Gordon Damer: The Mets continue to go backwards and Carlos Mendoza's days are likely numbered

All right, now that we finally got that egomaniac, Tommy Lugar out of the studio, the show

could begin.

Yes, often running on a, what, Thursday morning, 888, 808, 1019, the telephone number I am Gordon

Daymer with you for the better part of four and a half hours, I guess it is.

Take it up to five o'clock in the warm-up show, oh my goodness, we got a lot to discuss

tonight, Nix coming up, later this evening, can they finally finish off the Hawks in their

playoff series and really why Game 6 is the true test for this series, but where we got

to begin.

You know, I was watching the Mets last night and with the fact that the Yankees were in

the afternoon, lose to the Rangers, some questions there in regards to, of course, Jason

Dominguez and all that type of stuff, but I was watching the Mets last night and I was

trying to put myself in the position of Mets fans.

And maybe it was because watching the game in a steady downpour on a, a kind of a chilly

night, it might have been 45, I don't know what it was in terms of temperature, but because

it was raining all night, it felt cooler.

And you look around the ballpark and you take in the sights and sounds of the game and

you realize what a long haul this baseball season is going to be.

Now when the Mets were going through their losing skin and it feels like Mendoza watches

back on, right?

Like it's one thing to have a 12 game losing skin in the month of April.

But the question is, once you end that streak, because eventually you're going to end the

streak, what are you going to do after that?

What are you going to do after once you get past that losing skin, which can look, it

can happen to anybody, it can happen to any team.

Maybe not the best team, but it could happen to anybody.

But when you get past that 12 game losing streak, do you run off seven in a row?

Can you win eight to 10?

Can you win a series?

Can you win back to back series?

That's where it's got to begin.

If the Mets are ever going to have anything resembling a baseball season in 2026, it has

to start with the baby steps.

Now I looked at the Mets and in the past, the Mets have been a streaky team.

That's good and bad.

And when you have a 12 game losing skin, you think to yourself, looking at the skin, the

last time I was on, they had gotten past the losing skin and they were getting set to face

off against the Rockies and the Nationals and the Angels.

And I think the Rockies again, like it was a stretch of games where you think to yourself,

okay, it has been bad.

It has been really bad.

It has felt hopeless.

It feels like that the season is over a set, it feels like the jets, the jet season ends

basically before it begins.

And that's how it's felt for the Mets this year, like the season is over before it even

begins.

But I was waiting to say like this would be the time, I'm not saying you got to go out

and win 12 in a row and get it all back or get back to 500 or anything like that.

But show me that the 12 game losing skin was rock bottom because that's got to be rock

bottom.

You can't lose 12 in a row, be the worst team in baseball and then just let that linger

for weeks on in.

You got to see some signs of life, you got to see some progress.

And the Mets go out over the weekend.

And do they show you any signs of progress, did they show you any signs of life?

Absolutely not, absolutely not.

They go out and put up nothing against the Colorado Rockies.

And then after getting a win against the nationals to open up their series against the nationals,

you think to yourself, okay, well, look, it's not ideal to go out and lose three in a row

to the rocket.

Pretty bad.

I know the Rockies have been better this year, but nobody has made the argument the Rockies

are good and nobody's going to make the argument this year that the Rockies almost certainly

are good.

So they go out and they finally, they beat the nationals and ate nothing clean, all right,

this is where it begins, fresh start.

But that fresh start, it's like one of my diets, I tell my wife that's it, I got to cut

back, I'm getting too fat, I got it, I got to start eating healthy, I got to stop the

late night snacking.

And then by like Wednesday, I'm having a slice of pizza for it, it just it never ends.

And that has been my life for like the last 20 years.

And unfortunately, this met season feels like it's going to take 20 years to play because

they go out tonight in a game that was over early.

I guess the only good news is it didn't go down to the wire.

You weren't sitting there holding your breath thinking, well, maybe this is the beginning

that the meds take a lead because they never took a lead.

And they fell behind right away.

David Peterson back in the rotation, getting a start.

Let's see what he's got against the national team that is primarily left handed.

Go out there, have a decent start and maybe for him, that's where it could begin.

Nope, not the case goes out, gives up a couple of runs in the first inning and then settle

down a little bit.

And again, what are you looking for from this meds?

You're looking for baby steps.

You're looking for some, some signs that it can't all be doom and gloom.

But yet at every turn, this meds team feels like doom and gloom.

So he settles down, retires, bunch of guys in a row at one point.

And then we get to the fourth inning.

We get to the fourth inning and that's where the roof cave did.

Now there is no roof at city field, which would have been helpful on a night like tonight.

But the roof cave did all the same because after he gets a strikeout to start the inning,

walk, single, an infield single, a walk, another walk brings in a run.

And then they decide, you know what, that's it for David Peterson.

Let's go to the bullpen.

