QUEENS — Jeff McNeil was still incredulous even after his Mets walked off the Yankees on Wednesday night to wrench a split in the two-game Subway Series.
In the eighth inning, while playing behind the bag trying to hold Anthony Volpe on second base in a 3-3 game after he led off with a double, the Mets’ second baseman was called for a shift violation by home-plate umpire and crew chief Bill Miller. It negated a swinging strike on Giancarlo Stanton that would have put reliever Adam Ottavino ahead 0-2. Instead, it was 1-1 — though the right-hander would get through unscathed.
“From what I just read in the rule, it was not a violation,” McNeil said “When the pitcher releases the ball, I need to be on my side of second base, which I was. It’s a little frustrating because what I was doing was not part of it. It was not what we want in the game. I’m doing my best to hold a runner who’s got [14 bags stolen] and is trying to take third. So I’m doing my best to keep him close and also field my position at the same time.”
The shift rule, instituted by Major League Baseball this season, was put in place to ban a team from putting three infielders on one side of a bag as a way to neutralize pull hitters. But for Miller, McNeil’s foot being on the shortstop side of the second-base bag was more than enough to make the call.
“It’s so ticky-tack that it’s not something we should be worried about,” McNeil said. “If you’re playing defense right there on that line all the way at the back of the grass where you’re trying to toe the line, yeah, you should be [penalized]. But I was trying to stop [Volpe] from getting to third base.
“I’m probably going to be the first one ever called on that and probably the last because it’s so ticky-tack.”
Miller and his umpiring crew did plenty to irk the Mets throughout the two-game Subway Series.
Reliever Drew Smith was hit with a 10-game suspension after Miller ejected him before the seventh inning of Tuesday night’s game for failing a sticky substance check before ever throwing a single pitch. Smith maintained that his use of rosin was consistent with what he’s done all season and even said that an MLB official in the clubhouse tunnel after he was ejected “actually laughed and said there was nothing there.”
Closer David Robertson, who was called in to pitch just two innings later, was also warned that his hands were sticky.
“The fact that I was even told that was shocking,” he told Newsday’s Tim Healey.
Two of the three pitchers ejected for failing sticky-stuff checks this season have been Mets — Max Scherzer being the first in April.
“I can do that math,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “So when the questions are asked, tell me why I shouldn’t feel [curious about why Mets pitchers are being focused on]… You’ve got to look in the mirror and say, instead of it always being somebody else’s fault, or somebody singling you out or picking you out, are you doing something wrong?”
Fast-forward to an inning before McNeil’s shift violation on Wednesday night and Brandon Nimmo was left puzzled by the league’s decision to uphold Chad Whitson’s call that ended a Mets rally that tied the game at three apiece, but offered the promise of more.
On Starling Marte’s game-tying single, Nimmo attempted to go from first to third only to realize halfway to the hot corner that Mark Vientos was being held at third. He attempted a swim move to get around the tag of DJ LeMahieu and it appeared as though he did just sneak his way back safely. But the call was upheld after a video review.
“I thought I was safe, but those [calls] haven’t seemed to go our way this year,” Nimmo said. “It’s really disappointing but also, it’s that same mindset of like, OK these are not the ones we have gotten so far. So you have to prepare yourself.”
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