The New York Mets may be saying publicly that they’re not getting rattled by the fact that the Philadelphia Phillies are running away with the NL East. But the NL East title is not what they should be concerned about anyway. The Mets have fallen into a slump, winning just three of their 10 games in the calendar month of September and losing six straight — with the Phillies sending them spiraling deeper into their misery with the Mets taking a 6-4 defeat on Thursday night.
It would be one thing if the Mets’ defeats didn’t matter with regards to their playoff standing. But the defeats they’ve been suffering as of late have put their postseason spot in peril; the Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants are both just 1.5 games back of them in the win-loss column with 15 games to go in New York’s season.
With the Mets seemingly having lost the plot, manager Carlos Mendoza began pointing the finger at himself for his team’s current rut.
“I’m responsible. I’m the manager. It’s my job to get these guys going. And I will,” Mendoza said, per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.
The Mets remain confident, and it’s not as if they have another recourse other than to hold steadfast in their belief in themselves. But it truly is not looking good for them, and the way they lost on Thursday against the Phillies has to be all the more demoralizing.
After scoring four runs on five hits in the first inning, the Mets proceeded to get no-hit by the Phillies. Again, suffering a defeat is difficult enough. But to do so in this manner has to be soul-crushing in ways that might be beyond repair.
The Mets have one more game in this current disaster of a series against the Phillies, and all they can hope for is to end that on a high note.
Can the Mets stop the bleeding in time?
The Mets are far from safe in the playoff picture, although the same was the case last year when they just made it into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth — only for them to figure it out when it mattered, making it all the way to the NLCS and pushing the Los Angeles Dodgers to the limit.
They definitely have it in them to get the job done; but can Mendoza rally his troops in time to avoid what would be an embarrassing late-season collapse?