Let's bring in Sean Monaya who decided to cut and look, if you had any doubts at that

point when it was four one, I think, right?

Four one when they decided to go to the bullpen and with the way the meds are scoring runs,

four runs that that'll take until this weekend to score four runs.

But in case you were thinking you said, well, maybe there's a possibility that they can

come back.

Maybe they maybe they'll show some fight.

Maybe there's a rally in their bones.

There was no rally and there was no bones.

Monaya comes in, hits a batter and then gives up a grand slam.

And I got to be honest with you, I'm more of an American league guy, I'm more of a Yankee

fan, I'm more, I have to be honest, I'd never heard the guy Brady house before my life.

Before this series had you ever heard of Brady house before, I had not heard of Brady

house before, but he sent the house home or should have at least with a grand slam.

So make it seven one at that point and you can turn off your sets.

If you had not already turned off your sets, you can turn off your sets at that point.

So now you're staring at a situation where the meds have now lost 16 of 19.

They are 10 and 20 on the season and once again, because anything you stick, you keep your

mind to something over time, you will eventually get it.

And the meds kept their mind to being the worst team in baseball once again.

And they have that record once again at 10 and 20, they are the worst team in baseball.

And look, it's not even May yet, although May is right around the corner.

It's hard to envision a time where this meds group will be able to dig themselves out

of this hole.

Like if you can't do it now, how are you going to do it later?

Now what you might say is, well, look, they're banged up right now, right?

They don't have Francisco Lindor, they lose Lindor right when they get soda back.

And I guess that is true.

You would like to have a full lineup, or at least the four guys I think that you were

counting on offensively coming into the season because they've got track records, boba

shit, Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, and Jorge Polonco.

Well, the problem with that is it doesn't seem like either the two guys who are hurt are

coming back anytime soon.

It's going to be a couple of weeks before they even evaluate how long Lindor is going

to be out.

And Polonco at this point, I mean, you could put them on the milk cart.

I mean, it's hard to find them.

There's no updates on when he's going to return.

There's no real, and it wasn't like he was having an amazing season to begin with.

So this met season feels like it's hard for you to play your way out of things in the

month of April.

It is almost impossible to play your way out of things in the month of April, but that's

what the Mets have done and are continuing to do.

Usually when you hit rock bottom, you get a little bit of a bounce.

There's been no bounce for this Mets team.

You're still waiting for like you're not supposed to lose every single night.

It feels like the Mets lose every single night.

So is there time to turn things around?

Of course, there's more than enough games to turn things around.

But how can you have any level of confidence that this group is going to turn things around?

Because it just looks like a really bad team.

Like outside of offense, pitching, bullpen and defense, what would you say you do well?

Because you don't do any of those four things well.

And it's hard to believe that the Mets could spend this much money.

And look, losing Lindor is a big piece.

Polanco has been hurt throughout his career.

So you have to assume that at some point he was going to get hurt at this point.

I didn't think he was going to miss half the season, which it feels like he's not coming

back anytime soon.

But there's not a single guy in that life.

MJ Melendez was hitting third.

Is it MJ?

It's MJ.

MJ Melendez was hitting third.

This is a team who has spent the second most money in all of baseball and your third place

hitter is MJ Melendez.

Now I know that there's the thing that, you know, you're struggling.

You pull the names out of the hat.

Is that what Carlos spent does it did?

Did he literally pull the names out of a hat?

How else would MJ Melendez get to be the third place hitter?

I guess because his numbers actually look like major league numbers as opposed to the

rest of the meds.

But there's not a lot of options to turn this around offensively.

And if you can't score more than the meds score right now, nothing else matters.

Now look, they got problems in the rotation.

They got issues in the bullpen.

But if you can't score runs more consistently than the meds do.

There's nothing else that matters.

You cannot survive and they will not survive.

So a 14 to two loss to the nationals, which felt like it was even worse than that.

I mean, that game was over in the fourth inning.

And you just kind of wonder what is the plan?

So to me, it certainly feels like we thought after the 12 game losing skid that Carlos

Mendoza's, he was on the hot seat.

It was only a matter of time.

I would think that that's only now more the case.

And I get it.

The meds don't want to fire Carlos Mendo.

Everybody has made it clear.

They don't want to fire Carlos Mendoza.

The meds don't want to do it.

David Sterns doesn't want to do it.

He's never fired a manager before in season.

But you got to do something.

What else can you change?

What else can you possibly change?

Who is coming up from the minor leagues?

It's going to give you a boost in the office.

It doesn't seem like anybody.

What are your options in terms of what the rest of the rotate?

All right, let's pull David Peterson from the rotation.

Okay.

In exchange for who exactly?

There doesn't seem to be any other options.

So if it's later today, if it's Friday, if it's Saturday, if it's next week, if it

makes it to Mother's Day, at some point here, if things don't dramatically turn around,

Carlos Mendoza is absolutely going to get fired whether it's his fault or not.