The Mets score of the season changed again on Friday morning, and Carlos Mendoza was out. The Mets fired their manager after losing both games of a doubleheader and then falling to 34-48, 10 games behind the final wild card.
Francisco Lindor put the loss of the moment on himself. “We failed Mendy,” he said. “I failed Mendy.”
Andy Green took over as interim manager. That move came after a run in which the Mets lost a 4-3 game with four unearned runs and then kept sliding on Friday, turning one rough stretch into a direct change on the bench.
Francisco Lindor Owns The Collapse
Lindor’s comments were the sharpest sign of how the clubhouse read the week. He did not hide behind the results or the schedule. He put the burden on the group and on himself.
That kind of admission only lands when the losses pile up in the open. The Mets dropped both games of the doubleheader on Wednesday, and no player called a team meeting after those losses. After that, the same issues surfaced again in the 4-3 defeat, where shoddy defense led to four unearned runs.
David Stearns Sees Continuity
David Stearns was asked whether a lack of continuity played into the poor performance, and he answered, “I certainly think it’s possible.” The comment fit a season that had already seen almost the entire coaching staff changed and a batch of newcomers inserted around a core group of players.
Another Mets player described the clubhouse leadership more bluntly. Asked whether it was lacking, he said, “Yeah, not much.”
That tension sat next to a different view from inside the group: multiple Mets people also said the players were not bad guys. The problem was not a lack of effort in one game. It was a half-season pattern of injuries, thin depth, inconsistent hitting, poor starting pitching, and bad defense that never got corrected fast enough.
Andy Green Takes Over
Green now has the job that changed hands on Friday morning, and the timing leaves no room for soft language. The Mets were 34-48 and 10 games out of the final wild-card spot when Mendoza was dismissed.
For the players, the next step is simple. They answer to a new voice, with Green’s voice already resonating with the group after Stearns spoke inside the clubhouse. Whether the Mets match that change with more moves is the unanswered part left hanging over the room.
