NEW YORK — When Francisco Lindor took the lead in the bottom of the seventh, reality reduced Citi Field’s a cappella rendition of “My Girl” to a faint murmur.
It sounded appropriate, considering all the fun we’ve had over the past few months and the current crisis and how things look.
The New York Mets’ season is almost here.
The Mets are on the verge of elimination after another poor performance in the National League Championship Series. They lost 10-2 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night in a completely underwhelming game. again. They trailed the Dodgers 3-1 in the series.
Worse than those numbers, the Mets appear to be running out of energy as teams begin their comebacks while facing such deficits.
“Sean (Manaea) said that a while ago,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said when asked if his rotation had hit the proverbial wall.
When asked about his final inning after his start on Monday, Manaea said: “I just hit a wall. I mean, I don’t know. I just hit a wall. I’m clearly not trying to do that. “There really is no other excuse than that.”
So Mendoza continued…
“We ask a lot of these people,” he said. “And we’re playing against a good team. You have to give those guys credit. The lineup is deep. That’s a good lineup. And whether those people felt it or not, we didn’t act and we didn’t get information from them for a long time.”
There’s no reason the Mets are outscored 30-9 in the NLCS, so while this problem may be found elsewhere, the rotation is the best place to start.
New York relied heavily on strong starting pitching in the final months of the regular season, but problems arose. A year ago, the Mets’ veteran rotation, coming off injuries, a reduced workload and providing quality play only heightened fears that there was a tax to pay. Unfortunately for the Mets, the deadline came in mid-October.
Jose Quintana is a year older and 100 innings deeper than in 2023. (Photo: Luke Hales / Getty Images)
The Mets’ path to postseason victory included disguising a shallow bullpen by believing that their starting pitchers would throw deeper into games than most pitchers on other teams in October. This didn’t work against the Dodgers, who had a lineup full of stars and overall carriers of plate discipline.
Game 4 starting pitcher Jose Quintana, 35, has pitched more than 100 total innings compared to when he was a year younger, but has not had much of a chance. The Dodgers denied his style of working around the edge, allowing four walks, five hits and five runs in just 3 1/3 innings. By the time Quintana’s run closed out, the Mets had suffered a 5-2 deficit.
Mendoza earlier this week conveyed that rest days are an important part of the calculus when ordering rotations in the NLCS, even with starters getting extra rest.
“I think it depends on where they are physically,” Mendoza said. “Those three (Quintana, Manaea and Luis Severino) are now in territory they have never been in before.”
In four games, no Mets starting pitcher recorded an out until the sixth inning. Meanwhile, for the Dodgers, only starting pitcher Jack Flaherty achieved the feat by going 7 innings in Game 1. But these are some of the differences between the Mets and Dodgers. Los Angeles can win in other ways, including leaning on several leverage weapons coming into their bullpen.
When Quintana’s outing ended, the Mets turned to reliever José Buttó. Once a late-inning mainstay, Buttó’s shaky performance has left him in a less stressful situation in the playoffs. Buttó allowed two inherited runners to score. This is his first season as a consistent contributor to a major league roster. Moreover, he started the season as a starter. Running out of gas?
In Game 5, the Mets will start left-hander David Peterson. like athletic As previously reported, he was always seen as an option over Kodai Senga unless the Mets used him out of the bullpen first.
Peterson stood out as the Mets’ best option, but he hasn’t started a game since September 29 and has pitched as a multi-inning reliever since, logging three innings on October 5.
“We’ve been through a lot this year and it’s made us who we are,” Peterson said.
The Mets are hoping to keep their improbable season, which includes Grimace and OMG, alive and well. (Photo: Dustin Satloff / Getty Images)
“If you don’t have faith, you shouldn’t be here,” Lindor said. You have to believe it. You have to fight for what you want. You have to fight for it.”
From New York’s perspective, the season isn’t over yet. Metz spoke with OMG about adding a new chapter to the wild plot involving Grimace Page. On Friday, The Temptations will sing the national anthem and then perform “My Girl.” Yes, that’s another actual statement about the 2024 Mets. They hope to write a few more unlikely pieces.
Inside the clubhouse, there was a common theme with players drawing from the past. Several players pointed out that the Mets recorded the last out in Milwaukee. But that was in the Wild Card Series. This does not mean winning three times in a row. It was only two weeks ago, but it feels like it’s been a lot longer. A lot has happened since then.
And it wasn’t just the Mets’ rotation that seemed to be running out of gas in this series. Position players like Jose Iglesias and Francisco Alvarez also failed to achieve much. Brandon Nimmo is suffering from plantar fasciitis and, to his credit, continues to work on all ground balls.
The Mets overcame many challenges. The players walked down an inspiring path of hope, recognizing the weight of this extraordinary task. The Mets shouldn’t be completely ruled out, but their long-standing concerns about how they fared in previous tests may finally be catching up with them.
(Top photo of Mets in dugout: Frank Franklin Jr./Associated Press)
