Tiki: Why didn't Carlos Mendoza openly defend Edwin Diaz?

Evan began Monday’s show by ripping Rob Manfred and Major League Baseball after Edwin Diaz was ejected from Sunday’s series finale against the Cubs, but Tiki was more focused on Carlos Mendoza’s reaction to his closer being tossed.

After watching the manager’s reaction, and his postgame comments afterward, Tiki couldn’t help but wonder why Diaz’s skipper didn’t seem to openly have his back as he was being tossed from the game and facing a 10-game suspension.

“It feels like Carlos Mendoza was like ‘It’s okay, his hands were a little too sticky.’ Why doesn’t he come to his defense?” Tiki said. “Why isn’t Carlos Mendoza getting himself tossed out of that game and lambasting the umpires afterwards?

“I don’t understand why he’s not defending Edwin Diaz in this instance, unless he’s just so afraid of mighty old baseball and whatever fine he’s gonna get handed down for complaining about the umpiring.”

Tiki believes it has been a trend for Mendoza, who he otherwise commends for the job he has done in his first year with the Mets, but he would have liked to see Mendoza have a lot more to say in his postgame press conference other than simply acknowledging that the umpires felt Diaz’s hands were too sticky.

“He keeps not defending his guys,” Tiki said.

“I think he didn’t want to anger Major League Baseball. Why else would you be so passive? Why else would you not stand up for your reliever, one of the great catalysts for the Mets over the last couple of years? He’s an important piece of this turnaround. Why not defend him? The only thing I can say is, maybe Edwin Diaz was actually cheating.”