The Mets’ losing streak has hit eight games after their 8-2 loss to the Dodgers on Wednesday night.
It was a game filled with the offensive outage that has plagued this team for over a week now, a bullpen implosion and miscues in the field and basepaths that have become daily for this squad after the first 19 games of the season. All of that has led manager Carlos Mendoza, visibly upset, to state the obvious about his team after another lackluster defeat.
“We’re not playing good baseball right now,” Mendoza said. “Everybody’s frustrated. We gotta use the off day tomorrow to regroup and get back at it because we gotta get going here. It’s not a good showing right now.”
The Mets scored just two runs on five hits — the second run coming in the ninth inning after the game was well in hand — on Wednesday night. In the three-game series, New York scored just three runs and collected 12 hits. The Dodgers had 12 hits in Wednesday’s game alone.
“I don’t really wrap my mind around it. It’s tough right now,” Bo Bichette said of the team’s losing streak after the game. “If we knew the answer, we’d do it. But we’ll keep working to try and figure it out.”
Bichette, the biggest free agent signing on the offensive side this offseason, went 1-for-4 with a run scored in the series finale. He was just 2-for-11 in the series and is now batting .228 in the early going. But it’s not just Bichette. With Juan Soto out with a calf injury, the Mets have simply not been able to get consistent offense.
During the eight-game losing streak, the Mets have scored just 12 runs. They’ve pushed across more than two runs just once in that span and have been shut out three times. It’s something that no one who spoke after Wednesday’s loss could understand, let alone explain.
“Guys just have to start playing better. It’s as simple as that,” Mendoza said. “They’re too talented. But right now we’re not seeing anything on the field. It has nothing to do with preparation or the work they’re putting in. We just have to go out there and do it.”
“I mean, it’s surprising, but you go through these things,” Bichette said. “This is a bit extreme, probably, but it doesn’t help facing two of the best in the game the last two days. We could be swinging the bat well and running into [Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani], it’s like running into a buzzsaw. …I don’t really got much to say other than I can’t explain it and will keep working on it to figure it out.”
Clay Holmes, who held the Dodgers lineup to just two runs over five innings on Wednesday, repeatedly said that no one is pointing fingers in the clubhouse and that they all have their part to play in the losing streak.
“It’s baseball. If we had an answer, we definitely don’t want to be in this spot,” Holmes said. “It’s one of those things you go in those stretches where it’s tough. There’s no pointing fingers. Everyone has to take it upon themself to help the team win.”
Holmes shared his optimism with the reporters in the clubhouse. When asked what makes him confident that the Mets will turn things around, he said that the players’ history of playing well is there.
“What people have done in the past is way better than what we’ve done here,” Holmes said. “Can’t just look at the last couple of games and that defines us. These stretches, there’s a history and a future where we know where we can go.”
Speaking on the offense specifically, Mendoza explained what is frustrating him the most during this stretch.
“We’re not dictating at-bats,” he said. “Getting beat by fastballs even though there was some good fastballs by Ohtani today, we swung through a lot of them today. We have to be able to put pressure and be in attack mode. Right now, understanding what guys are going through is contagious. At the same time, nobody is feeling sorry for us. We got to be able to dictate at-bats.”
Bichette, who acknowledged that the players are upset by what’s going on, echoed what Francisco Lindor said after Tuesday’s loss about the offense being more competitive, and perhaps they can use it as a springboard to get back in the win column.
“Last couple of games, we competed a lot better,” Bichette said. “At the end of the day, the mindset is to compete, I don’t care what the at-bats look like as long as we’re in there fighting. Two great pitchers that beat us. Obviously, we got to be better. But the commonality is two great pitchers.”
The Mets will get a reprieve before starting a three-game series against the Cubs in Chicago on Friday afternoon. New York has played nine straight games and the off day could do the team good.
But make no mistake, the Mets are not happy with how the early season has gone, and that’s exactly what the Mets skipper wants to see.
“They’re pissed. Frustrated. Not happy about it,” Mendoza said of the mood of the team. “I want them to be pissed.”
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