3 Mets who look like they’ve run out of gas in the NLCS

3) Carlos Mendoza

There are no measurable statistics for Carlos Mendoza to cite. But wow, has he lost his touch. Several decisions made by the Mets skipper have come into question. They haven’t all been so costly. However, it’s clear he is managing things a little too much by the book and not by his gut.

Starting someone other than Kodai Senga in Game 1 might’ve been irrelevant considering the Mets didn’t cross the plate once other than to drag their feet following a strikeout and stroll back to the dugout. Going with J.D. Martinez in Game 3 at DH with no real explanation over Jesse Winker and then again in Game 4 when he had a logical explanation is puzzling. What is Jeff McNeil even doing on this roster? To a lesser extent, is there anything Francisco Alvarez could do to get benched?

None of those decisions really seem to matter in the grand scheme of things simply because the Mets aren’t playing good baseball. They’ve barely hit in the NLCS. The scores have been most irrelevant because about half of the runs are coming against inferior pitchers out of the bullpen.

Mendoza hasn’t had the kind of NLCS that’ll have us questioning why we ever liked him. There are only so many options he could have gone with out of the bullpen or with the starting lineup. Will we see any major change for Game 5? David Peterson is already getting the start over Senga. At least he learned one lesson.