Looking Ahead To Chicago

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If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat. I'm Brian. I work at United Healthcare. So Brian, why do you care? I care because I don't want to leave anybody behind. I oversee one of the biggest resource centers in United Healthcare. I see people walked in in my office every day, just like my parents. They have no idea about the healthcare. I feel like they are my uncles, aunties. I treat these people like family. I'm Brian and I'm committed to care . It's the amazing rico bronya podcast with your host Evan Roberts . The losing continu es and it really feels like the losing is never ever ever ever ever ever ever going to end. I don't remember the last time the Mets won a game. I guess it was a week and a half ago. But I digress. Welcome to Rico Brownia, episode six hundred and seventy-two. The New York Mets lose to the Los Angeles Dodgers eight to two . The Mets get swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Let me do the math here. So 10-3 plus four. 14 -3. The Mets lose three games to the LA Dodgers. It is now an eight-game losing streak. And the New York Mets are off to their worst start through nineteen games since two thousand eleven . I was doing that over the course of this West Coast game. I was going back over the last decade to find when have we seen this team get off to as crappy a start as we're witnessing right now? Not even 202 4 . Because in 2024 , when they began the season 0 and 5, and you know, Gary Cohen, of course, was talking about how it's rock bottom, the place is empty, it's cold outside, they're getting no hit. The Mets won that game and they actually went on a little bit of a run before they started sucking. The Mets were actually above five hundred, believe it or not, early on in that season. But right now the Mets are seven and twelve. It is their worst start through 19 games since 20 11 . We got a lot to talk about on this, Rico Broughia. We will certainly go through game three of this series if you wanted to be depressed to hear more about game one and game two, we've already done Rico's on that. You can go back into the archives. We will somehow pick a Rico. I'm the man right now star of the series. We'll pick in that negative. We'll look ahead and we'll all be depressed together as the Mets give you yet another. It's like on repeat, yet another listless offensive performance in losing to the Dodgers by a score of eight to two. Where do we begin? Let me begin with: I want to continue to hold out hope that it's a long season and things can change quickly because things can ch ange quickly in major league baseball. Uh baseball sometimes doesn't make sense. And so sure, the Mets could go out, they can go on an eight game winning streak, they could erase all of this, and all could be good with the world. But I think what makes it so challenging to actually have that kind of confidence is you look at this team, you watch this team, and they're just not any good. They're just not. You watch them across the field from the Los Angeles Dodgers. And sure, the Dodgers are a cheat code. They're the best team in baseball. They are the defending world champions. They' everythingre we want to be. They're everything we dreamt Steve Cohen would turn the Mets into. And so maybe the Dodgers aren't the greatest comparison because the Mets are a million miles away from them. But the Mets and not even in the same stratosphere as the LA Dodgers. Look at the lineup. And I am not blaming Mendoza when I say this. I'm just saying: look at the lineup that Carlos Mendoza put together for game three of this series . He featured Brett Beatty , who has not drawn a walk yet this season. He's like the only major leaguer who qualifies who has not drawn a walk this season. And Brett Beatty was batting third . MJ Melendez, who I know had a good game, and we'll give MJ Melendez the proper due at some point on the Rico. But MJ Melendez, who hit on the interstate last year and was in AAA a couple of hours ago, is in this lineup. Tommy Fam, who I know it's only two games, and Tommy Fam's claim to fame is that he'll punch you in the face if you do something in fantasy he doesn't like. You talk about a guy that looks cooked, who's late on every fastball. The Mets featured a starting lineup that had both MJ Melendez and Tommy Fam . One guy is a 38-year-old who was in double A two days ago. Excuse me . And the other one in MJ Melendez was in triple A, like I said, nine hours ago. And both of those guys are asked to be in a major league starting lineup. And that doesn't include all the other guys who have just looked lost so far this season. That's the lineup they're putting out there against Shohei Otani. So So while I am hopeful that I'm gonna feel like an idiot and we're all gonna feel like idiots because the Mets are gonna turn the season around and you know this isn't gonna end up being fun, and there'll be a documentary talking about how painful April was, but don't worry, everything turned out to be okay. I don't know how confidently you can say everything's gonna be okay. Uh, not based on the record or how many games are left , but based on the team they're putting out there . And if anything, if anybody deserves a hug right now, that you look at and say, man, I appreciate you, but I appreciate you more right now than I ever did. That guy is Juan Soto . Say say what you want about Juan Soto. Last year, does he still want to be a Met? Why isn't he' shsaking his booty enough. Juan Soto is a great baseball player. And right now, they miss him so much. And that's not to tell you that Juan Soto is an elixir , that by just inserting Juan Soto in the middle of this order instead of the Mets getting swept by LA, they would have won a game or two games, or dare I say all three. Baseball doesn't work that way , but it will help. I mean, it will it will help this limp D offense to have Juan Soto in the middle of it. And you know what concerns me about that Juan Soto aspect? Carlos Mendoza said on the broadcast that he's trending in the right dire ction. He's starting to run. And that they expect him back on the next homestand. That's the first time we've gotten like more specifics now from Mendy in terms of when they expect him back . Doesn't it worry you that the Mets right now are so desperate ? They're so desperate with how bad this lineup is. They're so desperate with the amount of loss es that are continuing to pile up day after day. Isn't there a little bit of a concern that they're going to rush him back ? That Juan Soto off a calf issue and calves can be tricky. He's gonna come back maybe a week before he should . And they need Ju Soto. I mean, I that that is clear as day. Again, not a magical lickser, but he changes everything about this lineup. And maybe just maybe he takes the pressure off of guys. So I know they need Ju to. We all know they need Ju , but not at the risk of him coming