Here’s the reaction from the Mets’ locker room as their losing streak stretched to five after falling to the Phillies 11-3 on Wednesday night…
Why these skids seem to pile up
Carlos Mendoza: “I think some guys from the rotation are having a tough stretch. When you’re playing a lot of games in a row and you’re not getting decent length or decent outings it has a trickle down effect. That’s on the pitching staff, the at-bats, the game is obviously different. The there was times when where we get some starting pitching and the offense seems to cool down, we just haven’t been able to consistently put it together, the whole package.”
Francisco Lindor: “We haven’t been consistent. It's just one of those years that things haven’t clicked for a long time — in baseball you have ups and downs, those are guarantees, but you try to limit the downs and ride the highs as long as you can and for some reason it’s been a very wavy season. We are still in a position that we can make the year look completely different and everyone here is pushing towards that, fighting to try to get on that wave and ride it as long as we can. Baseball is a game of momentum and we haven’t been able to capitalize on the time we’ve had the momentum.”
What it’s going to take to get out of this stretch
Mendoza: “26 guys pulling for each other. It’s not easy, I don’t know how many times we’ve gotten into streaks like this where nothing seems to be working for us, but again you have to stay positive, we’re still in control of the situation here. It’s not ideal where we’re at compared to the whole year, but like I said we just have to take it one game at a time, it starts on the mound obviously and then we’ll go from there.”
Lindor:“We just have to stay optimistic, fight for each other, and just play better. I have to play better, I haven’t gotten a hit in this series, and at this point in the year I have to get on-base and I have to help the team. Pete is having good at-bats, Nimmo is having good at-bats, Soto is having good at-bats. I have to be better for this team because like I said, at the end of the year it comes down to playing baseball the right way."
Another short outing from Holmes
After seemingly turning a corner, Clay Holmes' struggles have resurfaced over his past two outings.
The right-hander was knocked around in the first and then couldn't work deep, allowing a total of four runs on six hits and three walks while striking out five across 4+ innings.
Despite the struggles, Mendoza says the team will stick with him in the rotation…
Holmes: "They got a little traffic there in the first and then that put us behind early and we really had to be perfect from there on out. I made a bad two-strike pitch to Bader there and then to two back-foot sliders just created the traffic, then two balls got through the infield and at that point we're playing from behind. These games can mean a lot, so we can't really afford to have those mistakes there."
Carlos Mendoza: "I said it yesterday with Sean [Manaea] and it's the same thing with Clay, we need those guys."
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