LITTLE RELIEF
Struggling Diaz says pitching in NY same as ‘anywhere’
PITTSBURGH — Earlier this season, Edwin Diaz intimated to a person in the Mets clubhouse that pitching in New York was maybe “too much” for him.
Diaz, a quiet 25-year-old, had never endured this level of scrutiny pitching for the Mariners, for whom he emerged as an All-Star last season and finished with 57 saves and a 1.96 ERA. His Mets career hasn’t transpired nearly as smoothly.
Now struggling to keep the closer’s job, Diaz was asked Sunday if the experience of pitching in New York is different on him mentally than it was performing in Seattle. In other words, is New York “too much” for him?
“Not at all,” Diaz said. “I feel the game is the same anywhere. There are going to be highs and lows and we just keep working to get better.”
For the past two-plus months, the Mets have been exposed to a version of Diaz they couldn’t have imagined existed when they acquired him, along with Robinson Cano, in a blockbuster last offseason that sent prospects Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn to the Mariners, along with Jay Bruce, Anthony Swarzak and Gerson Bautista.
Diaz, who is 1-6 with a 5.44 ERA with five blown saves in 29 opportunities, wasn’t needed in the Mets’ 13-2 beatdown of the Pirates on Sunday. But manager Mickey Callaway has for the first time acknowledged that Seth Lugo might have to pick up some of the ninthinning slack.
“I think we have to be openminded,” Callaway said. “We have to understand what the situation is, what our availability is. Moving forward we are going to do whatever we can to win a game and I don’t think we can lock ourselves into one thing.
“It’s not just his case, it’s everybody with every position on our team at this point. We’re here to win games and we’re going to try to put everybody in a position where we can do that to the best of our ability.”
Diaz indicated he hadn’t been told he might be shifted into a different role, but says he is ready for whatever is asked from him.
“Obviously, I want to be the closer, but any opportunity I am fine with,” Diaz said.
One big factor could be Lugo’s ability to pitch on consecutive days — the right-hander has only gone back-to-back three times this season.
“We have to make sure how they feel every day, we just can’t say we are going to do it more,” Callaway said. “I think [Lugo] is getting more and more comfortable doing it [back-to-back], but it’s not like I can sit here and say we’re going to do it more because it might not even present itself, but I do feel he’s comfortable at this point.”