NEW YORK — When Jeff McNeil’s walk-up music blared at the start of the bottom of the seventh inning, the crowd at Citi Field cheered so much that it drowned out the announcement of a pinch hitter. Even after McNeil fell behind in the count, 0-2, to Los Angeles Dodgers right-handed reliever Blake Treinen, a fan nonetheless screamed with encouragement, “Let’s go Jeff!” Then the moment went poof with McNeil harmlessly flying out. So much for that.
But should McNeil have appeared an inning earlier?
Before things got out of hand in the New York Mets’ 8-0 loss in Game 3 on Wednesday night, a decision point existed in the sixth inning. The Mets had runners on first and second with one out. At that point, the Mets trailed 4-0. Jose Iglesias, a right-handed batter, who is hitting .225 in the postseason, came to the plate against right-hander Ryan Brasier, one of the Dodgers’ top relievers. In Los Angeles’ bullpen, their lone lefty Anthony Banda warmed up.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza could’ve picked McNeil for that spot. The move would’ve prompted Banda to enter the game. After Iglesias’ spot in the order, Tyrone Taylor and Francisco Alvarez — both right-handed batters — were set to follow. The potential decision came down to the matchup of Iglesias versus Braiser or McNeil versus Banda. Mendoza ended up sticking with Iglesias, who grounded into an inning-ending double play.
The Citi Field crowd rose to its feet for Jeff McNeil’s at-bat, though there’s an argument he should’ve been in an inning earlier. (Photo: Elsa / Getty Images)
And from Mendoza’s perspective, there wasn’t much of a decision to be made.
“Iglesias has been one of our best hitters with runners in scoring position all year,” Mendoza said. “He had an infield single, nice line drive right at Mookie (Betts). So I don’t think that was a conversation. For the guys behind him, maybe. The lefties were ready. But not for Iglesias, knowing they had the lefty ready there.”
The Mets trail in the best-of-seven game series, 2-1, and they’ve yet to flex their depth, one of their strengths.
In three games, the Mets have twice been shut out.
The situation calls for reflection. What should they do differently? What can they do differently?
Well, don’t expect much to change for Game 4. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers’ other splashy signing from the offseason, is set to start Thursday, and the right-hander has actually fared better against left-handed batters, holding them to a .526 OPS (.744 OPS against right-handed batters). So, Mendoza said, “I would anticipate our righties to be in the lineup tomorrow.”
Translation: That probably means more of J.D. Martinez at designated hitter (not Jesse Winker), more of Iglesias at second base (not McNeil) and more of Starling Marte in right field (not Winker or McNeil).
And don’t look for a change at catcher, either; Mendoza announced after the loss that Alvarez would start Thursday, despite continuing his slump and adding a defensive miscue with a throwing error during a two-run second inning.
It’s hard to take Alvarez out of the lineup, even though he’s 5-for-35 (all singles) in the playoffs, and in the last two games alone has stranded 10 men on base. For one, Luis Torrens (also a right-handed hitter) hasn’t recorded a hit since Sept. 2 (0-for-16 since then). Also, pitchers still like throwing to Alvarez, and that’s particularly true for Jose Quintana, who starts Thursday. In 94 innings when throwing to Alvarez, Quintana has a 2.87 ERA. When throwing to anyone else, Quintana has a 4.83 ERA. He last threw to Torrens on Sept. 28 against the Brewers and failed to get through the fifth inning.
Despite his struggles at the plate, Francisco Alvarez will be the one to catch Jose Quintana. (Photo: John Fisher / Getty Images)
Mendoza said Alvarez is “in-between” offensively.
“He’s late making his move, which is not allowing him to make some good swing decisions,” Mendoza said. “That’s why you see him at times taking the fastball or late on the fastball and then chasing. That tells you right there that we have a guy that is late getting ready.
“But he’s a good hitter. He’s a good player. We’re facing an elite pitching staff as well. He’ll come through for us.”
To be fair to Alvarez, he bats ninth; the responsibility of turning things around does not fall solely to him. Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso and Mark Vientos, the Mets’ best hitters, all had deep, hard-hit fly balls to the warning track that went for outs. The Mets created some traffic on the bases Wednesday night, and it’s plausible that their top bats end up coming through again. They can certainly use more help from their supporting cast, though. In the series, the bottom third of New York’s order has hit .172.
At the start of the series, Mendoza made a notable lineup change. In the order, he dropped Iglesias from fifth to seventh, which is where the veteran has resided for all three games.
For Wednesday’s game, Mendoza made another switch, going with Martinez at DH instead of Winker, even though Winker had reached base four times in the previous two games. Right-hander Walker Buehler started for the Dodgers, and though right-handed batters have hit him well in 2024, left-handed batters have hit him even better.
When determining who to play, Mendoza said he takes into consideration several factors, including matchups, previous history, pitch types and more.
The Mets have yet to use a pinch hitter in a high-leverage situation in the series, so McNeil said it’s hard to really know yet about the challenge of doing so against one of the Dodgers’ top relief arms. By the time he entered in the seventh inning, there was no one on base and the Mets trailed 4-0. Throughout the game, McNeil said, he’s essentially playing manager, readying himself to appear whether the opportunity comes in the sixth inning, seventh inning or later. On Wednesday, he was ready in either inning.
It’s debatable when he should have come in, and it can be hard to tell what profiles as a strong bench. But when it comes to how he balances day-to-day results in the postseason versus longer track records, Mendoza tipped his hand.
“I’m going to continue to ride our guys,” Mendoza said. “They got us here. They will continue to step up.”
(Photo of Francisco Lindor batting: Sarah Stier / Getty Images)
