Carlos Mendoza unfortunately had a lot of practice answering questions about one of his player’s struggles at the plate during his first year as Mets manager. And the captain usually gives a familiar answer, saying something like: he’s too good a batsman to fight like this for a long time.
And for the captain, that answer is starting to look pretty accurate. Over the past 30 days, your club leads the majors in OPS (.781), is third in slugging percentage (.448), third in on-base percentage (.333), fifth in average (.261) and in the Top 10 in slugging , doubles, triples, home runs and RBI.
And after an 11-4 run, the Mets (33-37) are returning to the dispute.
What is the reason for the turnaround? Francisco Lindor said they are “bouncing ideas off each other and following a plan.”
“Let’s go out there and have a plan. We have a purpose. Our intention usually follows the plan we have. We’re playing well,” added the shortstop, who scored on Sunday.
While Lindor’s trio (batting .284 with an .857 OPS in his last 26 games), JD Martinez (.281, .930 OPS in last 24 games) and Mars Starling (.348.995 OPS over the last 22 games) propelled the Mets to this turnaround, Mendoza “felt like there were other guys that were getting close” in recent weeks.
Two of these players stood out Sunday’s 11-6 win over the Padres: Brandon Nimmo It is Pedro Alonso.
“For Pete to have a game like that, and in the first inning to have a three-run homer against a really good arm. Nimmo today, three more hits”, said the captain. “We’re going to need them all. And when they all start, it will be special.”
Nimmo entered the weekend with a funky 13 out of 62 and frustrated by inconsistent time at the plate. He then went 7-for-13 with four RBI. Alonso hit his 15th home run and 35th RBI while trying to escape a power outage.
“When everyone is firing on all cylinders like today, it’s a lot of fun as an offense,” Alonso said after each starter hit and six contributed an RBI in the win. “I thought we had some great at-bats throughout the lineup today. Did a great job capitalizing on zone pitches and eliminating some tough ones. I thought we did a great job with our execution.”
But it’s hard to ignore the contributions of Martinez, who tallied two hits and two walks on Sunday to finish the three-game set 6-for-9 with two homers and six RBI, and begin a streak of 10 consecutive plate appearances. in which he reached the base.
“What he managed to do was really special,” said Alonso. “Not just the driving pitches, but it’s the pitches he doesn’t hit – the pitchers’ tough pitches that he just takes are balls and drives them to most of the field. It was a clinic that he set up on this land.”
Mendoza said it was “very impressive” to see the 36-year-old come alive as he has posted a 1.027 OPS in his last 12 games.
“He wasn’t getting cheap hits, he was driving the ball. And so he’s holding off some tough pitches, he’s walking…he’s passing the bat if they don’t want to throw to him. And that’s what good hitters do,” said the coach. “Impressive, but that’s what special hitters do. To see him get hot like that, he could carry a team.
“And now with some of the other guys getting there, it’s special.”
In addition to the flurry of hits in the series — 28 in the three games — they were timely, giving the Mets’ pitching staff and bullpen, which had been trusted to keep them in games for most of the year, some room to breathe.
That wasn’t the case on Sunday, as the Padres cut a five-run deficit entering the top half of the eighth to a single run when the home team struck out. But the Mets rallied for four runs to make the ninth a much less nervy proposition.
“It’s always good to put runs on the board, not just [for] the pitching team, all together as a group where you can breathe well,” Alonso said. “I thought we did a great job responding when they put runs on the board in the eighth. I thought it was a huge statement [for] us as an offense to remain collectively locked up.”
“They helped us a lot,” Lindor said of the pitching staff. “It’s about time we started doing what we do to help them not get into every entrance – it felt like it was [always] a high leverage situation for them. Being able to score a lot of runs is good.”
For Jeff McNeilwho has struggled throughout the season and particularly lately leading to a brief stint at the bankthere were signs of progress, including an eighth-inning double.
Mendoza praised the veteran for “thinking two outside the box,” but McNeil’s fifth-inning hit against the left-hander Yuki Matsuiwhich ended with a flyout on the 10th pitch, was something the manager considered “a very good hit.”
“The swings were more direct with conviction, balance and foul on many pitches,” he said. “I didn’t get the results, but I thought the hit was a good sign. And then he hit that double and continued to play great second base. He keeps making plays, he’s engaged, so he’s getting there.”
The coach didn’t say that, but he could have said: he’s a very good hitter…
