Mets manager Carlos Mendoza drops embarrassing quote after loss to Braves that has fans seriously questioning his baseball knowledge
The New York Mets suffered their worst loss of the season on Tuesday night, falling 5-4 to the Atlanta Braves in 10 innings. For the first seven innings of the game, it looked like the Mets were well on their way to earning a rare win in Atlanta. Starting pitcher David Peterson allowed just one […]
The New York Mets suffered their worst loss of the season on Tuesday night, falling 5-4 to the Atlanta Braves in 10 innings.
For the first seven innings of the game, it looked like the Mets were well on their way to earning a rare win in Atlanta. Starting pitcher David Peterson allowed just one run over his first seven innings, which allowed the Mets to enter the 8th inning with a 4-1 lead.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, who later cited Peterson's low pitch count at the time, left Peterson in the game for the bottom of the 8th. Peterson inexplicably walked the No. 9 hitter to start the inning, which instantly led to trouble as superstar outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr followed with a single.
Relief pitcher Reed Garrett eventually gave up a bases clearing double to DH Marcell Ozuna, which tied the game.
The Mets lost in extra innings on an walk-off sac fly from Braves third baseman Austin Riley.
The sac fly was set-up by a brutal mental mistake by Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez.
In the 10th inning, with one out and the winning run on second base, Alvarez appeared to have Braves shortstop Luke Williams caught in a rundown between second and third base. Alvarez, however, threw behind Williams to second base, which allowed the winning run to advance easily to third base.
That's just a really bad baseball play — and it cost the Mets a legitimate chance to extend the game.
Alvarez, as most middle school players know, should've started running at the base runner as soon as he picked up the ball. At worst, the runner would've returned to second base. The absolute worst thing to do in that situation is to throw behind the winning run. There is no scenario where that's the right play.
Mendoza was asked about that play after the game and he gave one of the worst baseball answers I've ever heard in my life.
"He gets the runner hanging there and as soon as he makes a move toward second base, Alvy just gets rid of the ball trying to get him," said Mendoza. "It was a good play by the runner there, realizing that he was in no man's land and he took off. So you gotta give him (the runner) credit on that one."
"That's your reaction there," added Mendoza when asked if he thought Alvarez made the right decision to throw to second base. "You pick up the baseball, you get a runner that is hanging there between second and third and he makes an attempt to go back, as a player, your reaction is you're going to try to get him (out). And [the runner] did a good job and took advantage of it."
I get that Mendoza is trying to protect his player, but this is such a bad answer. And it makes Mendoza look like he has no clue what he's talking about.
For starters, the runner was directly in between second and third base. He was dead to rights. He didn't make a "good play" as Mendoza suggested — he was completely bailed out by Alvarez's awful decision. The only chance the runner had in that situation was to go to third base if the throw went to second. Alvarez made it easy for the runner to survive a mistake.
It was a mistake that shouldn't happen in the big leagues, and anyone who even casually watches the sport knows that. Mendoza almost certainly knows it, too. But instead of holding his player accountable, he gave a nonsense answer to reporters.
I like Mendoza a lot, but that doesn't mean he's infallible. I understand the desire to protect a player, but when a gaffe like that is made, you gotta call it what it is — a huge mistake.
Mendoza had a bad night on Tuesday. From sending Peterson out in the 8th inning to face the top of the Braves' lineup for a fourth time, to not using Starling Marte as a pinch hitter in the 10th inning, it was a night of poor decision-making from the second-year manager.
It's a long season, and nights like that happen to every team in the league. But that was a game the Mets could've — and should've — won. Instead, they let it slip away as Atlanta continues to be a house of horrors that the Mets, outside of Game 161 last season, can't seem to conquer.
