Jason Vargas and Mickey Callaway Address Incident, Somehow Make Things Worse [UPDATE]

The highly anticipated moment of New York Mets pitcher Jason Vargas and Mickey Callaway addressing last night’s clubhouse ugliness turned out to be rather unsatisfying as both failed to form the word “sorry” with their mouth or show much of the human emotion called contrition.

Callaway’s crisis management included comparing himself to Billy Martin in what can only be deemed an unusual bit of whataboutism. But if you found the manager’s clean-up lacking, take solace in the fact it was almost infinitely better than Vargas’.

Keep in mind here that Tim Healy, the Newsday reporter who Vargas allegedly charged, is mere feet away here.

This cannot be what the Mets had in mind to put a bow on the situation and move on. Not considering the rather swift and surprisingly strong statement they put out.

As with so many of these cases, the surprise that Vargas and Callaway conducted their interviews like children forced to apologize to their siblings by mom and dad isn’t borne out of some moral standing. They owe one person an apology and it’s unclear if either reached out personally to deliver that to Healy. No, the surprise comes in because it would be so easy to say the right, PR-friendly thing here and move on — even if it wasn’t an honest and personal belief.

We’re talking about player and coach stubbornly standing their ground on someone saying “See you tomorrow” with possible sarcasm. What could have been a five-second story is now on its second day and the New York press will find plenty wanting with the attempted patch-up job. Day three will be tomorrow.

Again, a bang-up job by all involved here. Not Mets-like at all.

UPDATE: Callaway called reporters back into the clubhouse after these interviews and was given another chance at an apology. He took advantage, and expressed regret for his actions.