If this story seems familiar, it's because it is.
One day after Mets manager Mickey Callaway explained why he didn't bench Robinson Cano for failing to run out a ground ball double play (something Cano blamed on the scoreboard operator), Callaway had to explain why he didn't pull Cano from Sunday's game after failing to run at all on another double play ground ball.
And Callaway seemed to be making excuses for his second baseman.
"Things are piling up on Robby right now," Callaway said. "Come on, let's face it. He hit into a double play. The ball lands foul and spins into fair territory. He hit it, he looked down, he saw it hit foul. By the time he looked back up, the ball had spun into fair territory. The play was over. He realizes he has to run. It's not like he's doing that on purpose. Anybody in their right mind knows nobody would do that. It's just piling up on him and it's tough. Stuff happens like that when things are going bad."
Cano spoke shortly after Callaway, didn't want to rehash what happened on Friday night, and simply explained that he thought it was a foul ball. And he didn't take responsibility -- as was also the case after Friday night's gaffe.
Why didn't Robinson Cano run?
- SNY (@SNYtv) May 19, 2019
"I thought it was a foul ball" pic.twitter.com/8WWTZedi3f
Asked if he had the clearance to pull Cano from the game for his transgression on Sunday, Callaway said yes.
"I could do that," he said. "Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely."
So why didn't he?
"You know what, he saw it foul and by the time he picked it back up, it was in fair territory," Callaway said. "Their player did the same thing, right? On one that was way fair. We saw (Neil) Walker do it, right? He did the same thing -- he stood there in the batter's box and the ball is in fair territory. ... I'm not defending not running down the line, but you gotta have a little common sense when something that doesn't happen very often happens. I didn't feel that that was enough to warrant taking him out of the game at that point."
There are a few problems with Callaway's explanation above.
The first is that everyone -- from the umpire to the catcher to the broadcasters to the fans watching -- thought the ball was fair. Because it was fair.
The second is that the comparison he made to Walker doesn't hold water. Walker didn't know where the ball was right after he hit it, while Cano was staring right at the ball as soon as he hit it. Walker ran after realizing where the ball was, while Cano never budged.
The 36-year-old Cano, who was acquired from the Mariners along with Edwin Diaz this offseason, is hitting .245/.293/.374 with three homers in 42 games this season.