Carlos Mendoza said he does not want “yes men” around him, and sure enough in the dugout he was only hearing “no.”
In Tuesday’s sixth inning, a tottering Sean Manaea walked Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner.
Manaea had thrown 74 pitches.
The Mets’ lead was two runs, and Bryce Harper was stepping up as the potential go-ahead run.
According to the manager, he chatted with pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and bench coach John Gibbons. His right- and left-hand men reached the same conclusion:
“Get him,” Mendoza said to laughs before the Mets and Phillies battled in Game 4 of the NLDS at Citi Field on Wednesday.
Mendoza could smile because his against-the-grain gut worked.
Mendoza left Manaea in the game to strike out Harper on three pitches before Nick Castellanos lined into a double play.
Manaea roared off the mound, retired the side in the seventh and was pulled in the eighth for what would be a 7-2 Mets win.
Even a day later, with the benefit of time and the benefit of the faith in his starter paying off, Mendoza could not quite articulate why he kept a seemingly flagging Manaea in the game when Reed Garrett was fully warmed up.
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“Hard for me to describe that,” Mendoza said. “I had the information, but I don’t know, man.
“After the game, it took me a while to kind of like just …” Mendoza said, before releasing an exhale.
In his first year as a major league manager, Mendoza’s leashes for his starting pitchers have proven generally longer than most in today’s game.
Perhaps that fact reflects his philosophical feeling about riding his starters, but more likely it is a reflection that Mendoza feels he knows when his specific group of starters can keep going and when they cannot.
With arms like Manaea, Jose Quintana and Luis Severino — who might have been left in the game too long in Game 2, when he allowed home runs to Harper and Castellanos in a similar situation — there are personalities who often want to keep throwing.
“I think [Tuesday] was probably one of the toughest [decisions of] the whole year, because I’m having that conversation with Hef. I’m getting the feedback from Gibby, and I’m getting the same answer,” Mendoza said. “I gambled, and I’m glad it worked. It’s not always going to be that way.”
Likely influencing Mendoza’s decision-making was a bullpen that has not had much of a break in the past two weeks.
Because Manaea pitched into the eighth, only Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek were used in relief, which was helpful for the Mets going into Game 4.
“There’s going to be days where I want to be aggressive,” Mendoza said, “there’s going to be days where I’m going to let it play out.”