David Lennon: Awful offensive weekend sends Mets to Los Angeles off fifth straight loss
New York Mets' Bo Bichette reacts after striking out in the 7th inning of his game against the Athletics at Citi Field on Sunday. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
During a weekend when Jeff McNeil heard louder cheers at Citi Field than any of the current Mets, the former “Flying Squirrel” of Flushing probably found it personally satisfying Sunday when their brief eighth-inning rally — or what passed for one on this pitiful homestand — ended with Francisco Lindor’s routine grounder bouncing into his glove.
Everyone knows the combustible history between those two, and McNeil ultimately got the last laugh over the club that banished him to Sacramento this winter, helping the A’s complete the three-game sweep Sunday as the Mets went quietly, 1-0. McNeil’s fourth-inning double was one more extra-base hit than his former club could muster — the Mets totaled four singles — but slugger Nick Kurtz supplied the lone run by golfing a 75-mph shoe-top curveball over the rightfield wall in the third.
For this one afternoon, the Mets were actually fairly successful at run prevention. Peralta delivered his best outing since arriving in Queens — he allowed just four hits and struck out six over six innings — and Sean Manaea, the $25 million piggy-back specialist, whiffed four over this three scoreless innings.
Problem was, the Mets pulled a no-show at the plate, resulting in a fifth straight loss. During this streak, they’ve been outscored, 30-9, and batted .205 (34-for-166). Sunday marked the third time the Mets were shut out this season — tying the White Sox, Mariners and Giants for most in the majors. They had two singles in the first inning, then two in the sixth. In between, A’s starter Aaron Civale retired 13 straight.
The Mets are now two games under .500 (7-9) and just got pantsed by the A’s, whose $95 million payroll is about a quarter of Steve Cohen’s underachieving squad. This week also shattered any illusions about shrugging off Juan Soto’s absence, as they’ve been lost offensively without him.
Still, with Soto probably out for at least another week because of the calf strain, and the Mets opening a three-game series Monday night against the powerful Dodgers in L.A., they better find some answers in a hurry. We’ve written plenty in this space about the need for a quick start given the pressure on this team — along with the fragile status of its manager — and the Mets are rapidly going in the wrong direction. Not the ideal time to be facing the two-time defending world champs.
“I’ve been a part of big expectations,” said Bo Bichette, who went 0-for-4 Sunday, struck out to strand a runner at second, and is now hitting .235 with a .593 OPS. “And I’ve been a part of slower starts offensively. I mean, nobody likes losing. That’s the best I can put it. But I think if we got our heads down or worried too much about this, then we got bigger issues.”
The Mets don’t need any more issues, of any size, that’s for sure. At least they played a relatively clean game Sunday — Carson Benge even made a spectacular diving grab to save two runs in the fourth inning. And Lindor (two singles) more or less seemed to have his head in the game, other than getting thrown out trying to steal second base in the first inning (Jorge Polanco whiffed to make it a double play).
But manager Carlos Mendoza can’t really afford moral victories at this point. He could use the real Ws, and it’s not a great look when a crowd of 37,316 is serenading you with boos before heading for the exits. This new Mets vibe is already feeling a lot like the old one.
“You got to turn the page,” Mendoza said. “It’s the big leagues. Tough homestand, but no one’s going to feel sorry for you. We got to keep going.”
Mendoza shuffled the lineup over the past two days in an effort to scrape up some runs. He got a flurry of them during Saturday’s failed comeback, mostly on homers by Bichette, Polanco and Alvarez. But Sunday’s lineup did not include two of his best hitters, as Luis Robert Jr. was down due to a load-management day and Alvarez got the afternoon off behind the plate.
That apparently was too much to overcome. The Mets seemed to have the perfect opportunity to deploy both as pinch hitters in the eighth, but Mendoza said Robert was unavailable to bat for Tyrone Taylor after playing five straight games and the manager has liked Luis Torrens’ at-bats lately (plus Alvarez is a career 0-for-27 as a pinch hitter).
That’s a tough spot to be in, needing just one swing to potentially tie the game. But add Sunday’s bench options to the list of things that hasn’t worked out for the Mets recently as they’ve been springing leaks from everywhere on a daily basis. In Saturday’s 11-6 rout, the Mets were sabotaged by their own pitching staff, so it figured that the opposite would happen Sunday, when the bats abandoned them.
“I know we are way better than this,” Peralta said. “We have a great team, we believe in each other and I know that we are going to do better.”
The Mets can keep telling themselves that, but it’s a familiar refrain for losing teams, too. That’s what these Mets are right now, until they start proving otherwise, and the road gets much tougher Monday night against Shohei Ohtani & Co. at Chavez Ravine.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
