During the Mets' brutal loss to the Yankees on Sunday, something very rare happened: David Wright got in an umpire's face about a called third strike for only the second time in his career.
Manager Jerry Manuel has often said he will defend his players 110 percent if they are right. If not, so be it, which is fine. But why did he wait for Wright to return to the dugout before coming out to argue with the umpire?
The pitch to Wright in the sixth inning was definitely over the plate, but well below his knees, and the ball was dropped by the catcher.
Being that it was a full count, Wright thought it was ball four but hesitated several seconds before leaving the batters box because no call had been made.
No call was made by the umpire until Wright had his back turned and was heading to first base—after there had been no initial indication made about whether it was ball four or strike three.
Wright immediately got into a heated but short-lived argument with the umpire once he was called out on strikes. He got in the umpire's face and yelled but did not throw his helmet or bat, which he tends to do when he is frustrated, he was just plain angry.
If he had, ejection would most likely have occurred, and Wright knows this, so he was just venting, and was not trying to get himself ejected from the game.
Anyone following the Mets knows Wright is the last player to ever argue a call, but the Mets were losing 13-0, so tempers were understandably short. It was also the second time Wright had been called out on strikes in the game.
Manuel should have come out immediately after Wright was called out and started arguing. Granted, he and the rest of the Mets were probably in somewhat of a state of shock, but someone should have calmed Wright down, even if it was just the on-deck hitter.
If he didn't come out immediately as he should have, then he should not have come out at all. Wright was already back to the dugout when Manuel came out and he was promptly ejected.
Manuel appeared to have simply given up. Down 13 runs, the game was clearly out of reach, but the Mets still could have tried to scrape together some runs to prevent a shutout.
During the game, Manuel got himself ejected, Wright was removed by the coaching staff—probably because his blood pressure was most likely off the charts—and Luis Castillo and Carlos Beltran were taken out of the game to rest.
These losses are hard to take, no question, but by getting himself ejected after his player had headed back to the dugout shows Manuel had apparently given up.
The only other explanation is that he wanted to get some bench players a few at bats.
If he did this after-the-fact arguing to get ejected (which Matt Cerrone eluded to on Metsblog.com) what kind of message does that send to his players? Not a good one.
Despite a seemingly positive attitude, the Mets have been playing fundamentally unsound baseball.
The Mets are looking towards their leaders for guidance, one of them being Wright, but many players were unhappy about the strikes/balls all afternoon, so they were most likely not surprised that Wright finally was the one to discuss it at length.
They are also looking to their manager, but the inconsistency in lineups and mixed message verbal occurrences like these could potentially alter their mindset for the remainder of the season.
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