back too early , reinjuring that calf, and then missing Juan Soto for an even greater period of time. When Juan first went down with the calf issue, I did it on Evan and Tiki and I did it on the Rico, breaking down other calf issues, other guys who've dealt with it, and what the timetable is. And one of the recurring things is that it can come back. That yeah, you may return, and then two weeks later or a month later, you can re-injure it. So I'm going to raise my hand and tell you this. As desperate as I am to see Juan Soto in the middle of this lineup , as much as they need him in the middle of this lineup, they got to find a way to not be smart, not be stupid, and not be desperate. Because right now, the Mets are a bad baseball team. And so it is understandable to say, get me the 7$65 million guy back. Anyhow, let's go through this game . First of all, MJ Melendez gave them a spark. And I'm surprised by that when I saw that Jared Young was going on the injured list with a torn meniscus. I had a couple of thoughts. Number one, I feel bad for him. I know I've been critical in the past of Carlos Mendoza starting MJ, uh MJ Melinda, starting Jared Young, having a love affair with J ared Young, but I gotta be fair, Jared Young in the limited amount of time he's played this year, has played well. And considering the state of this team, Jared Young would have absolutely been in the starting lineup in this game against Otani and in the previous game against Yamamoto. Does it make a difference? Would it have made a difference? Probably not. You never know. Young's played well. It's a blow to the Mets because he's been a useful player . And it's obviously a blow to him because this was a great opportunity for him. I figured Melendez would come up because bringing Ronnie Mauricio back doesn't make sense unless you're committing yourself to playing Ronnie Mauricio . Unless you're going to give him consistent at-bats, it was never going to make sense to call Ronnie Mauricio back. So bringing MJ Melendez up, a guy who can give you versatility, who can play the outfield, who you don't feel overly rely on, reliant on getting at bats for, it makes more sense than Ronnie Mauricio for now. There is no young player banging on the door. I mentioned Nick Morabito as an option. AJ Ewing has been tearing it up a double A, but it is double A. So I'm not sure the Mets deem him ready. But I wasn't sure Melendez would be thrown right in the middle of the order. And to his credit, he pounds that double to left center field in the third inning, the first base hit of the game. He hits the RBI ground rule double two innings later, driving in the Mets first run of the game, MJ Melendez was the freaking offense . He really was. That one out double in the third inning with the Mets down two-nothing in a moment where they needed to respond offensively, was a big hit for him, and it was a big opportunity for Francisco Lindor because Lindor's been showing a pulse lately . Even though we're all agitated, I think most of us are agitated by Steve Cohen and his hey, look at all these little positives that you can draw out of the game to loss. One of the things I would at least agree with him on, because like most things in life, everything isn't wrong and everything isn't right. There were certain things where you could say, oh, I agree with that. Yeah, Lindor's been showing a pulse. In game two of this series, he hit the leadoff home run. He had a base hit later in the game. You're starting to see Francisco Lindor wake from his normal slumber to start a season. And he comes up with a runner on second and two outs after Tommy Fam struck out. He had no chance against Otani. And Lindor is giving you an at-bat . He's fouling pitches off. He's battling. And I can't say I said this to anybody because I'm sitting by myself in my TV room, uh, watching the end of the Yankee game because I had that on D VR. Good win by the Yankees. Watching the Philadelphia 17 6ers beat the magic. You know, so I got all the sports on so I'm talking to myself. But I said self, this is the biggest at b out of the game. Top of the third inning, down two-nothing, right after Clay Holmes gave up a two out rally to the bottom of the freaking Dodgers order and High Sung Camus hitting a two-run home run. This inning, this kind of response inning in the top of the third inning, when you were just given a little bit of a jolt with a one-out double by MJ Melendez, and you've got Francisco Lindore at the plate, and Francisco Lindore is showing a pulse and he's fouling pitches off, dude. I'll say it right now. Biggest step out of the game . And I hate to kill the guy. Actually, you know what? I don't hate to do anything right now. I honestly I don't hate to say anything right now. The team sucks. I hate to tell you, but in the back of my mind, all I could think about is man, I drop a lot of money for season tickets. I can't go to every game. I have to sell a few of them. Who the hell is gonna want to go to City Field in August if this team's 20 games out of first place? So Steve Cohen could tell me about all the green lawns he's seeing. You know what I'm seeing? What's that financial term when you lose a lot of money . Red. I'm seeing red . But Lindor is giving you this at bat. He's battling. He's battling. He's battling. Biggest at bat of the game. And he swings at a pitch out of the strike zone. He beat Otani . He drew a walk. It was an 11-pitch masterpiece. And Linda was chasing . And so all the goodwill from the previous few days, I'm sorry, got flushed out the window with that big strikeout in that big moment . Because the Met offense, which has been the limpiest of limp as we have seen, needed a response when MJ Melende z is giving you a jolt from the gods by hitting a double to left center field, and they do nothing. And at that point, I thought they were going to get shut out. Like I just figured they're never going to score another run . They do nothing in the fourth. They put together a rally in the fifth inning against Otani. Alvarez, to his credit, gave you a good at-bat and drew a walk. Uh, you know what,'s funny about Alvarez is that he's a very streaky player. That's kind of been what he's been throughout his major league career. And when he's going bad, he swings at everything. And we saw that in game too with the chase that he had against Alex Vessier. He wasn't alone, but he certainly had one of the worst at-bats you'll see in the ninth inning. I like the fact that he was at least able to respond in this game by giving you that really good battle at bat against Otani in the fifth inning. But then he wipes it away with a bad base running mistake. Carson Bench, who had a good day at the plate, lines a base hit to left fielder, at least what should be a base hit to left fi eld. Alvarez is confused. He stays at first base. I I don't know what he's looking for. Like the ball was clearly played on the short hop by Tiasca Hernandez, and Alvarez