The Contradictory Nature of Mickey Callaway

After Sunday's loss, Mickey Callaway had no positive spin to put on the exemplarily bad play of his New York Mets ballteam. According to the NY Post:

“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.’’

“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.’’ 

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Photo via Yahoo! Sports

Up until this point, he has tried to stay positive, using clichés such as "hard fought" and "toe-to-toe" and what have you. Obviously, after yet another listless loss following a game the Mets should have won, which is standard practice for this team, he couldn't take it anymore.

Unfortunately for Callaway, in my opinion, no matter how awful you want to say the roster is, he himself has been inconsistent in doing what he says is the strategy they are taking.

I have a habit of being a chronic reneger. I'll say one thing, and then eventually do another. I lose steam on momentum and the goals fall by the wayside. I get life is a hard thing to overall follow through with sometimes. Maybe that is why, as I personally try to correct my reneging nature, I'm so sensitive these days to when Callaway says one thing then does another.

When Jeurys Familia got back from his injury, Callaway said they would ease him back into high-leverage situations. The Seth Lugo injury certainly left them altering strategy, but only within a few days was he given back the 8th inning mantle, and a day after giving up a run in the 7th, no less.

Then, as another example, Callaway overall preaches taking everything one game at a time, but then is quoted as not committing to Tomas Nido being deGrom's personal catcher because they'll need Wilson Ramos's bat out there in the playoffs.

He makes a point, for sure, that it won't be ideal for the light-hitting Nido to be starting game 1 of the division series if we even make it that far. Guess what, though? There are better ways to frame that. Say, we need Ramos to be catching our best pitcher because we need all of our personnel on the same page. Whatever is the wording, don't be mentioning the playoffs when you are struggling to even push over the .500 mark.

For the Mets, and for Mickey Callaway in his green managerial career, it's 1 step forward, 3 steps back. For two years in a row, Mickey has struggled to maintain his club's hot start. Last June, the Mets went 5-21. Any chance they had for the season completely fell by the wayside then, obviously. I and others wondered whether they were going to lose 100 games for the first time since the 90's. The way they were playing, it was a grand possibility.

Now, this June, they play the likes of the Phillies, the Braves, the Yankees, the Rockies, the Cardinals and the Cubs, with the Giants the only team under .500 they face. As we saw on this past road trip, every flaw the team has was exposed by the better clubs after they were able to mask their flaws, which still bled out some, against the Nationals and Tigers at home. Callaway may not survive long enough for his team to have yet another similarly bad month.

I am not sure I like the way Brodie Van Wagenen is operating the ballclub. We all know it always comes back, regardless of the management personnel, to the way the Wilpons operate the team. Callaway, however, is leaving much to be desired. I talk about the nature of New York sports in not letting anybody, whether it is a player or a manager, settle in to their role. Callaway is only in his sophomore year managing at all, though this may be why it is so difficult for a newbie to get his feet wet with a team like the Mets. Tony LaRussa survived a few 90-loss seasons to go on and have a very successful career split between the White Sox, the A's and the Cardinals. Terry Francona, Callaway's supposed mentor with the Indians, was not immediately the genius he is viewed as now, beginning his managerial career with the Phillies and 4 losing seasons. We never give anyone, whether it is Amed Rosario or Mickey Callaway, a chance to settle in.

Mickey, however, is making it rather hard for us to give him the benefit of the doubt when he contradicts himself so much.

June is here, buddy. What have you done for us lately?

TICK. TOCK. TICK. TOCK.

LET'S. GO. METS.

(too fitting a song title to not use twice this year)

The Florida Turnpike Subway Series

Yesterday, for the first time since 1997, The New York Mets took on The New York Yankees in what was the first of back-to-back games between the two before both teams begin the 2012 regular season. Our man Ike Davis sent us home victorious with a solo shot in the bottom of the 9th for a 7-6 win over our crosstown/up-and-across-Florida rivals.

After back-to-back.....to-back-to-back...(you get the idea) of blaa-ness from Mike Pelfrey, the front office seriously contemplated cutting ties with the 6'6'' right-hander. Terry Collins apparently chatted with Pelfrey, informing him that this front office, even in spring training, will not be tolerant of that kind of performance. Since then, Pelfrey has turned it up, looking very sharp, getting his fastball and sinker down with bite, and even deploying some good-looking breaking balls. He pitched 4 innings, giving up one run on a solo shot by Nick Swisher. Big Pelf needed to show some progress, for his own sanity and for ours, and he has done so in the last two starts, albeit against the Astros and the B-Yankees line-up, respectively. Regardless, we all hope this is a trend upward for Mike, who looks confident and in control on the mound right now, even with runners on base (which actually didn't occur very often in this game.)

Ivan Nova started for the Yanks and couldn't keep the ball down. The Mets offense got level swings off of the young Yankees pitcher, making solid contact which translated to 3 runs in the first inning. Andres Torres made his return to Major League action and looked to have the calf strain in the past...for now. (Yesterday, I made my Rising Apple debut with a piece about Andres Torres and how I believe, based on my experience, Torres might be more prone to muscle strains because of his ADHD medicine.) Torres got on base twice, and went 1st to home in the second inning. His stride looked unaffected by the calf strain, as his speed was at the top of his game. He was removed after the 2nd inning, but only because Terry Collins didn't want him doing too much.

After Pelf's solid outing, Jon Niese arrived for his last tune-up of the spring, and unfortunately was not that sharp. After having a 5-1 lead, Niese left the mound with the Mets down 5-6. Word is that The Mets and Niese are working on a 5-year extension, which I believe is a fantastic idea. Don't let that make you feel secure, though, Jon (Just kidding. Jon Niese is the least of my worries. I think he's gonna have a breakout year.)

Other takeaways from the game:

• The game was the first time this spring I have seen David Wright in a game. He lookin' good at the plate (with a solid opposite field hit in the first inning) and in the field (with a fantastic back-hand play on a chopper down the 3rd base line to throw out Andruw Jones at 1st.) 
• It was nice to see the projected Opening Day line-up for the first time this spring. It excites me thinking of what this line-up has the potential to do.
• Even Jason Bay was finally turning on the inner-half of the zone, getting the barrel squarely round the ball. Who knows what this means.
• David Hudgens' hitting philosophy is evident with the amount of walks taken by this team. We led the league last year in walks and were 2nd to St. Louis in On Base Percentage. Drastic difference from years past, where we gave too many at-bats to players with OBP under .300.
• Byrdak is a freak of nature, getting back on the mound after knee surgery less than 3 weeks ago. Unfortunately, he had surgery on his face as well, getting a facial hair removal procedure. I hope this doesn't start a trend (You hear me, GEE?!!! Keep that Goatee!!!)
• Tony LaRussa was a guest in the booth in the 3rd inning and said something very interesting when asked whether these big, 10-year contracts make it harder for a manager: "Well, it makes it harder and that's been the biggest difference since I started playing. This game is so much about human nature and what you're doing with contracts with money and years is you're messing with the survival instinct. You have to be really careful who you pay like that for years...(outside of Votto, Pujols and Fielder)...normally it does put a burden on the coaching staff, 'cause if the guy can be a jerk and walk up to you and say, "look at my contract" you literally have to fight through it and go face to face and say, "hey, I don't care what it says," personalize your style of coaching. They can make it easy for you or they can make it difficult."

The Mets play their last spring game of March in Tampa today against the New York Yankees at 12:05PM. The game will not be televised on SNY but will be broadcasted on YES.

After that, the Mets head north as we head out to the Citi for the first time this year tomorrow. 

Sweetness.