New York Mets manager Mickey Callaway and starting pitcher Jason Vargas got into an altercation with Tim Healey of Newsday on Sunday.
Things haven’t looked great for the New York Mets thus far in 2019. With a below-average bullpen and an inconsistent will to win ball games, the Mets are staring at a 37-41 record, 9.0 games out of first place. This tough campaign continued on Sunday in multiple ways.
The Mets were up 3-2 against the Chicago Cubs when relief pitcher Seth Lugo gave up a go-ahead three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning. The Mets couldn’t conjure up any runs in the top of the ninth, as they fell to the Cubs 5-3 and thus split the four-game series.
However, it’s what happened after the game that everyone is talking about. Mets beat writer Tim Healey of Newsday was apparently being “antagonistic” towards manager Mickey Callaway. That’s when both Callaway and pitcher Jason Vargas lost their cool.
Mike Puma of the New York Post and Matt Ehalt of Yahoo! documented the incident on Twitter.
Callaway told the public relations staff to “Get this motherf—-er” out of the clubhouse and when Healey didn’t leave, Vargas got into a stare down with him. Words were exchanged and Vargas had to be restrained from him.
— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) June 23, 2019
Vargas then got into a shouting match with the reporter, over a staredown, and said at one point: "Ill knock you the f*** out, bro."
He charged such reporter and had to held back by Gomez and Syndergaard.
— Matt Ehalt (@MattEhalt) June 23, 2019
The Mets organization obviously regret the situation, as you can’t act like that as a professional sports franchise. I’m sure Callaway and Vargas didn’t like the comments made. However, you can’t let your emotions get the best of you, especially in a media-based market such as New York.
The ballclub thus issued a statement, later on, apologizing for what had occurred.
“The Mets sincerely regret the incident that took place with one of our beat writers following today’s game in the clubhouse. We do not condone this type of behavior from any employee. The organization has reached out and apologized to this reporter and will have further discussions internally with all involved parties.”
The Mets are currently in fourth place in the NL East division. They’ll travel to Philadelphia on Monday to begin a four-game series against the Phillies.
