Chaos is beginning to rear its head at Citi Field where the New York Mets have had their ups and downs throughout the current campaign. For better or worse, manager Carlos Mendoza has been “politically correct”, … until now. His diplomatic armor finally cracked where his reputation for enviable loyalty to his squad, uttered a scathing criticism that resonated in the Big Apple.
His calculated words pointed to the heart of New York’s collapse: a starting rotation led by Kodai Senga that has betrayed every ounce of trust, revealing a deep underlying frustration. The reckoning had begun. The numbers are stark. The Mets have a 66-58 record, five games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League East. August has been particularly cruel: their starting pitching collapsed with a 6.22 ERA, forcing an overworked bullpen to take on impossible loads.
Carlos Mendoza’s words accusing those responsible for his debacle
For the Queens team, eight of their 11 losses in August can be directly attributed to bullpen failures, a unit overloaded by starters who struggle to get to the sixth inning. In light of this, Mendoza finally spoke out and did not mince words about his rotation’s failures during his appearance on Foul Territory on X. “It starts with the starting pitching, and we haven’t been able to get that consistency from them,” the New York Mets manager stressed.
“I felt like Kodai Senga in his last outing finally getting to the sixth inning, followed by McLean, who gave us five solid innings”. However, even his praise carried a scathing criticism: praising Senga for “finally” revealed an underlying frustration.“There’s a lot of talent there, and I’m pretty sure we’ll get through this,” he added, although his tone suggested lingering doubts about when that breakthrough might come.
Injuries to the New York Mets have also taken their toll on Carlos Mendoza
Mendoza painted a picture of organizational chaos, describing how injuries forced him to rely on Triple-A call-ups for spot starts. “The guys are almost 90 pitches in the fourth inning, so how much can I push them?” His frustration reached its peak when talking about the overuse of the bullpen: “If I put someone on in the fourth inning, it’s hard to keep getting 15 outs every night with the bullpen.” The message was clear: his starters must step up, or the season will slip away from them.
The hits keep coming for a franchise that is already weathering one storm after another. Francisco Alvarez became the latest casualty in what seems to be a cursed season, as he injured his right thumb during a spectacular headfirst dive into second base against Seattle. The young catcher managed to hit his double in the seventh inning, but could not hide the pain that followed, forcing him to prematurely retire from the catching position in what became an unusual 7-3 victory.
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