Following two straight blowout defeats to the Pittsburgh Pirates (by a combined score of 18-3) and losing 12 of their past 15 games, the New York Mets held a players-only meeting on Saturday.
“Six or seven players” spoke during the meeting, according to outfielder Brandon Nimmo. That included Juan Soto, Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor.
“I mean, we’re not playing well,” Nimmo told reporters, via SNY. “We’ve won a couple games, but we haven’t been able to put it together. So, you know, just put things out there, talk about it as a team and move on.”
Lindor said a meeting wasn’t called, per se, but developed “organically” as players were talking in the clubhouse after Saturday’s 9-2 loss to the Pirates.
“Collectively as a group, we decided to start talking to each other and that’s what good teams do,” he said. “We all rely on each other, we all bounce ideas from each other and yeah this is a big team thing.”
Despite the recent losing stretch, the Mets (48-36) are only a half-game behind the Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the NL East. So there was no need for a big speech from anyone, according to Lindor. Yet some urgency to the season was addressed.
“Nothing but winning. This is not, ‘Rah rah, just now the season is going to turn around,'” Lindor added. “We are competing still. We are one game, a game and a half from first place. We are at the top in the wild card.
“This is not like a magic thing,” he continued. “Nobody’s hoping for that. This is not how it works… It’s part of the adversity we’re dealing with.”
However, Soto did voice what could be viewed as a motivational message, according to players.
“Keep going,” he said, according to the New York Post’s Mike Puma. “Believe in it.”
Soto has certainly done his part to impact the Mets’ success in June, batting .322 with a 1.214 OPS, 11 home runs and 20 RBI. But the entire team needs to join in that effort, according to Alonso.
“Just collectively as a group — offensively, defensively, baserunning — we’re not playing our cleanest baseball,” Alonso told reporters. “We’re not playing to our maximum potential right now. It shows in the record. We’re playing good games or staying in games, but I think we need to do a better job of finishing.”
The Mets finish their series in Pittsburgh with Frankie Montas Jr. making his second start of the season since returning from the injured list with a lat strain. Up next is a six-game homestand versus the Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees.
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