Mets’ Mickey Callaway, on His 2nd Try, Apologizes for a Confrontation

Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

PHILADELPHIA — Jason Vargas called it a distraction. Mickey Callaway called it a misunderstanding. A day after a tense confrontation involving a reporter in the team’s clubhouse on Sunday, both the pitcher and the manager projected more defiance than regret on Monday, with neither issuing a public apology — at least not the first time around.

The two were making their first comments since the episode in Chicago in which Callaway lashed out at a reporter, Tim Healey of Newsday, after a 5-3 loss to the Cubs and then Vargas threatened Healey. Both Callaway and Vargas were fined an undisclosed amount by the team on Monday before the start of a four-game road series…