PHILADELPHIA — After the Mets’ sloppy performance Wednesday night, manager Carlos Mendoza felt the need to address the team for the first time since the season started.
The tone was reassuring, according to Mets players, and welcomed following a performance in which the team committed two errors that led to three unearned runs that contributed to a third straight loss to the Phillies.
“It was just to make sure they know that it’s 162 [games]. … We just have to continue to keep going and making sure that we all believe we are a good team,” Mendoza said before the Mets’ 6-5 win, 11-inning win over the Phillies on Thursday night.
The Mets (19-23) began play with six losses in seven games, and during the course of their losing streak against the Phillies there wasn’t a constant theme.
On Monday, closer Edwin Diaz blew the ninth-inning save, and a day later, the Mets were stifled by Aaron Nola in a four-hit shutout.
Then came Wednesday’s letdown in which Joey Lucchesi never escaped the fifth inning, with walks as a big factor before the defensive miscues by Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor.
Mark Vientos also bobbled a grounder that could have been a double play but became only one out.
“You’re not as bad as you look at times and not as good as when you are playing well,” Mendoza said, recounting his message to the players. “Stay the course, and control things we can control; that was basically it.”
Mendoza tried to downplay the significance of the address, saying he speaks regularly with players in small groups or during the hitters’ and pitchers’ meetings.
“It was more like a walk-through after the game with guys and making sure they are keeping their heads up,” Mendoza said of the meeting.
Jeff McNeil, Brett Baty and Starling Marte are among the slumping hitters and the team hasn’t been sharp defensively for much of the season.
Lindor and Pete Alonso have endured their own slumps offensively and J.D. Martinez has just begun to produce in the last week.
Mendoza’s meeting was appreciated by the players, according to Lindor.
“One hundred percent,” Lindor said. “It felt like everybody took the message the right way.”
The meeting occurred with one game remaining against a Phillies team that has blistered opponents and owned MLB’s best record (31-13) as play began.
Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns, during a pregame session with reporters, referenced the difficult schedule the team has faced.
An oasis of sorts will arrive Friday with a three-game series against a reeling Marlins team, but next week will present another challenge with a trip to Cleveland, where the NL Central-leading Guardians will await.
“We’ve been very streaky,” Mendoza said. “There’s been some stretches where we are playing well, but there are some like we have right now where we are making mistakes and not playing the way we should be playing. But at the end of the day I truly believe we are going to get there and we are going to start playing the way we know we can play.”