Mets can't let that sinking feeling prevail
1964 the Tribute band plays at Citi Field on Friday before the Mets faced the Mariners to commemorate the Beatles performing at Shea Stadium exactly 60 years ago. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
It was Beatles Night at Citi Field on Friday — a celebration of the concert the British band played at Shea Stadium 60 years ago — and a fan in the 300s section held up a sign that implored fans to “Imagine, Believe.”
As the game went on and the Mets lost three leads en route to their crushing 11-9 loss to the Mariners, the flip side of the sign seemed far more apt.
“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
And the Mets are absolutely going through hell. How exactly they plan to keep going is a bigger mystery.
Forget rock bottom. That was about a week ago. No, Friday was more like a steady burrowing in the Earth’s core. The offense stirred to life but the pitching imploded, and as often has been the case during this stretch, they simply found a way to lose.
Here’s an incomplete list of the woes that have led to Mets losses in just the last 2 1⁄2 weeks: a pitch-clock violation, a reliever failing to cover first base, an error by a two-time Gold Glove-winning shortstop, a ninth-inning out at the plate and their hard-throwing trade-deadline acquisition giving up late-game leads . . . twice. On Friday, Ryan Helsley coughed up two runs in a five-run seventh.
The Mets, once the team with the best record in baseball at 45-24, have lost 14 of their last 16 games and have a .358 winning percentage (19-34) since June 13 — tied with the Giants for third-worst in baseball. The only teams having a worse time are the Nationals and the bleak collection of souls known as the Colorado Rockies, who’ve won only 33 times this whole season.
There’s no magic bullet. No easy way to fix it. Players consistently are being told that they’re better than this, then provide further evidence that they are not, in fact, better than this.
And despite what should be a talented roster, it’s time to recognize that this is a flawed, incomplete team that might miss the playoffs. Their offense is streaky and struggles in high-leverage spots, but the pitching issues feel more pressing. The staff has a 5.14 ERA since June 13, third-worst in baseball, and their starters have thrown only 237 2/3 innings, the fewest in MLB. Their bullpen is taxed, and it’s still only August.
Speaking of what should have been a shutdown bullpen that gave up seven earned runs Friday, Carlos Mendoza noted, “It’s contagious.”
Contagious not like laughter. Contagious like tuberculosis.
And if this team has any prayer of coming out of this, it has to completely disregard all that.
That’s not to say the Mets should ignore the problems; if they do, the Reds almost certainly will overtake them and earn the third and final wild-card spot. But so much of baseball is mental, and these losses have a certain fatality to them, routs and just-misses that can make it feel as if this team is cursed.
It doesn’t help that no one seems to quite know why things are as bad as they are.
“We’ve all asked that question,” Francisco Lindor said. “It’s tough to point out one thing.”
Brooks Raley, who gave up three runs in the seventh, said: “Not sure I have an answer for that. I haven’t seen anything like this.”
Look, in the end, you’re only as good as your record says you are, but realistically, this roster far outstrips the likes of the White Sox and Rockies of the world. So as upset as fans may feel to hear Mendoza repeat that his team is better than this, it’s the message all 26 men on the roster have to believe . . . whether it’s true or not.
The Mets are at their best when they play with conviction. You see it in their at-bats. When things are going poorly, players look to be caught in between, a heinous mixture of caution and overeagerness that allows opposing pitchers to dictate the plate appearance.
Conversely, on days such as Tuesday, when Pete Alonso broke Darryl Strawberry’s home run record, you saw the swagger that was so deeply entrenched in last year’s success.
Alonso’s homer put the Mets up 5-1 in the third inning of their win over Atlanta, a lead that Clay Holmes immediately relinquished in the top of the fourth. But that’s when Brandon Nimmo stepped up, hitting a three-run homer in the bottom of the frame, a game in which the Mets hit six homers and bludgeoned Atlanta, 13-5.
“I went over when we made the pitching change, went to Cedric [Mullins] in centerfield and was just like, ‘Well, we need to get more,’ ” Nimmo said. “It’s just that simple.”
It is, of course, not simple at all. But there seemed to be no doubt that they’d be able to do it on that day. There was no worry about what weird occurrence would mar this moment. There needs to be more of that.
“You’ve got to climb the mountain,” Lindor said. “Right now, we’re in a very steep part of it, and if we don’t get ourselves together . . . we don’t push ourselves to be better day in and day out, the mountain is going to be tough to climb.”
Mountains. Hellscapes. Hard Day’s Nights. The Mets are going through all of it.
There’s no quick fix, so right now, they simply have to just keep going and pray it’s not too late.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
