Buck Showalter dismisses crucial late-game decision

New York Mets skipper Buck Showalter has been challenged by the media over his late-game decision.

Buck Showalter would rather leave Tomas Nido with a bad hand for the hit New York Mets When the game is on the line, use All-Star Jeff McNeil as your pinch bat.

New York lost its third straight game by falling to the San Diego Padres. 2-1. The Mets were able to miss a run on the visiting brothers in the last frame, but Showalter’s decision to hold Nido with the tie in third rather than use McNeil as a pinch stick was certainly a headache. The Mets saw their NL East lead over the Atlanta Braves shrink to just a half game.

Here Showalter is being questioned by the media about his decision not to use McNeil at this point.

The New York Mets manager makes a questionable call late in the game, resulting in a loss

Nido was the ninth-ranked hitter for the Mets on Saturday night. While he was 1-for-3 that day, Nido only manages a .212 on the season. He also had to leave a game earlier in the series with a bruised left hand. Showalter chose to keep McNeil on the bench until their final with a chance to win it in walk-off fashion. He might not have been able to do better, but he could have!

Despite holding a double-digit lead over the Braves in the NL East race, one would expect the fight for the divisional crown to now go to the end. Atlanta has been playing incredible baseball since June 1st. While the Mets are certainly one of the better teams in baseball, the Braves are the defending World Series champions, having won the division four straight years.

With the Braves giving up five runs against the Los Angeles Angels in the first inning, another gem from Ian Anderson is that New York may not have to beat the Padres Sunday night baseball to stay in the first place. However, this recent loss to San Diego only brings to light that New York needs to add a bat or two before the August 2nd trading close. Atlanta knows how to get runs across…

It’s just one game, but even that doesn’t separate the Mets from the Braves in the division right now.