Your Thursday morning dose of New York Mets and MLB news, notes, and links.
Meet the Mets
Carlos Mendoza made some questionable choices producing the lineup before the game started and all of the choices came back to bite him. He continues to play both Jose Iglesias and Francisco Alvarez despite their struggles, and he inserted J.D. Martinez into the lineup even though Walker Buehler has better numbers against righties. None of those moves paid off. Alvarez especially is unplayable right now. He misplayed a ball in the second inning and the game spiraled from there. Severino followed his misplay with two of his own and they were quickly in a 2-0 hole.
It stayed 2-0 largely in part because the offense could not come up with a big hit. Alvarez’s absolutely horrific playoffs continued with woeful at-bats in critical situations. Iglesias and Martinez also left runners stranded with both Jeff McNeil and Jesse Winker on the bench. Reed Garrett and Tylor Megill combined to put the game out of reach and the Mets find themselves down 2-1 in the NLCS after a sloppy, poorly managed, punchless Game 3.
Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue, Athletic, Daily News, MLB.com, Newsday, NY Post
The game got off to a poor start when Francisco Alvarez set the tone with a defensive miscue and it all went downhill from there.
Severino’s poor defense did not help matters either but he managed to keep his team in it even though he was not sharp.
With the crowd waiting to explode, the Mets couldn’t live up to the hype in their first home NLCS game in nine years.
The rotation continued wearing their emotional support eye black to show their support for that day’s starting pitcher.
Darryl Strawberry and Doc Gooden were the battery for the ceremonial first pitch and they discussed how this year’s team is similar to their 1986 championship team.
Despite his struggles in his last start the Mets still plan on using Kodai Senga in Game 5.
Pete Alonso showed up again with the playoff pumpkin that he keeps safe between every game.
Around the National League East
Former Brave Jeff Francoeur thinks Atlanta should go after one of the top shortstops on the market this offseason.
After getting knocked out of the postseason in the first round, the Phillies need to upgrade their roster and can find some candidates on the trade market.
Around Major League Baseball
After a historically bad losing season, Jerry Reinsdorf is reportedly open to selling the White Sox.
With Tropicana Field unplayable for at least the start of the year, what options do the Rays have when the 2025 season begins?
After the Padres were eliminated by the Dodgers, Luis Arraez underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb.
The Guardians will start southpaw Matthew Boyd in Game 3 of the ALCS against the Yankees.
This Date in Mets History
On this date in 1999, after five hours and forty-six minutes in the pouring rain, Robin Ventura walked off the Braves in the fifteenth inning with a grand slam. He was tackled before rounding the bases so it was ruled a mere single but in Mets fandom it is now affectionately called the Grand Slam single.