To be fair, no one at Citi Field expected Mattingly to stick around after he left the dugout to argue calls made against his pitcher late in the game.
With the Marlins leading 6-4, reliever Richard Bleier was called on in the bottom of the eighth to keep the Mets at bay. Jeff McNeil reached on an infield single with two out, to bring Pete Alonso to the plate. Alonso hit his 40th home run of the season in the fourth inning to pull the Mets within one at 4-3. With every game critical for the Mets right now, losing to a 90-loss Marlins team certainly would not help their chances of winning the NL East.
Instead, the umpiring crew called three balks in the same at bat, allowing Nelson to come all the way around to score. Bleier was called for balks with the count at 1-0, 2-0 and 3-1. The rule is that the pitcher must come to a complete stop before starting their delivery. Replay showed that Bleier did come to a full stop, but in a very quick fashion on all three pitches. At least two of the balks should not have been called when the replays were slowed down.
Mattingly came onto the field to argue the call and was immediately ejected. Managers or pitchers are not allowed to argue balks, as doing so is an automatic ejection.
The umpires in question were Ryan Blakney (home plate) and John Tumpane (first base). The significance here is that the remaining two umpires were Adrian Johnson and Marvin Hudson, the two that threw out Robbie Ray and Luke Weaver on Sunday in Kansas City for a National Anthem standoff that I covered earlier this week on the JC24 Sports Note.
Yes, this same crew has thrown out four players already this week, with playoff implications affecting two of those teams (Mets and the Seattle Mariners).
Bleier pleaded his case after the second and third balk calls, which turned into arguing after getting Alonso to ground out to end the inning. He was ejected for his troubles as well. This was the first time Bleier was called for a balk in his 303 appearance Major League career. He was ejected in a game back on July 20, 2021 for hitting a batter against the Washington Nationals. Bleier challenged that the hitter swung, which would supersede the HBP, but the call was upheld. Mattingly pulled Bleier after the at bat, where Bleier was ejected for flipping off the umpiring crew from the dugout moments later.
Mattingly, 61, signed a four-year contract with the Marlins in 2015, after three straight playoff appearances with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The lone playoff appearance for the Marlins was in the 2020 Covid-shortened season, which has been the lone time Miami finished above .500 (31-29). The Marlins won the National League Wild Card round against the Chicago Cubs, but were dumped by the Atlanta Braves in the Divisional Round.
Mattingly’s contract with the Marlins expires at the end of the season, while he has more wins than anyone in franchise history (437). His winning percentage of .432 however, is the worst among the four Marlin managers with at least 200 victories. The 2020 playoff appearance was on the the third in team history, as Jack McKeon and Jim Leyland brought the Marlins to a World Series Championship in 2003 and 1997 respectively. Despite winning the 2020 NL Manager of the Year, 2022 will mark the fourth time that the Marlins have lost at least 90 games under Mattingly.
The Marlins will now have to end 2022 with no manager, a bottom-five payroll and no real contingency plan for contending in a loaded NL East on the table.
-JC24