The Mets' bullpen has had an atrocious season.
New York isn't living up to expectations as the team sits in fourth place in the NL East with a 37-45 record. Thursday night was another disaster for Mickey Callaway's relievers. Edwin Diaz had a two-run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, but he gave up two home runs and blew the save as the Phillies won 6-3.
The Mets now have to face a division-leading Braves team the night after such a heartbreaking defeat. Before Friday night's game, Callaway joined Mike Francesa on WFAN. The Mets manager spoke about his team's disastrous losses, and about the bullpen that has been responsible for a lot of them.
"We put ourselves in position, once again, to win a lot of games on this road trip and our bullpen couldn't get it done," said Callaway. "We lean on our starters more than anybody in baseball. I think our relievers throw just about the least amount of innings, and that's what's been killing us. We lean on them the most. Our offense has been fine. It's tough to lose games like that."
The Mets' deficit in the NL Wild Card standings has grown to 6.5 games, and that number is threatening to get larger. According to Callaway, his team might need a miracle to dig themselves out of that hole.
"We understand that we're in a very, very, very tough situation. It may take a miracle to get out of it. That's happened before. In Mets land they're celebrating the 30-year anniversary of it, and we're hoping that that can happen. We're optimistic that we can get this going."
Callaway surely meant to refer to the 1969 "Miracle" Mets. The team has been celebrating the 50-year anniversary of their World Series winning campaign.
This week hasn't just brought issues on the field for the manager and his players. The Mets are still dealing with the fallout from an incident in the clubhouse last Sunday when Callaway and pitcher Jason Vargas had a series of confrontations with a reporter after a loss in Chicago.
Both Callaway and Vargas were fined after the altercation. Now, Callaway says the whole organization is just trying to move on from what happened.
"We understand that we've said what we needed to say. The club came out and made their apology, and we'll try to move on."
New York's offense hasn't been the team's main issue, but it also hasn't been perfect. The Mets traded for Robinson Cano hoping that he would add a significant bit of power to their lineup. So far, Cano has been a major disappointment. Callaway hasn't given up on the slugger, but also noted that lineup adjustments could be on the way.
"We do feel like he has barreled-up the bar, even though the hits haven't come … we're going to give it today to see how it goes, but we know at some point you have to make adjustments."
Click on the audio player above to listen to Mike Francesa's full interview with Mickey Callaway.
Listen to Mets games this season on the team's new flagship station -- our sister station -- WCBS 880 AM.
