The New York Mets blew a lead in the ninth inning on the way to another crushing loss Wednesday to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and as the beat has been all year, the late-game ineptitude fell on both the bullpen and its manager, Mickey Callaway.

As an appetizer, Robert Gsellman entered the eighth inning up 3-0, allowing another run to bring his ERA to 4.37 (16.88 dating back to the Colorado road trip on June 20th) before Tim Peterson replaced him.

Jeurys Familia‘s performance, however, was particularly shocking. The polarizing closer failed to record an out, allowing three hits and a four-pitch walk on 18 pitches before finally being pulled from the game – with the bases loaded – in favor of Anthony Swarzak, who allowed two hits of his own. Long story short, Familia was charged with four earned runs and the loss in a 5-3 final.

The ire toward Familia from fans and the media at the end of the game was justifiable, but considering the circumstances in terms of the inning itself, the series as a whole, and the general bigger picture of the season, Callaway once again shot himself in the foot, and deservedly came under fire.

Between the atrociously managed ninth inning and frustratingly curt presser, Callaway’s own shortcomings seemed to come to a head in large part because he effectively had no excuses. Dominic Smith never learning to bunt is a more universal indictment of the way the organization has been managed, as the case has also been with Jose Reyes‘ unfairly protected spot on the roster as well  Yoenis Cespedes and AJ Ramos‘ brutally mishandled injuries.

If the Mets had actually intended to use Familia in the ninth inning, just a day removed from an inning and two-thirds of 28-pitch relief, they still should have treated the situation with a prudent hand. Even when rested, Familia can be erratic. Forcing him along as Callaway did, on its own, was questionable at best.

Suffice it to say, neglecting to warm up any relief pitcher neither in-between nor within the first two batters of the inning, was an embarrassing oversight. Rolling the dice on Swarzak, who has a 6.95 FIP this season, was foolish. Of course, Gerson Bautista and Chris Beck aren’t viable options, no matter how prepared they were, but Drew Smith could have also been in the mix, at least to warm up beside Swarzak. But I digress…

Callaway could have asked Christy Mathewson to come back to life and spell Familia. If he grabs the rosin bag, finishes stretching, and proceeds to enter the game literally a minute later, he is in no position to attack hitters. Callaway essentially put faith in an over-cooked pitcher, left him in the frying pan, and then, in a rush to get food out, gave the Pirates an under-cooked, unprepared, ineffective arm.

Callaway wasn’t particularly remorseful after the game. On the ninth inning, particularly with regards to the delay in calling for Swarzak, he retorted, “so how it works in baseball, in the ninth inning or in any inning, you get a guy going and they call down when they’re ready… so that they’re ready when they go in.”

For Mets fans, one of the brightest moments at the beginning of Spring Training had to be listening to Callaway assert to reporters that his own decisions were made under a meritocracy, that every player would be held accountable, and furthermore that arbitrary roles, such as those of the set-up man and designated closer, no longer held water. To presently render his statements null and void is perfectly fair, and I would add that Callaway’s hypocrisy deserves all the scrutiny it has received.

The personnel decisions, and very obviously some of the lineup decisions, are out of the manager’s control. Nonetheless, there’s an air of responsibility that, judging by his comments defending an inning that dearly cost his starter a much-deserved win, has gone out the window.

Nobody asks that Callaway pitch younger arms since competitive baseball may not be on the agenda going forward, nor do they ask that he use his tradeable players scrupulously so as to protect their value. As the manager, however, Callaway should know better than to run Familia into the ground, hastily waste Swarzak, and snidely defend the indefensible. Given the expectations that haven’t been met this year, this seems to be a fair compromise.