is going back to first base . And so I don't care that he robs Carson Bench of a base hit. I'm sure that sucks for him as a rookie. But as a Met fan, two on nobody out . That's what it should have been. And these are the things you continue to see with this team. The obvious issue is the limp dick offense. I know I mostly say LD. I try to keep things clean. We are doing this Rico at one o'clock in the morning. I know a lot of people will download the podcast. There'll be some kids listening. I apologize. That's one a.m. I can't hold back. Rico Brunia. Okay. I'll say it one more time and I'll go back to LD. That's the limp dick offense, is their biggest issue . But man, they got a lot of small issues. And when you don't score runs, those small issues start to pile up. The little defensive miscuse, which we saw more of today. I'll get to that later . But the little base running mistakes can't happen. Francisco Alvarez cannot be caught on a seven four fielder's choice cannot happen. And then when Marcus Simeon draws a walk one batter later and MJ Melendez is then stroking his second double of the game, it feels even worse This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? drop in some details about yourself and see if you're eligible to save money when you bundle your home and auto policies. The process only takes minutes and it could meet hundreds more in your pocket. Visit progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates. Potential savings will bear. Not available in all states. But that was opportunity number two. Melendez pounds the RBI double . It bounces out of play, which it always does at Dodgers Stadium. Those walls are so tiny. And so they're a second and third and one out in a two-to-one game. You have to tie the game. If you're Tommy Fam , who I I I know this is gonna sound irrational, I don't really care. I'm ready to DFAM already. I just am. I I I don't care how what Tommy says or how everyone works so hard or how he bitch slapped Jock Peterson in the face. I don't care about any of that. The guy can't turn on a fastball right now. He looks done. And I know that's being irrational because he had about five minutes at single egg. So I I should allow Tommy Fam more time. But if Tommy Fam is being asked to play a lot, that's a problem not with Tommy Fam , but with the Mets as a whole. They should not be asking Tommy Fam to get big at bats . But with second and third and one out in a two-to-one game, you gotta tie the game. You. have to And Tommy Fam struck out, I think, on three pitches. And he was so pissed when he struck out. He was cursing. He was screaming. And I'm like, I'm glad you're showing emotion. But I feel the same way, dude . And then Francisco Lindore flies out the left field . And so Lindor came up with yet another big opportunity. The second at-bat he had in this game with runners in scoring position , a chance to build off of the green lawns or whatever the hell Steve Cohen was calling it. And again he failed and he pops up to left field. And so the Mets mix in over the course of these games against the Dodgers, periods of time where they can't get a guy on base, and then just not being able to get a big hit , which has been a trend all season and was a trend last season. In fact, the New York Mets finished the game. Had they finished the game with runners in scoring position? Let me see. One for nine. Let me write that down. One for nine. And the hit they got with runners in scoring position came with two outs down eight to one in the ninth inning . What does that tell you? And that base hit by Marcus Simeon with a runner in scoring position was their first base hit with runners in scoring position since the Saturday game against the A's . In fact, over the course of this losing streak, you ready to have some fun with math? I'm gonna do some math for you. 10, 19, 22, 28, 31, 33 . The Mets are three for 33 with runners in scoring position over the course of this eight-game losing stre ak . So not only do they rarely get guys on base , but when they do get guys on base, they don't come through . And they get another great opportunity in the seventh inning of this game. This is now when they're down three to one. When they get that rope double by Carson Bend with one out, and Marcus Simeon does nothing. What else is new? And I don't want to get on MJ Melendez, but MJ Melendez strikes out against Blake Trinan in the seventh inning . Another missed opportunity by the Met offense , which has been the story of the losing streak and really the story of just everything. I mean, think about this. Over the course of the eight-game losing streak, I would like to read off to you the amount of runs they have scored in each game. I guess this means the Mets are consistent. They consistently lose in the same way. Their pitching is usually decent, and their offense usually stinks. Two runs, one run, zero runs, six runs. That was the game against the A's on Saturday. Zero runs, zero runs, one run, and two runs . That is the New York Met offense right now. And when I talk about the little things and how yes, the LD offense is the main reason for their failures, absolutely, but they're also not doing the little things. I want to take you to the ninth inning, or I should say the eighth inning. Because in the bottom of the eighth inning, this is a three-to-one game. And if the Mets are able to keep it at three-to-one, Edwin Diaz is likely coming in. The heart of the order is coming up , and we'll see. You know, maybe the Mets can get like the sweet revenge on not just Diaz, but the Dodgers for mocking the Mets and Diaz with the little video they were playing at the beginning of this series, how Edwin's chasing rings, and he wanted to have a chance to win a championship, which by the way, nobody can deny . In the top, the bottom of the eighth inning, they go to Devin Williams, which was obvious. I said this on the most recent Rico. Devin was always getting into this game because he hasn't pitched in forever . And Devin Williams against Tiaska Hernandez gets a ground ball to shortstop. It is a routine ground and a shortstop. And the all world goal glover , the wannabe captain, Francisco Lindor, stays back on the ball. And as soon as he did that, you felt, oh boy, this may be very close. And credit to Tiasca Hernandez, and this is a part of why the Dodgers are a great team. It's not just that they have more talent than everybody else, which is a big part of it. And yes, the main reason, but it's not the only reason. They always are relentless against you. And in a three to one game in the bottom of the eighth inning, and Tiaskar hit a home run two innings earlier, it would be almost under standable if Ti Oscar isn't busting it down the line, but he is . And that bust down the line and Lindor playing back on that ball allows him to beat it out for an infield hit. And that moment unraveled Devin Williams. And that's a part of my concern about Devin, who has