New York Post, Tuesday, August 13, 2019nypost.com46
By BRIAN LEWIS
The Mets don’t have any
plansto demote struggling
Edwin Diazto the minors,
or even relegate himto an
ever lower-leverage role.
But it sure sounds as if
they would if they could.
“A t this point, theway
we’re set up, we really can’t
afford to do that,” Mickey
Calla way sa id as theMe ts
preparedforahuge three-
game setat NL East-leading
Atlanta beginningTuesday.
“He’s goingto continueto
get big outsfo r us,continue
to pitch in biggames. And
like we did [Saturday night
when SethLugo pitched the
finaltwo innings and Diaz
remained in the pen],we’ll
pick our spots and do the
bestwecanto wina game
every single night.”
Diazwas supposedto be
the solution, not the prob-
lem. Baseball’s best closer
a year ago with 57saves—
tiedfor the second-most all-
time— he ’s been mired in a
slump. And it’s only getting
worse, pitchingto a bloated
7.62 ERA over 13 innings
since the startof July.
With Lugo limitedby a
partialtear in his elbow lig-
ament, theMets are limited
in how often they can use
him, andCallaway admit-
ted, “it’s difficult, not know-
ing if he’s goingto be avail-
able the next day.”
But Callaway acknowl-
edged he’d start givingLugo
higher-leveragelooks.
Callaway kept Lugoin
for six outsSaturday evenafter he served upa home
run in the eighth inning, and
brought Diaz in downa run
in the ninth onSunday. Diaz
struck out two but coughed
up a two-run home runto
seala 7-4 loss to Washing-
ton.
“You always have to be
openfor adjustments,” Cal-
laway said. “The season’s
goingto change;guys are
go ingto be effecti veat
times, not effective at times.
Atthis point thesample
sizes aren’t that small any-
more.I believe that guys
have earneda rightto
do something until they
haven’t.”
And Diaz clearly hasn’t,
allowing runs infive of
his last six appearances.
After postinga sterling1.96
ERA last seasonto win AL
Reliever of theYe ar, he’s
seen itswell to 5.60 this sea-
son.
“In the lastcoupleof out-
ings, it’s beenmyinability
to execute my pitches,” Diaz
said through an interpreter.
“In orderfor meto have
better outingsIjust needto
execute my pitches.
“The pitches themselves,
stuff-wise, are fine. But
it’s just about locating the
pitches theway thatIwant
them, so thatIcan have bet-
ter execution.”
Hisexecution— or lack
thereof—hascomeback
to haunt him in theform of
the longball. Diaz has sur-
rendered 11 home runs in
45 innings, includingfour
in his last six appearances.The latest was
hanging a 2-1
slider that Victor
Robles crushed
out to left on
Sunday.
“In the series,
he’s had trouble
hitting the slider, so that’s
why I threw it,” Diazsaid.
“I just didn’t locate it well
and that’s why he hit it
out.I was just tryingto
throwit low andaway
and tryto getaground
ball.”
Poor location being
punished with hom-
ers has beena recurring
theme.
“It’ s beentough,” Cal-
laway said. “Thecom-
mon denominator in allof
his homers is that they’re
right down the middle:
Wedidn’texecute a pitch.
That’s normally what
happenswhen you give
up a home run. But we ’r e
go ingto wo rk har d and be
diligent ingetting theball
wh er e we need to. Westill
have faith inEdwin.”
Diaz hassaid all the right
things, not letting himself
get frustrated by either his
woes or his changingrole.
“I tryto have a positive
attitudeevery single time.
I’m just tryingto get out
of therough stretch I’m in
right now,” Diazsaid. “If
I’m frustrated all the time,
it’s justgoing to get worse.
Every single time on the
mound, I’m just tryingto
get better.”
[email protected]EDWIN &
BEAR IT
Amazin’s don’t have many
options other than letting
Diaz pitch in big situations
HE’SGOTCOMPCOMPCOMPANY:ANY:There’snosugarcoatinghowbad
EdwinDiazhasbeen,buthe’snottheonlyrelieverona
contenderstruggling.TheBrewers’JoshHader(nearright)
hasstruggledfromoveruse,whiletheBravesandCubs
broughtinShaneGreeneandCraigKimbreltofixtheir
bullpensandithasn’tworked. RobertSabo;AP(2);GettyImages