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I Actually Love Zack Wheeler Being Pissed at Don Mattingly for Taking Him Out in the Fifth Inning and Mattingly Not Caring
By Nick Piccone
Published:
Zack Wheeler was roughed up a little bit during Wednesday night’s game against the Pirates. He didn’t make it past the fifth inning, and left with the bases loaded and two outs. He gave up three straight hits after getting the first two outs of the fifth, and two of those hits were lucky to find open space after only having exit velocities of 72.6 and 63.4, respectively. After 104 pitches, interim manager Don Mattingly thought it was time to go to Kyle Backhus, who promptly hit two straight batters.
It was the first time Wheeler didn’t get through five innings in a start since June 2024. He was ultimately tagged with four earned runs on nine hits in 4.2 innings. He did strike out 10 Pirates, and was probably ready to make it 11 before Mattingly walked to the mound.
After the game, Wheeler commented on not being a fan of the move:
Wheeler: “Yeah, I was upset.”
Reporter: “Why are you upset?”
Wheeler: “Getting taken out of the game.”
Reporter: “You’d like to finish five?”
Wheeler: “Obviously. I feel like I’ve earned that.”
Reporter: “You talk to Don about it?”
Wheeler: “Nope.”
Reporter: “Will you?”
Wheeler: “I don’t know.”
Before Thursday’s series finale against the Pirates, Mattingly responded:
Reporter: “Have a chance to talk to him?”
Mattingly: “I have not. At this point, I don’t think he’d want to talk to me yet. Maybe he’ll settle down and talk to me later, but I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet. In general, it really doesn’t bother me at all that he’s upset. I think the great ones never want to come out of the game. And he’s no different. I mean, I had Kershaw out there. He did not want to come out of games. But, from my standpoint, I got to protect, not necessarily him, he’s at 105 [pitches] in that inning, he has a 10-pitch at-bat, he’s at 115 in the fifth inning. This is a long-term kind of situation. I think you guys know our rotation is a obviously a great rotation, but the depth of it is not filled with four Skenes down in the minor leagues ready to pop in a fill the spot. So my job is to make sure that this guy stays available through the course of the season. We got a long way to go. I don’t really don’t mind guys being upset. Again, that’s what the great ones do. But I still have to make decisions for the whole club and in general for him.”
Mattingly isn’t wrong. I see both sides of the argument, and I love both of ’em. Of course Wheeler wants to finish that inning. He’s a dawg. To Mattingly, it didn’t matter how weak the base hits were, they were base hits and the bases were now loaded. He thought a fresh bullpen arm was a better option at that point than a laboring Wheeler. It backfired. So it’s easy to second-guess and say he should have given Wheeler a longer leash. But I don’t have a huge issue with the move, nor do I Wheeler’s comments after the game, nor do I Mattingly’s comments Thursday morning. That’s what I want to see from this team. I want Wheeler to want to finish off an inning. I want Mattingly to try and win games, regardless of whether it’s “only” July 1st or not. And not every move he makes it going to work. Not every move any manager makes always works. But even with the bullpen being a bit depleted, I like to see Mattingly try and save some players from themselves.
Of course, he could second-guess doing the same thing in the future, but that’s going to be based off the conversation he and Wheeler have – whenever that is.
I just know one thing – this team feels a little bit different than the last two. And hopefully, when the time comes, that’s a good thing.
Nick Piccone has covered Philly sports and events for over 15 years with various outlets, including PhillyVoice.com and PhillyInfluencer.com. In 2015, he co-launched the Straight Shooters Podcast, focused on covering the professional wrestling industry. He was a producer at Fox Sports Radio Philadelphia and currently produces broadcast and social media content for the Villanova Sports Radio Network. He grew up in South Philadelphia and South Jersey, and is a graduate of Neumann University. Contact: picconenick@gmail.com