been off to a good start until this game. I feel like he can be unraveled. And he even recently admitted something that we all knew, and something that when I said it a year ago, I was a bad guy and I was a troll, which is that Pete Alonso broke him . That is an exception that I'm using to use that name because it's more in relation to Tevin Williams than it is the guy with the home run. But he admitted how much that affected him. And so while he was struggling last year with the Yankees, and that would be like almost a trash talk line of I broke it. Pete Alonso broke him. Devin admitted it did. And so what concerns me is that little things, tiny little things over the course of a game or a season could greatly affect him . I don't know. I mean, maybe not pitching in so long would have done him in anyway , but when you get a ground ball to shortstop, a routine ground ball to shortstop, and Francisco Lindor is taking his sweet ass time , and it allows a leadoff hit because Tiasco Hernande z is busting down the line. I don't know. Maybe that did unravel Devin Williams, who right after that issues a four-pitch walk. And right after that gives up a base hit off the fence. And right after that gives up a grand slam to Dalton Rushing. Think about that . Those were not bloops, those were not unluckiness. That was infield hit, four-pitch walk, single off the top of the fence, grand slam home run . That was an unraveling . And I blame a little bit of it on Lindor, but I blame a lot of it on Devin Williams. I mean, this performance by Devin, even though, hey, if you're gonna have a bad outing and you're Devin Williams, get it out now. Get it out in a game that you're not blowing, get it out in a game that you're very likely to not win anyway, even though yes, it would have been nice to have that shot, like I mentioned, against Diaz in the ninth . But it kind of concerns me that something minor could have completely unraveled him. And I there's no way to prove that, obviously. Because if Lindor makes that play, maybe everything happens the same way. Maybe he still walks Max Muncie on four pitches. Maybe everything plays out the same way. I don't know. But we have a pre conceived worry about Devin Williams, and that worry is not because of what happened in the Bronx last year. I think that worry is about what he did against our team in game three of the wild card series two years ago. But either way, that turned this game into a shut the TV off kind of game, into a let me go to sleep kind of game. And I'm not one to shut my scorebook or go to bed early. But if it wasn't for this Rico Brunia , I think when he gave up the grand slam to Dalton Rushing, even I would have tapped out . Even I would have said, I've had a freaking nuff. Now here's what we're going to do. We do have to name a Rico. I'm the man now star of the series. We'll manage to do it. It's actually not that difficult. And we will pick a net negative, but I do want to hear from the people. I know this is a very tough time. So let's hear from the Rico ers out there, the Rico B at gmail.com . Max writes, here's what we need. Wally Bachman . Meller writes, how many years will this dumpster fire set the team back? Who's ever going to want to play here? Pay team, pay guys the most money, they'll want to play here. William writes, this is the least entertaining Met team I've watched since 2013 to this point in the season. I've been a Stearns defender and supporter, but I can't believe what this team is trotting out there in their starting lineup. Marcus Simeon is cooked. Tommy Fenn Every time he takes a pitch, he blinks about four hundred times. Brett Beatty looks like he forgot how to play the sport again. Lindor making another critical mental mistake in the field . Luis Robert Jr. making uh beginning to expand the strike zone. Alvarez making piss poor, little leak, base running mistakes, and Bo Bichette is the worst Met signing since Jason Bay. At least C arson Bench hustles and M. J. Melendez seems to be playing for his career. It's quite an assessment . That's quite an assessment you have. Peter writes, Mets discussed, and I have a proposal for a new geeky offensive stat. Ooh, oh, I like that. Evan and Hoff. I can't believe I stayed up for this garbage game. If the Mets playing like this, if the Mets keep playing like this, they will have to earn back the privilege of my attention. To get my mind completely off how opposing pitchers carve through the LD Mets offense, I'd like to propose a new batting stat. What are among the most finite resources in baseball? Fin ite? I apologize. We're doing this Rico at 1.30 in the morning. You cannot expect my brain to be sharp. Reading emails can be a challenge. Uh, outs and pitch counts for pitchers are the most important things. What do you think about measuring the number of pitches per out a batter has? That is, if someone grounds into many double plays, that weighs more heavily on their pit ches per out than someone who flies out in that situation. If someone grinds out an at-bat, even if they eventually make it out, they'll have a better PPO than someone who strikes out on three pitches . You know, I maybe I'd entertain this idea with a saner brain . I'm not against it. I mean, baseball's come up with so many bogus and crazy stats that why would I poo-poo anything? Plus, I do like the long at bat. And sometimes the long at bat leads to good things. It didn't happen in this game because when Lindor struck out on eleven pitches, it ended the inning and then the Mets, you know, didn't do anything the next thing. So it doesn't always work out that way, but I like that idea. John writes, John from Clearwater writes, there's a pattern emerging with the mistakes Lindor's making. The genesis of his mistakes are from mental laziness. He's not reacting quickly as we saw on the Tiasca Hernandez infield hit, which needs to be an out 100% of the time. If the time. This coupled and with other mental errors he's made this season makes me question if he really wants to be here. David Stearns and Mendy needs to ask some difficult questions and make difficult decisions. Boy, we jumped to a lot of conclusions on the Lindor mental mistakes, and there's no doubt they're there. We were examining. Is he suffering a concussion? You're examining. Does he still want to be here? We've had uh the examination on is he upset about not being the captain or that Juan Soto's taking the team from him . I don't know how to explain it . Perhaps Carson Bench throwing his glove at the wall against the Dodgers is the catalyst the Mets team need s ha ha ha ha Nick Pauly with a good email . That's right . Does Carson Ben ge in attempting to make a leaping home run saving catch and dropping his glove on top of the right field fence. Is that the equivalent of Jorge Lopez throwing his glove? That's a great question. That's a great question. Austin writes, Evan, I became a Met fan last year. It'll be fun, my friend said. They're a