giving up two home runs and three runs in the first inning of Sunday’s 7-1 loss to the Diamondbacks at Chase Field as the Mets finished the road trip with a 2-5 record.
The 28-31 Mets are 1-6 in rubber games this season. They have not won a road series since April 1-3 at Miami and have lost 14 games in which they led this season, including the second soul-crushing loss of this trip Saturday night, a 6-5, 11-inning defeat — a game the Mets led 5-1 heading into the eighth.
It fell apart in the eighth with Jeurys Familia and Robert Gsellman on the mound after Jacob deGrom was removed in the seventh by Callaway after a hip cramp. Callaway was trying to protect his ace.
On Sunday the Mets were not even competitive because of Matz’s bad start, including a 482-foot leadoff home run by Ketel Marte. The lefty has given up 12 earned runs in the first inning over 12 starts. He might want to warm up a little more.
The Mets offense was pitiful against Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly, who pitched in Korea the previous four seasons.
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“Overall game, bad defense, bad pitching, no offense,’’ Callaway said. “We can’t allow people to have the best games of their career against us. That’s the bottom line.
“Inconsistency is not going to win you games. That is why we are where we are in the standings and what our record looks like. We are just too inconsistent. I don’t think it is a focus issue at all, it’s going out there and trusting you are going to get the job done and doing it every time. We play great at home and then we go on the road and what we do on the road is not acceptable.’’
The Mets are 4-17 in their past 21 road games.
“We put ourselves in a position to win more games than we did but we lost them so it doesn’t matter what position you put yourself in, you gotta go get the job done,’’ Callaway said. “We have to do better. I’m kind of getting sick of saying we have to right this ship.’’
The Mets start a homestand Tuesday against the dreadful Giants. Will Callaway survive to manage that game? Saturday night was a most painful loss and there was a carryover Sunday.
“Nobody wants to be taken out of a game ever but we have to take care of our guys and kind of go off of what we are seeing,’’ Callaway said of pulling deGrom after a hip cramp.
Familia has been awful and when he starts a second inning he gets in trouble, having surrendered runs five straight times in that situation.
“It’s becoming something you have to pay attention to,’’ Callaway admitted.
Familia was a big bullpen signing by GM Brodie Van Wagenen and has failed miserably.
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Bullpen Baseball has been created by this generation of front offices, can the game survive such a thing where it seems so many bullpens — not the Yankees — struggle?
“When you start to change things up too much you kind of have to wait and see if you are making the right decisions,’’ Callaway said of the bullpen philosophy throughout the majors.
As for his hook of deGrom, Callaway said, “It’s a tough decision, you look at their body language and you look and see if it seems to be affecting them. If it is, then you have to … you can’t expose somebody [to injury] just because they are tough and want to continue to pitch.
“Sometimes you have to let them hate you for awhile. It’s the same thing when they are not pitching effectively. They are always arguing to stay in after they’ve given up four runs. ‘C’mon man, it’s time for you to go.’ I understand that they are going to hate me for a little bit but we’re just taking care of them.’’
For how much longer?