Sleepless Callaway’s decisions finally pay off
ATLANTA — Injuries, walk-off losses, second-guesses on his bullpen moves. Mickey Callaway has endured a tumultuous week-plus, the likes of which he might not have anticipated when he signed on as Mets manager last offseason.
“I have been in baseball a long time and I don’t think I have ever seen this in my entire career,” the rookie manager said Wednesday before the Mets beat the Braves 4-1 at SunTrust Park. “This is a stretch that is rare, it seems, from what I have seen.”
The Mets have been teetering at or near .500 in recent weeks, erasing the equity they built with a franchise-best 11-1 start this season. But the manner in which the Mets have lost — as much as the defeats themselves — have tested Callaway’s mettle.
Four of the seven losses during their latest slump, a 3-7 drought, occurred in the last inning. The most recent was Tuesday, when rookie Gerson Bautista allowed a walk-off homer to the Braves’ Johan Camargo. A day earlier, in the first game of a doubleheader, Seth Lugo surrendered a walk-off blast in the ninth to Charlie Culberson.
“I haven’t slept in a week — slept well at least,” Callaway said. “We’re just trying to think of ways to get us out.”
On Wednesday, the manager took a less-conventional approach than usual, summoning Jeurys Familia to face the heart of the Braves order in the eighth inning before Robert Gsellman worked the ninth. The strategy worked, a change from the pattern of
late-inning bullpen implosions.
“They score runs often when [the middle] of the lineup comes up, so we thought that was a great time for Familia, our most-rested pitcher,” Callaway said.
Since they last played a game at Citi Field, the Mets have placed AJ Ramos, Wilmer Flores and Noah Syndergaard on the disabled list. Another starting pitcher, Steven Matz, left Tuesday’s game with a sore middle finger, but has avoided the DL.
Callaway is leaning heavier than ever on his coaching staff for answers. Asked if he’s sought outside advice — Callaway jokingly wondered if that meant a psychologist — the manager said he’s looked to his coaches. The former Indians pitching coach said his last contact with his mentor, Terry
Francona, was “a while” ago.
Among his staff members there is nobody Callaway leans on for advice more than pitching coach Dave Eiland, who says he has been impressed with the composure Callaway has maintained during the turmoil.
“I have been around two other managers, two other world-champion managers,” Eiland said referring to Joe Girardi and Ned Yost, from his tenures with the Yankees and Royals, respectively. “And in this short period of time Mickey is handling things as good as I saw those other two guys handle it.
“He’s not a manager who stays in his office and if we need something we have to go get him. He’s in the coaches’ room with us more than he’s in his office. From a coaching standpoint we can’t ask for anything more from a manager.”