great team, my friend said. Little did I know, my life was going to be completely ruined. Hours upon hours, da ys upon days of watching this garbage just to get excited for the twenty twenty six season, just to then be hit in the face with the bleep less. It's a curse word, the she niss of the New York M ets. My God have pity on my soul for choosing this goddamn organization to root for. With all that said, pleads fire Mendoza. It's midnight. Yeah, I've been using a clock analogy to really ask the Met fan how you feel about Carlos Mendoza, with midnight being the moment where you fire him and nine o'clock at night being you're close, or noon being you're not that close. And I'll say this real quick because I get a lot of it's not Mendy's fault. And I don't think it's Mendy's fault. If you want to blame anybody besides the players, it's obviously David Stearns . David Stearns pick the players. So if we're crapping on the roster or crapping on the lineup , obviously it comes down to him, but you're not firing a team president in the middle of the season. That's just not happening. You're trying to save a season . And sometimes the way you try to save a season is you get rid of a manager. So what time am I at? I've been at eight o'clock lately. Let's say I'm at about eight fifteen . So my clock hasn't moved much, even with the patheticness of these last two losses. But it moved. Not in a good way. And now they've got three games in Chicago. You know, you can knock one out of the park and raise the apple with Takara Chuhai, a sparkling cocktail that blends real shochu spirits with the delicious flavors of fruits locally grown in Japan. Available at Citifield and Fuji Apple, of course, white peach and lemon. I'm very proud of Pete Hoff man because all day and really all week, I kept saying to Pete, look, I'm not sure if we're gonna do Rico's after the games. These are very late night games. We've obviously done them. We've done them the following morning. So you could download them wherever you download your podcast if you want to hear more breakdowns of the previous two games of this series. But I kept saying to Pete, you got to stay up for the third game because I want to stay firm that we will do our Rico recap right after this game is over. I don't care what time it is. And for those that are consuming this live, and we have a lot of people in the YouTube chat. We appreciate that. That's some great loyalty. It's 1.30 in the morning. And I'll tell I don't know if Hoff knows this, but I was texting Hoff about MJ Melendez because Hoff was a big MJ Melendez guy and I wanted to put him over for it. And he wrote me back. And then after that, I stopped hearing from him. And I'm like, oh God, did he fall asleep? I'm gonna be pissed at him. Like, I don't get pissed at Pete, because he works so hard. And if he ever falls asleep more times than not, I'm like, man, that guy works hard. I got no issue. But this one, because I had said it over and over again, this would have bothered me. And so the ninth inning comes, still haven't heard from Hoff. I finally break glass in case of emergency and I call him. And Hoff answers the phone all calmly, and he says, I'm not watching the game. So Pete Hoffman, can you reveal to us at one o'clock in the morning or 12:30, whatever time it was when I called you. What were you actually doing then if you weren't watching the game? Were you glued to the Clippers Warriors game ? Shockingly enough, I was enjoying time with my wife. Oh, she was up? Uh, for a little bit, yeah. She hasn't been feeling. Sorry for calling you then. I feel like I'm No no no no no. She she hasn't been feeling well. So um dude uh thankfully she's she's healthier, she's getting better, but um we were just talking, you know? And I was just talking. Yes, talking okay, good. I didn't I didn't interrupt anything. No,, no no,, no no, no . Um worse. No, no, not at all. But I gotta be honest with you, it was a peaceful Wednesday night. I had a good Wednesday night. Um, it sucks because I really did want to watch a lot of this game. And I have not saying that, listen, I'm this was a rarity. I chose my wife over watching the Mets get their ass kicked. But I gotta be honest, like i i i i don't want to be mr negative and there's no way that i'd watch this game and be like you know what today's a good day yeah i i i can't do it and i don't want to walk into work tomorrow be as miserable as i usually am. So I'm I'm taking a uh mulligan. I don't blame you for that. I I wish I could do that. I wish I was able to like take a night off. Now luckily the Mets have an off day on Thursday, which I am looking as a cleansing day. But I get it. This this this beat you up. I mean, not only three straight West Coast games, which is very tough for those that stay up, and I did stay up, and I know there's a lot of Met fans that do it, but to lose three straight games, and really all three games were very similar. Don't be fooled by the eight-to-two final score. Obviously, the Dodgers broke it open with the five in the bottom of the eighth inning. But it's like you're watching the same game. They struggled to score. The chyase out of the strike zone. There's a lot of quick innings. There's lots of moments where they just look completely helpless. And the other common thing, maybe not to include David Peterson in this, but the pitching is actually pretty good. And maybe that's the one positive you can really try to glean from it. Like, I I will take that positive a lot more than Steve Cohen telling me Marcus Simeon almost hit a home run. You know what I mean? Like that's insulting. But I can admit, hey, I like this rotation and I feel good about it. And if this team ever does turn it around, the identity is going to be that because it's got a chance to be good and at times it has been good. Right. And and I would take away the bullpen performance this, you know, tonight. I I know it wasn't great. I know again, this is why I was arguing with you the other day like why have we not seen Devin Williams? It's been a week. I get it. And and and we've seen now clo relief pitchers that had weeks off and they just blow up the game. And the he's not the only one. So it's like, what are we doing? There's a fine line between being careful with a guy, uh, not wasting bullets in games where you're like, Ah, but I have a few bunch of games in a row. I may have to use them a lot. And what happened to the Mets here is they saved Devin Williams because they didn't know what the next day would look like. And the next day never was a save situation because they're in the midst of an eight-game los ing streak. And so it turned into not using Devin Williams for an extended period of time. And yeah, that probably affected him. Combine that with the Lindor mistake, and you had Devin Williams' worst performance that we've seen as a Met. Uh luckily, because they have an off day on Thursday and then they have an off day on Monday, I think that