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Urgency is, and should be, the name of the game for the New York Mets right now who are locked in a fierce battle for the NL East pennant with the Atlanta Braves. However, certain decisions made by manager Buck Showalter late in games, when it comes to the bullpen, clash with that sense of urgency.

Let’s make no doubt about it; Showalter has played as big a role as anyone in the success the Mets have enjoyed so far this season. Hired by new general manager Billy Eppler during the offseason, Showalter has brought a sense of calm, responsibility, accountability, and respect to the organization. The Mets have actually avoided looking like a laughing stock this year, and that is largely down to their skipper who knows how to carry himself in this game.

Showalter also boasts a wealth of experience. Regarded as one of the smartest guys in the sport, the long-time manager has turned the ingredients given to him by Eppler into a delicious and fundamentally sound baseball team that delivers gritty at-bats, runs the bases well, plays solid defense, and generates runs. Showalter has also helped the likes of Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, and Jeff McNeil to have huge years, while he should also take some credit for the resurgence of elite closer Edwin Díaz.

Showalter has gotten his players to buy-in all season long. He has earned their trust and, in turn, created a clubhouse built on trust and respect. Everyone is pulling in the same direction because they know their manager is putting them in the best position to win and succeed every single day. There are no ulterior motives with the Mets this year. That hasn’t always been the case in years past.

However, while Showalter has largely done the job he was hired to do this year and done it very well, there’s one black mark you can level against him. And that’s the management of the bullpen. It is a common theory in baseball that managers are based on how the bullpen performs, and that is no different with Showalter and the Mets.

Of course, the fact that Eppler didn’t go out and acquire a big-time lefty reliever at the trade deadline has hurt this team more and more by the day and if this season ends in failure, then that inability to go all out when the opportunity was there to significantly upgrade will be seen as a significant strike against Eppler and the rest of the front office. However, it is up to Showalter to get the best out of what he’s got to work with, and he arguably hasn’t done that as of late.

There has been a multitude of examples of Showalter treating crunch, must-win games in August and September like they are early rubber matches or blowout games in April or May. One of the big positives for the Mets hiring Showalter was that he came with a reputation as being a master of bullpen management. And that has been true for large parts of this season. But, with every game now crucial in a division race that will go down to the death, Showalter has come up short time and time again.

He’s approached games in August and in the early days of September thinking of the future as if we still have months of the regular season remaining. In reality, it is all about the present, but Showalter’s insistence on resting his relievers to the extreme is now coming back to bite the Mets in the butt. None of the 28-most used relievers this season have played for the Mets, and it is now past time that Showalter throws caution to the wind and taxes his bullpen as much as he can. Because if he doesn’t, all that rest won’t count for anything when they are on vacation in early October.

The latest example of Showalter’s shortcomings with this bullpen came on Friday night in an ugly 6-3 loss to the Marlins. With the Mets now 3-4 in their last seven against some of the worst teams in baseball and the offense in a major slump, the bullpen needed to step up. Instead, it has only added to the plethora of problems facing this team.

Although the Marlins rank 27th in hitting in MLB, they went to work against David Peterson and the bullpen on Friday. Showalter opted to put Joely Rodríguez into the game in the eighth after being unavailable earlier in the week due to neck stiffness. However, Rodríguez was shelled after giving up a single to Nick Fortes and a two-run home run to Charles Leblanc.

Showalter didn’t want to use Seth Lugo and Adam Ottavino and wanted to stay away from Díaz until the ninth inning, but he ended up bringing Díaz into the game in the eighth anyway with the Mets already down three runs and the game all but over with the offense unable to offer up a big hit. It was perhaps one of the strangest bullpen decisions made by Showalter yet, and he offered a reason for his actions after the game.

“I wanted him (Diaz) to be able to pitch the ninth inning,” Showalter said. “If he comes in and throws twenty pitches, I can’t do that either. We just didn’t score any runs. We had some opportunities there, but we didn’t score enough runs. We knew we wanted to get him out there so we were hoping Joely could get a couple of outs. He’s been pitching well for us and wasn’t able to, but fortunately, Edwin didn’t have to throw a lot of pitches. We wanted to create a situation where he could come in and pitch the ninth also, but you really can’t do that if he pitches a complete eighth.

“We already had Otto (Ottavino) up so we didn’t want to get him up again, and Lugo really needed another day in a perfect world, so we were able to give him that.”

This isn’t a perfect world for the Mets, though. They have now lost the division lead to the red-hot Braves who refuse to go away, and with just 23 regular season games remaining, Showalter doesn’t have the luxury to give relievers full rest and extra days off. He needs to lean on the bullpen even more now, especially with the offense slumping, and he has to tax every single arm at his disposal given the urgent situation facing his team now. While it was Eppler’s failure not to bolster the bullpen, it is ultimately Showalter’s responsibility to make what he has got work, and his insistence on being careful with his bullpen and not over-using his relievers could ultimately cost the Mets a pennant.