Francisco Lindor on manager Carlos Mendoza after Mets' 11th straight loss: 'He's done a fantastic job. This isn't on him.'
After the Mets fell to the Cubs 2-1 in 10 innings on Sunday, marking the club's 11th consecutive loss, Francisco Lindor, Devin Williams, and David Peterson all got candid on the team's struggles, and came to the defense of their manager amidst a historically bad losing streak for the Mets. When Carlos Mendoza spoke with the media, he highlighted the need for better at bats, and urged that regardless on what month it is, no one will feel sorry for them after losing eleven straight games.
Video Transcript
It's tough, tough, especially when you're going through it.
You know, you feel like, you know, you got to the ninth inning feeling good.
But I mean, when you're playing in one-run games, you know, like you have to be perfect and, and it's hard, hard to play like that, you know?
yeah, it's just, it's a tough stretch right now, you know?
not much to say there.
What was the thought process there in the tenth?
Did you consider walking Horner to set up the double play?
No.
In, in that situation, especially with Horner, you, you put him at first base, they're gonna take second base there.
so, you know, there's a, a contact situation there, but, you know, then they got some of their best hitters coming up after that too.
So, no, I was just going right after him.
In general, w-we're not creating those opportunities.
Today, you know, we only have, what, runner at third less than two outs, couldn't get him in.
But in general, we're just not impacting the baseball, as a team.
You know, they put us in the ground a lot today again.
other than on Melendez, we didn't hit that many balls hard today.
So, yeah, we gotta get better at bats for sure.
Whether it's April, you know, like, you know, like eleven, eleven losses, that's a lot.
You know, whether it's in April or in-- at any point in the season, you know.
So, but nobody's gonna feel sorry for us, you know.
We gotta find a way.
We gotta find a way.
you know, off day tomorrow and then back at it on Tuesday.
Are you confident that your job is secure right now?
Look, I know questions like this are gonna come up, right?
I'm spending my energy in continue to manage, continue to lead, continue to coach, continue to support, you know.
that's what I'm doing right now, is spending my, my en- my energy in the things that I can control.
You're also human.
Does it get difficult to find ways out of it when, when the numbers start to pile up in the wrong way this way?
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
For sure.
This, this feeling sucks.
It's not a good feeling.
and you said it, we're professionals, and we gotta find a way out of it.
and we gotta do whatever it takes to end up on top after twenty-seven outs and sometimes thirty outs.
It's just-- It's not a good feeling.
But no one here is hanging their heads.
Everybody got their head up high, and they're fighting for each other.
And today, you know, they played a, a good game, but I came up in situations to drive runners in and, you know, didn't do that.
You know, it's just, it, it came down to last two outs.
And I think when you-- when, when I get guys in scoring position, I don't drive them in, I don't help the team that way, we can come back, you know.
but what it comes down to is me executing and all of us executing, you know.
like you said, we're professionals, and this is what we get paid to do, so I gotta be better.
Carlos has talked about just needing to see better at-bats across the board.
When you look at the offense right now, what, what is lacking, especially from guys with such a, a track record of success?
I agree with him.
but there was guys today that had good at-bats, you know.
There were guys that, put quality at-bats together.
It's just unlucky.
You know, I mean, Bo today hit two base was over a hundred and five.
you also have Roberts that hit a couple base was over ninety-eight, a hundred.
you have Marcus have good quality at-bats.
MJ had good quality at-bats.
You know, it's just in big situations of-- we haven't come through.
and sometimes baseball is on our side, but sometimes baseball is not on our side.
And right now, they executed with guys in scoring positions that we didn't.
You know, it's, And I feel like that's been kinda like the thing for the past, week and a half.
And we gotta bring it.
We gotta continue to bring it day in and day out.
No one's gonna feel sorry.
We, we can't feel sorry for ourselves.
We gotta bring it.
Like I said earlier, Sorra is irreplaceable, and having him back is gonna help us a, a lot.
I mean, hopefully he's back and top three hitters in the, in the league, probably top two.
So yeah, he's gonna help us a ton.
And, he's gonna lengthen our lineup and-- but even when he comes, we still gotta get it done, you know.
it, it, it would be unfair to just throw everything on him.
as a team, we gotta come together and execute.
that's what it's gonna come down to.
I mean, we have a tremendous team.
You know, it's-- David Stern put a, a good team together, but this shows that nobody really cares.
We gotta go out there and get it done.
And in this past week and a half, we haven't gotten it done, you know.
And it's a bad feeling, but we gotta turn the page.
You know, I've always said this, whether we win or lose, look at it for a little bit, and then turn the page and focus on what we have in front of us.
You, you mentioned it's gonna get loud.
A lot of that talk is gonna be around Carlos Mendoza.
I mean, what would you say about how the mana-- the job the manager's done with you guys?
He's done a fantastic job.
This is not on him.
This is not on him.
He has, he has, he has made sure everybody here is prepared, every coach here is prepared, and we have the information.
It comes down on us.
This is-- Mendy's our guy.
He's our leader.
He's in control, and he's done a tremendous job.
We just haven't executed.
Can you just take us through that pitch to Conforto?
I mean, what is there to say about it?
I missed down the middle, and he put a good swing on it.
Obviously, I'm really, really disappointed, you know.
They gave me a lead.
It's my job to hold it.
And, I made a mistake.
Cost us the game today.
It's absolutely on us.
He doesn't swing a bat, and he doesn't throw a baseball, you know.
We've been in a lot of these games.
It's been close.
I mean, him or somebody else is not affecting that.
You know what I mean?
If we're not getting the job done, somebody else isn't gonna just magically flip a switch, and we're gonna get it done, you know.
He's putting guys in good positions.
We're not performing.
You know, I think it does compound, as you continue to lose, but, that's for us to, to stop it, and get ourselves going on the right track.
So, take it one day at a time, focus on one game at a time, continue to put good work in, continue to have a good mindset.
We're in this together.
everyone has a part in this, and we've got to stick together, and everyone's got to take the responsibility and accountability.
we all need to look in the mirror and see what we can do better to help this team move in the right direction, and, and that's the job.
and like I said, come back ready to go on Tuesday, fight like hell, and, play our brand of baseball.