Mendoza can be very aggressive with his bullpen usage in the series coming up against Chicago because you don't have a stretch of games where there's an unknown and you may need to use your bullpen a lot. Yeah, I I listen, I I hope that it all works out. And I think that Devin Williams can be fine and stuff like that. I'm not really concerned about that. And you you're right though. The pit the pitching has been okay, but you can't make any mistakes with this lineup right now because they don't offer enough. Now speaking of the pitching, I think this is the easiest I'm the man right now star of the series. I know that when you lose three games in a row, it's very difficult to want to name a star of the series, but it is clearly Nolan McLean. Nolan McLean has been the truth. He has been everything we dreamt of during this offseason. He delivered a brilliant seven-inning one-run performance against the Dodgers in game two of this series. It was not his fault. And look, we get a lot of emails, and I apologize because it would be almost impossible for me to find the specific email. But I got called out by one of you loyal Rico listeners. And it was one of those call-outs I was very reflective on. The guy said, Evan , how can you be anti-wins when it comes to pitchers, but then not want to name somebody as the Rico? I'm the man right now star of the series, because he pitched well in a game they lost. And I was reflective of that. I was like, that's a damn good point. Because I think that guy was suggesting in the Arizona series a few series ago where they lost two out of three , that it could have been, I think, Nolan McLean for that one too. And I said, well, yeah, but they didn't win the game that he started. Yeah, Nolan McLean in that game went six and a third innings and allowed two runs, as you recall, bitch really, really good . And my argument was, well, that wasn't the game they won in the series. And he's right . Like you can be a star of the series as a starting pitcher, even if you aren't winning games , because going deep into a game can save your bullpen. Can do a lot of various things. Obviously, when you lose a series and you don't win a game, then you have no choice but to pick somebody who is involved in not winning a game in your series. But to me, look, Nolan McClain is the most exciting thing about the New York Mets, and it is not close. If you missed our last episode of the Rico episode 671. And I don't know if this offended some of our older listeners, but Nolan McClain is the best starting pitcher in the history of the New York Mets through 12 starts. Through 12 starts. And that doesn't mean he's going to be better than Tom Seaver. He will not, in all likelihood, or better than Jacob deGrom. In all likelihood, he will not, though you never know it's baseball. But what I was pointing out , and it's just backed up by the stats, is that through 12 starts, that's how good he's been . He is special . And you just pray to the baseball gods that he stays healthy, and we get to watch him every five days, and he gives this team a chance to win. So I don't think there's any debate. Obviously, Nolan McLean is the man right now. He is the star of the series. That means in the sixth series that the Mets have now played, he is the sixth different person to be the man right now. He was a candidate in these other series, but so far, the Pittsburgh series, Luis Robert Jr., the Cardinals series, Tobias Myers, the Giants series, Mark Vientos, the Diamondback series, Ronnie Mauricio for his walk off , the A's series, Freddie Peralta, and the Dodgers series, Nolan McClain. So congratulations to you, Nolan McClain. I thought that was very easy. Uh, the only other candidate, I guess, would have been MJ Melendez . I think if MJ Melendez finished stronger, like in his seventh inning at bat, his third at bat . He had come up with a runner on second and two outs down by two. If he had gone three for three and drove in another run, maybe he would have a shot . The net negative is very difficult . Because there's a lot of options. From a pitching standpoint, you can mention David Peterson. That's fine. I don't really think there's many other options. I mean, I guess you could throw Devin Williams under the bus for what happened in the finale of this series. Uh Brooks Rayleigh is tough to kill. I know he got the loss and he gave up the run, but it was just such a bloopy hit by Kyle Tucker, but he did throw a walk. He issued a leadoff walk. So you can mention those guys, but it's the offense. Like when you have a series such as this where you score a grand total of three runs in three games, it has to be the offense. But this is going to be tricky. I'm going to go through all of our guys real quick. And you tell me who the net negative is. And these are just the numbers. Obviously, we'll go deeper into other aspects of this. But you have Lindor . Now, Lindor in game two got his first home run of the season and his first RBI of the season and went two for four. But he was over four in game one. And in game three, this game, we were talking about. He was over four, and twice came up with runners in scoring position. So it adds up as a two for twelve weekend or week for Francisco Lindor. Luis Robert Jr. , he did make that great diving catch in the third inning and played well defensively. He was probably the worst offensively, though. Oh for 11 in this series. And we read an email before how he's starting to expand the strike zone. He did not draw a walk in this series. And that's been one of his best attributes so far as a Met. Brett Beatty didn't start in game one, but O for seven in this series. Bull Bachet, a very weak two for eleven in this series. Francisco Alvarez, one for eight. Marcus Simeon, two for nine with an RBI. That RBI coming at the very end. Mark Vientos, 0 for 6. Jorge Polanco, 1 for 7. Tommy Fam, 0 for 6 with three strikeouts. This week, no one really dreamed out at me as the overwhelming negative. Obviously, based on those numbers, I guess Luis Robert Jr. would be the one that the numbers jump out at you. And I don't know if I'm biased towards the fact that he made the great diving catch or biased towards the fact that he's actually contributed a little bit to this team. But that should be irrelevant when talking about the net negative in this series. So Half, you tell me, is there someone that jumps out at you that you would name as the face of the failure and the net negative for this series loss to the Dodgers? I mean , can we go with a Bark Vientos combo. That's Brett Beatty and Mark Vientos. You want to combine them? Yeah, just because I feel like they're so disappointing. They they are so this is the thing about this roster is that those two one of those two guys is supposed to step up this year, right? That's kind of what it is. They have the longest leash here, and they're they're nothing. We so I think the expectations because of that , my eyes are always on those