Bumped two months later with both teams realistically eliminated with two weeks to go...
We live in an era where it's harder than ever for an outsider to judge what kind of job a manager is doing, so much we don't know about player availability and who is available but hurting and specific matchups plus now so many instructions come from the front office before the game, and the manager less often than ever gets a chance to make impactful decisions in the moment.
That's why it's so amazing that Mickey Callaway seems to make obvious and crucial mistakes so so often. I was sitting here tonight thinking that already after a really odd sequence in the 6th inning, Mets down 7-4, runners on 2nd and one out. Rosario grounds one to the left side that DH-playing-1B Daniel Murphy played into a very close play that Rosario maybe barely beats out, but they go to replay.
Now this is the good part: Mickey was going to pinch-hit Panik (.641 OPS) for Nido if Rosario was out, but when he was ruled safe after the replay, Mickey went to Guillorme (.675 OPS) instead. But, Jon, you say, maybe that made sense because he thought Guillorme would be a better bet to put the ball in play and at least get one run in? I didn't look up the numbers there, certainly possible, but that's why it was even funnier when Guillorme took two 92 MPH FBs down the middle to get to 1-2 and then struck out swinging on a curve. Then Panik got his shot, grounder to human vacuum Arenado, squander complete.
So if that was it, still odd but maybe not worth the effort of posting, even though I was watching and just amazed at how many times Callaway has made decisions that were odd to inexplicable beforehand and how often they have gone just the way one would expect. But then, next time around the lineup, those two spots came up again, and for absolutely no possible reason, Mickey had left the pitcher's spot at 8 and the catcher at 9, instead of double switching. Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez were left kind of speechless once they realized what was happening, so I thought I'd memorialize that one.
Anyway, I don't know how Mickey has made it this far, but even the Mets have to fire him the day after the season ends. Kapler I follow a lot less but I think he is somewhat less culpable because the Phillies have had tons of injuries, I could see him at least getting the first few months of 2020.