There came the moment that Mets fans have learned to dread as much as anything in what has been an almost relentlessly dreadful season. Out of the dugout stepped Mickey Callaway, bottom of the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium. The Mets had built a four-run lead. That has never much been part of the equation.
Callaway was coming to get Jacob deGrom.
And that always seems to be the first chapter in an almost sinister tale the Mets have spun across the first 4 ½ months of this season.
Out of respect for his ace, Callaway deferred making a move until he reached the mound.