two. Um but I I but for fun we could go Luis Robert Jr. For fun. Yeah this there's a lot of fun. You know who my answer is ? I may surprise you with this. For shap? No, I think it's Francisco Lindor again. And I and I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why. Yes, game two was a really positive sign for him. He hit the leadoff home run. It had a chance to be really pivotal. Uh, he had another hit later in the game. He stole a base. Like game two of this series felt like really good, like all good with Francisco Lindor . But I can't ignore that in the finale of this series, in a game that was winnable, he not only came up twice in big moments . Down two-nothing, runner on second, two outs in the third, puts together the long at bat, strikes out on ball four. He comes up in the fifth inning, second and third, two outs, down by a run, flies out the left field . And then you bring up the defensive play, the miscue that he made in the eighth inning, in which he stays back on that ball and allows Fernandez to beat it out, and then it turns into a monstrous inning. I know the two for 12, while it's not good, isn't as bad as oh for eleven. I don't know, man. Those two at bats in game three of this series were huge. You have the defensive miscue, and then when you go back to the opener when they got mowed down by Justin Robleski, he was over four when he grounded into a double play to end the game. Like I the home run was nice, but outside of that, this this was another bad series for Lindor, and you mentioned the expectations of Vientos and Beatty. Lindor needs to be their guy. He needs to step up, and he wasn't good enough . So I know that I was considered soft on Lindor earlier because there were a few other net negatives he could have won, and the audience bullied me into Lindor winning the net negative in the A series, but now it's my time to bully you guys. I think Lindor's the net negative . Well let's be honest here. The the home run that he hit came off of a two-o pitch where you know Yamamoto was was just kind of playing around and he was trying to fill the strike zone and the off-speed pitches were out. He threw a cookie right over the plate and Lindor jumped on it. Like you're supposed to. So take away that. I mean, you could just say that he was lifeless the entire time. And and I'm sorry, these these hits that were scattered in all weekend, or all weekend, all week, they were they were disgusting. They weren't good. These weren't great at bats. These weren't great hits. They didn't make me feel it. They weren't great outs. There was nothing great about this offense. So I could understand that Lindor getting this award again. And it's okay. Now do the people agree with me? I've learned how to check the chat on the live YouTube. Is Francisco Lindor the net negative? Should it be Luis Robert Jr.? I have been really hating on Marcus Simeon. So I you know, you know me. I can I can always give it to him, even though he almost hit a home run, you know. Almost. But almost. He almost hit a home run, according to Steve Cohen. Uh but yeah, I think Lindor is the consensus answer from the people. So Francisco Lindor, congratulations. This is the second week in a row you've won it. You consider yourself lucky because it could have been worse. This could be the fourth time you've won it. And you know what the other thing is? Fair or not, and this may not sound fair, it's just the reality of it. They just need him to carry the team. With one soto out, sometimes it's when your slumps hit and it's when you get hot that really matter. And with Soto out, they need Lindore to be hot. They need Lindore to carry the team. They need Lindore to not go two for 12, to not come up small in big spots, to not make defensive miscu es. And I don't know. I don't know if it's going to come out that he has a concussion. It's again something Tiki and I talked about the other day. We've mentioned it a little bit here on the Rico Bronya that. Is that the reason? that Is possible? Has it been misdiagnosed from that second game of the season when he took that nasty hit? And if it does come out, I'll feel bad, but I won't take away these net negatives because look, as long as you're on the field, we're gonna be judging you based on the results. And the results are just not good enough. Yeah, listen, and I'm sorry. Um I know that Francisco Lindore his goal is to spot every day every game. Like that's his goal. Now I know that um that's important for him because I guess that shows his leadership. That shows he's going out there, which is why we're cra ig has said multiple times, like he's making mistakes. Maybe it's time to bench him. You know, I think that would take that would take he would take it personally and maybe that would step that he would step up a little bit more . But I I think that it would I think that's something that to think about. Like maybe you sell him for a game. Yeah, I I had mentioned when he committed oh man, I'm trying to remember the mistake. Oh yeah, the forgetting the amount of outs mistake. My point was, and it's it's a little bit different than that, so I don't want to say it's the same thing 'cause it's not. My thought was you had a chance to send a message to the rest of the room by benching him off of that. But also knowing that L indore is more than I guess the right guy to not take it personal. If Carlos Mendoza said, hey, dude, it is unacceptable that you forgot how many outs there were, we're going to bench you. But by the way, Francisco, I'm doing it not only because it's not acceptable, but because I think it's going to send a great message to the rest of the room that if I bench you, I can bench anybody. I think doing it now, you could do it. Like right now, this team they've lost eight in a row. Like I don't think any idea is a bad idea. Like I can't sit here and say, well, that's a stupid idea. Like what's a bad idea? Obviously, the Mets don't have great options, so anytime we talk about benching somebody, you always have to think about who's playing instead of them, and that's not ideal. But I think the goal is you're trying to spark a team, you're trying to get this team going. And you know, right now it's why we talk about firing the manager. You know, we don't talk about firing the manager because it's Carlos Mendoza's fault. It is David Stearns' fault. We all know that. We don't have to say that every day. Oh, obviously , excuse me, if the team's not good enough, whose fault is that? The guy who built it? The architect. That's who. Yeah, but the middle of the season. That doesn't do anything. No. And what are you gonna do? Give the the the the this honor to Kai Correa and all of a sudden that's gonna change. I don't I don't think this team is gonna change overnight because Kai Correa takes over and Cosmendoza gets fired. Yeah, but you know what, Hoff, we've seen way too many examples where it does. Like I think in Philadelphia, when they fired Joe Giordi, do