Mets manager Buck Showalter not thrilled with Starling Marte's failed steal in Wednesday's loss
Mets manager Buck Showalter greets players as they come into the dugout after their 6-2 win against the San Francisco Giants in an MLB baseball game at Citi Field on Thursday, April 21, 2022. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Buck Showalter returned on Thursday from a one-game absence due to an undisclosed medical procedure to manage the Mets’ 6-2 victory over the Giants at Citi Field.
“How do I look?” the 65-year-old Showalter asked as he sat down for his pregame news conference.
Showalter was able to watch Wednesday night’s 5-2 loss to San Francisco and didn’t like when Starling Marte was thrown out trying to steal second to end the seventh with runners on the corners and the Mets trailing by four.
“I wasn’t there,” Showalter joked. “It’s one of those things you’ve got to ask yourself, ‘What would you say if he was safe?’ I would probably say the same thing . . . We’re in a pretty good spot there.”
Marte, who said after the game that he had “no regrets,” has been successful in 77% of his career stolen-base attempts. His next steal will be the 300th of his career. Marte did not play on Thursday.
“You’ve got to be so careful in making him not aggressive and not trusting him,” Showalter said. “After it’s over, you go, ‘Yeah, not a good play.’ But what are you going to do? Beat him up on it? I’ll bet you it doesn’t happen again. Did it cost us a game? I don’t know. He’s done a lot of things that have helped us win games.”
Showalter said he wants his players to feel free to “go for it.” But, he added, “Sometimes going for it means don’t go.”
Designated power hitter
Francisco Lindor went 3-for-5 with a solo home run as the designated hitter. In 12 career games at the gloveless position, Lindor has hit seven home runs.
Still, he said, “I get bored . . . I’m a shortstop. I need to be out there.”
But Lindor added, “It feels good to not be on my feet for three hours . . . I didn’t mind it. I liked it. Yesterday, I was a little bit . . . I felt heavy. The coaching staff, they have a good sense of where I’m at and they gave me a day. Usually I would complain, but today I took it.”
They might be Giants
Lindor and Showalter were asked how significant it was for the Mets to win three of four from San Francisco, which won an MLB-high 107 games last season:
“We’re the New York Mets,” Lindor said. “We’ve got a good team.”
Showalter, asked what it means, said: “I’ll tell you, probably nothing with our guys because there are so many games left . . . I don’t think our guys feel any different about whether they can compete for what we’re trying to do because we won three out of four from the team that won the most games in baseball last year. Can’t hurt. But I don’t think they’re going to be on the plane going, ‘Wow.’ I hope they’re not thinking that deep.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
