Lack of effort in Mets loss shows the team has thrown in the towel

The destruction that followed Francisco Lindor’s give-up at-bat in the seventh inning of Saturday’s game stole the narrative of what’s going wrong with the New York Mets. Another blown save by Edwin Diaz, just one relief appearance in between his last opportunity, led the tears. Sean Reid-Foley getting blasted in the tenth kicked the team while they were already down.

Diaz’s struggles and Reid-Foley eventually losing the game didn’t save Lindor from having to answer for his frozen appearance on a 3-2 pitch.

Hoping for a ball? That’s what the 14th player on a Little League roster should approach each at-bat with, not Lindor. Rudy Stein in The Bad News Bears even tried to make the at-bat competitive as he leaned into one.

The Mets hitters might all be looking for a ball too often

Stepping back a series, the Mets weren’t too happy with the balls and strikes in Cleveland throughout the series. Their Monday game included an early ejection from Starling Mate who might’ve had a few other things on his mind such as the team’s overall struggles and a boneheaded baserunning mistake he made.

Despite his problem with the strike zone, the umpire scorecard came out pretty average. Is it because umpires are just that bad these days? In either case, the Mets didn’t change their approach in the 3-1 loss. The lone run came on a Tomas Nido solo shot.

Hitting Coach Eric Chavez hasn’t had his name brought up that much. Neither has Jeremy Barnes whose results from the offense last year were far from spectacular. Employing two hitting coaches on essentially equal footing was an interesting call by the organization in the first place. Mixed messages? A shared philosophy that doesn’t work? Unless someone gets fired and we have some rationale, we won’t know much.

As appreciative as it is for Lindor to answer honestly, it’s an insult to the fans who have continuously supported him and the organization. Hoping for a ball is what Daniel Vogelbach does. Lindor, who had a chance to extend the team’s lead with a base hit, could’ve at the very least put the ball in play, foul one off, or go down with an embarrassing swing and miss. Effort is all anyone asks for.

A lazy groundball to move the runner to third could’ve had an impact. A balk. A wild pitch. The Mets can’t be the only ones who lose in funky ways. They needed the insurance run.

Yet another loss and in devastating fashion with Diaz blowing it again has these no-effort moments sticking out and representing why the team is where it is. Mathematically a hot week away from being in a playoff spot, games like this negate what the numbers say.