you think that Philly fans probably said the same thing? Like, oh, Rob Thompson, what's that gonna do? Right. Obviously guys have to play better. And this lineup feels awful right now, but the baseball history is littered with managerial changes, sparking teams. And again, that doesn't mean I'm at midnight yet. I'm not. I'm just reminding people whenever they say it's not his fault. No one's saying it's his fault. I mean, we're saying it's his fault for individual things like bull pen handling or lineup decisions or or things like that. But the overall issues with the Mets right now is that they're not good enough. Right. Luckily, they have a chance to turn it around. And luckily they have an off day because God knows I need an off day. All right. I need an off day. The team needs an off day. And they go to Chicago to play the Cubs, who just won a series against the Philadelphia Phillies. It is going to be Edward Cabrera on Friday, Jamison Tyone on Saturday, and Javier As ad on Sunday. So three right-hand ers against the Mets this weekend: Senga, Peralta , and Peterson. It is a big start for Sangha because Sangha is coming off of one of his worst starts as a New York map. It was bad. And I think that Sangha had some good momentum coming his way based on how he looked in spring training and how he looked in his first few starts. You felt good about Kodai. And his last start against the A's was a disaster. So this is a big one, I think, for him. Cause if the Mets are going to be good , and I mean sustainably good , what will their identity be? It will be good starting pitching. That's what it would be, in my opinion. And it is the exact opposite of what I said last year, because last year, from the beginning of the year on, it was they need to score about five runs per game. They need to be a top four offense in the national league. They were not. It wasn't their main issue. But why I would argue that even though their pitching obviously derailed them in the second half of the season, their identity needed to be their offense. And it wasn't good enough. The M ets' identity in 2026, if they're gonna have any success, to me, would be their starting pitching. They have an ace in waiting if he isn't there already in Nolan McLean. They've got a proven borderline ace in Freddie Peralta . Clay Holmes continues to be good. I've barely mentioned it, but in this finale against the Dodgers, five innings, two runs. He did his freaking job. He kept him in the game. He eliminated any concerns about the hamstring stuff. He threw 88 pitches. Clay Holmes did his freaking job . And he's a middle of the back of the rotation arm . The X factors, though, if you believe McClain is a stud and you believe Peralta is who he is, and we're good with Clay Holmes being a solid five to six inning two run performer , it's Kodai Senga. Kodai Sangha is the difference between the Mets having a good rotation with some questions to a really good rotation. And so they need him on Friday against a Cub team that I think is really talented and is starting to wake up . Sen ga, Peralta, and Peterson, another off day. And then they play six games at home. That's actually nine games at home , but it's six games at home, six games at home in a row before they have an off day. Mets are dealing with a lot of these off days now. They've got three off days in the next , let's see, three. They play nine games and there are three off days. So I guess that means three off days in 12 days, if my math is correct. Which will help. It would allow Mendy to be more aggressive with his bullpen. It gives them more time to get Soto back. And remember what Mendy said on the broadcast on ESPN, which I didn't think was a terrible broadcast. There were some things that were said that were odd. I'm not going to get into it now because you'reve alady done an hour on the Rico, and I'm not going to waste everyone's time with opinions on the broadcast . But he said they expect Soto back on the next homestead. Again, it is a nine-game homestand. So that could be it's not going to be the Minnesota Series. Is it the weekend against the Rockies, or is it more realistically the week after against the Nationals, where they play Tuesday night, Wednesday night, and Thursday afternoon. By the way, if you want to see Nolan McLean, which is my strategy as a Met fan, when I convince my wife I want to go to this game or that game. Nolan McLean is scheduled to pitch Tuesday night against the Twins, the opener of the homestand, and then he's scheduled to pitch Sunday afternoon against the Colorado Rockies, the finale of that series against Colorado . So if you're planning ahead, which I may be doing. All right, what do the Mets need to do? The Mets need to win a series. Actually, they need to win a game. Let's start small. They need to win a game. They are sitting here, right now at 7 and 12. It is their worst record through 19 games since 2011. They need to stop the bleeding . They need it. And maybe Kodai Senga can pitch like an ace . So I I like to go into these series saying, here's what I expect, here's what they need to do. I'd love to say it's win two out of three at this point, win a game. Stop the bleeding and make us all feel just slightly better about ourselves. But right now we don't feel good . We appreciate you listening to the Rico Broni, especially those who did it live at two o'clock in the morning. Thank you. You're sick . Honestly. I appreciate the amount of people that were hanging out with us tonight. But you're sick. I'm sick. I already know I'm sick. Offset. You guys are crazy. But thank you for that. And everybody who downloads the Rico Bronya on a Thursday morning or Thursday afternoon, much appreciated. Make sure you subscribe to the Rico Bronya because you never know when you're going to get an instant reaction Rico Brunia . When will the next Rico be? I don't know. Friday's tough. Friday's a day game. 220. Well, Friday Chicago action. So I'll probably be on advanced DVR. By advanced DVR, I mean I may not start the game until nine o'clock at night. So if we do a RICO on Friday, it will be much after that game is concluded. But either way, subscribe to the RICO and then you never have to worry or subscribe to the WFN YouTube page. Thank you very much for listening to yet another depressing edition of Rico Bronya . We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Rico Bronio Podcast. It's amazing, isn't it? Make sure you download it now to keep it on you at all times. When you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters. But when it's for a hospital system, they matter even more. Granger gets it and knows there's no time for managing multiple suppliers and no room for shipping delays. That's why Granger offers millions of products and fast dependable delivery. So you can keep your facilities stocked safe and running smoothly. Call 1-800-Granger, click Granger.com or just stop by. Granger for the ones who get it done.