Mets sticking with Carlos Mendoza as manager, report says; Ronny Mauricio's homer beats Angels
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza at Citi Field on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
ANAHEIM, Calif. — It was exactly two weeks ago in the visitors’ dugout at Wrigley Field when Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns put his full-throated support behind manager Carlos Mendoza, saying he was “doing a very good job.”
Since those comments, the Mets have continued their decline. Before their 4-3 win over the Angels at Angels Stadium on Friday night, they had gone 3-9 against opponents with a combined .488 winning percentage.
Stearns’ stance has not changed.
“We know our record is not what we want, and we know we are capable of more,” he told MLB.com Friday. “We don’t view this as a manager problem and we don’t intend to make a change.”
It was Stearns’ most definitive statement yet, and it came on the heels of two early-season managerial firings in the Red Sox’s Alex Cora and the Phillies’ Rob Thomson. The Mets have a worse record than both of those teams at 11-21 — a worse start than even the historically bad inaugural 1962 team, which went 12-20 in the first 32 games.
The Mets responded by eking out that win over an almost equally bad Angels team, coming back from a 3-0 deficit in the sixth after Angels starter Walbert Urena had to leave the game after getting struck on the knee by Bo Bichette’s comebacker.
"We haven't been able to win games like that when you get down 3-0," Mendoza said. "Today, it wasn't the case. It was something different. The energy in the dugout [was different]. The guys were playing loose."
Francisco Alvarez singled and Marcus Semien laced a two-out, two-run single to tie it. Ronny Mauricio gave them the lead in the seventh, turning on Jose Fermin’s letter-high fastball for a 421-foot blast to rightfield, his first homer of the year.
Added Mauricio, via interpreter: "It's not how you start, it's how you finish, and when we go out there, we have to have pride. We have to really feel it [and] go out there and have success for each other."
Another bright spot: Christian Scott was solid after a tough first inning, allowing three runs (two earned) and three hits with no walks and eight strikeouts in five innings.
But though the Mets certainly were glad to get in the win column, it doesn’t erase the rampant early-season frustrations.
Mendoza was gratified by Stearns’ backing, as well as support from owners Steve and Alex Cohen, but he said it doesn’t change the challenge ahead.
“We all understand the situation,” he said Friday. “It’s good to have that conversation with him, but at the end of the day, we have a job and we have a responsibility . . . It’s about the results on the field as well. Steve is not happy, Alex is not happy, David is not happy, I’m not happy. All of us are frustrated. Together, we’ve got to find a way to get these guys out of this funk, and that’s what we’ll continue to do. I’m pretty confident in our coaches, our players that things will turn.”
They’re going to have to: The Mets have been felled by a dormant offense, poor pitching and a slew of high-profile injuries. Juan Soto missed about three weeks with a calf strain and Francisco Lindor very well could be out for months with the same injury. Jorge Polanco (bursitis, wrist contusion), Luis Robert Jr. (lumbar spine herniated disc) and Kodai Senga (lumbar spine inflammation) also are on the injured list.
In his postgame comments Thursday, reliever Luke Weaver said the team, which entered the year with high expectations, was feeling the weight of its failures.
“Everybody wants to be the hero because we care and we want to win really, really bad,” he said. “I don’t think success lives in that realm. It truly doesn’t. The freedom with which we play day to day is kind of being suffocated a little bit.”
Friday’s assurances should at least give players some clarity, but Mendoza downplayed the potential impact it might have on an already pressurized environment.
“It’s a professional clubhouse,” said Mendoza, who’s in the final year of his contract. “A lot of guys are established in this league and they know the situation. They know where we’re at as a team and they know that together, we’ve got to go out and do it. Pressure [exists], especially in New York where there are high expectations and you’re not playing the way you’re capable of . . . But again, there are a lot of superstars in that locker room and they understand. The messaging is the same for them. We’re in this together.”
Notes & quotes: Infielder Andy Ibanez, whom the Mets claimed off waivers Thursday, joined the team in Anaheim on Friday. Mendoza said they envision using Ibanez against lefties, occasionally playing him at third while having Bichette move to shortstop. He also can spell Semien at second. Eric Wagaman was optioned in a corresponding move . . . Polanco took batting practice Friday and began fielding again . . . Soto played leftfield for the first time since returning from the injured list; he had served as the DH since experiencing forearm tightness last week, but the issue has since resolved.
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
