PHILADELPHIA — The most complex equation for a manager to solve is adding to 27.
Twenty-seven big-league outs, as the New York Mets’ week-long assault on the back end of opposing bullpens has emphasized, are awfully difficult to record in October. Sunday hammered that point home, both ways, with the Mets ending up one out short of getting the game to extra innings in their 7-6 loss to the Phillies. The best-of-five NLDS is now tied at 1-1.
“You have the best-laid plans, the best intentions, the best decisions, and sometimes they don’t work out,” pitching coach Jeremy Hefner said. “That’s the game of baseball.”
After Game 1 pivoted with the Mets’ five-run rally in the eighth inning, Game 2 contained a series of late-inning shifts, including two ties and two lead changes. No advantage feels safe in the later innings for either side.
Nothing is magnified more in the postseason than a manager’s deployment of his bullpen. For manager Carlos Mendoza, the challenge is heightened. Most teams have an established late-game hierarchy, a script that hardly changes from night to night.
NYM 6
PHI 7
FinalNick Castellanos singled down the line. We’ve got a series.
Game 3 at Citi Field Tuesday.
— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) October 6, 2024
New York’s hierarchy is sketched in pencil and rewritten each afternoon. It’s been that way all season. The Mets’ primary set-up men to begin the season were Adam Ottavino, Brooks Raley and Drew Smith. Raley and Smith underwent Tommy John surgery in the first half of the season; Ottavino is an afterthought on the postseason roster, warming up once in five games. Another reliable set-up man who emerged in the summer, Dedniel Núñez, is out for the season.
Instead, Mendoza, Hefner and bullpen coach José Rosado play a daily game of reliever roulette, attempting to devise the best plan possible for that particular game. Solving the equation will be crucial for the Mets in Game 3 and beyond.
“It’s a challenge, but guys will step up,” Mendoza said. “You’re going to need all of them. Not only the high-leverage reliever guys are going to be in the game, and I’m going to ask them to get huge outs. Everybody is going to have to contribute.”
For Saturday, that was counting on David Peterson and Reed Garrett to provide length ahead of Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek — the latest set-up men du jour. The plan worked perfectly.
For Sunday, with those pitchers not available, the plan was to get 27 outs from the trio of starter Luis Severino, José Buttó and Edwin Díaz — with Tylor Megill on deck just in case.
“Yesterday it worked out very well; today it didn’t,” Hefner said. “We just didn’t execute as well.”
It didn’t work as well because Buttó was not quite as crisp as he had been in Game 1 in Milwaukee — his sharpest outing in weeks — and Díaz’s command of his slider isn’t at its peak. Buttó was undone by a hit batter and a sidewinding groundball for an infield single. That brought Díaz into the game slightly earlier than expected. In his second inning of work, he went to the well with his slider one too many times against Bryson Stott — who’s typically more susceptible to fastballs. Stott’s two-run triple gave Philadelphia a 5-4 lead.
“He just left that slider over the plate,” Mendoza said. “Stott got him.”
Summoned in the eighth behind Díaz, Megill recorded four outs quickly. But back-to-back walks to Trea Turner and Bryce Harper set the stage for Nick Castellanos to win it with a base hit down the left-field line.
“When you’re facing that part of the order, it’s one after another, you know?” Mendoza said. “So he was careful with Turner, and then obviously you’ve got to pitch around Harper. It was too good of a pitch for Castellanos, and that’s another good hitter, who made him pay.”
The challenge begins anew on Tuesday behind Sean Manaea. Monday’s off-day will allow New York to reset its pen. Everyone, with the possible exceptions of Peterson and Megill, should be available for Game 3. The Mets will draw up a new series of plans.
“Those guys are used to it because we’ve been rolling this way for three months now,” Hefner said. “Everything is on the table, and that’s true for all the guys.”
(Photo of José Buttó: Kyle Ross / Imagn Images)
