Looking Ahead To Diamondbacks Series

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Episode number 6 86. The Mets do win a series against the Colorado Rockies, that's good. The bad is that the final game of this series on Thursday afternoon was a winnable game. The game on Thursday afternoon is the reason why me and many others do not believe in this team. Because and here's the headline. And there's a lot of aspects about what contributed to the six two loss. There's a lot of aspects to the series victory over the Rockies we will go through. We'll hear from you. We'll pick a star of the series. The Rico, I'm the man right now. We'll pick in that negative. But here's the headline in terms of why and how the Mets didn't sweep a three-game series of the Colorado Rockies. They scored two r uns . Yes, Craig Kimbrell, a lot of grand slam. That was probably foul. Yes, Sean Manaya and Tobias Myers from the night before impacted Carlos Mendoza's bullpen. Absolutely. But it is inexcusable. It is unacceptable. And it's why there is heavy skepticism that this team is any good because they're in Denver, Colorado, facing Jose Quintana for the second time basically in a week and a half, and they do diddly . You cannot go to Denver, Colorado, and yes, they scored 10 runs in game two of this series. Let's have a freaking party. You can't manage two runs against Quintana, Mejia, Bernadilla, and Sansatella. You can't miss out on the scoring opportunities that you had. And you can't allow your bullpen , which yes, used way too many guys in game two of this series because in effectiveness, you can 't put your bullpen in a situation in which there is no margin for error . Because let's say, let's say the grand slam that Craig Kimbrell gave up to Jake McCarthy. L'ets say it was called foul . Let's say it was called foul on the field, or let's say it was overturned and it was made into a foul ball and it was a one-one count. Is Craig Kimbrell escaping a basis loaded, nobody out jam? I guess there's always a shot. You never know, right? He did strike out the next two hitters after he gave up the grand slam, but you would probably agree the odds are very, very low . And so Craig Kimbrell had no margin for error. He gives up a sacrifice fly and the Mets are down by a run. There's a damn good chance they lose the game anyway . So the reason the Mets lost game three of this series is n't because of Craig Kimbrell's man bun . It isn't because of who was and wasn't available. Those are contributing factors, no doubt, but it always comes down to the same thing. It always comes down to the same aspect of the 2026 Mets that causes me to not believe, not to think that they've got a run in them. And that's the fact that this offense is L D . And, you know, Carlos Mendoza put together a lineup on Thursday afternoon that pissed a lot of Met fans off. They looked at it and said this is a punt lineup. It's not a punt lineup, it's a right-handed lineup , which unfortunately because of this roster and because of the options that Carlos Mendoza have has, he doesn't have a lot of great options . Austin Slater started against the lefty and ultimately, actually didn't do a bad job. He had two hits. The problem is Austin Slater being the cleanup hitter for your team makes you depressed. And is one of again the reasons why you don't think this team is going on a run. Andy Abanez was DFA two weeks ago, and he wasn't the problem because remember, he came up with two guys on base and nobody out in the second inning, and to his credit, had a productive out. So the two guys in this lineup, I get to Vidal Bruhan. I guess he's the third, but I'll start with Slater and Abanyas. Those two guys in this lineup, and only in this lineup because it's against the lefty, Mendy's playing the matchups. They didn't even do a bad job. Austin Slater at two hits . Andy Abanez had a sacrifice fly . They are not the reasons that the Mets offense was LD. Now, Vidal Bruhan, that's a different story. This was Vidal Brujan's initial met start, so it's tough to kill him quite yet. But the only reason he's on this team is because Ronnie Mauricio got hurt, Francisco Lindor got hurt, and they don't have a lot of great options . But Vidal Brujan didn't do much. He came up with a runner in scoring position and he popped out. He did draw a walk that set up a big at bat for Ju Soto. I'll get to him in a minute. But that lineup that the Met fans saw going into a Thursday afternoon game looking for the sweep against the Colorado Rockies, it's not a good lineup. But the main reason it's not a good lineup is because of the options that he has been given. Would I play Carson Bench against left-handed pitching at this point? I probably would. It's amazing how quickly things can change, because a couple of weeks ago, I was pretty critical of Carlos Mendoza for putting Carson Benge in a bad spot against a tough left-handed reliever. But things change. Carson Bench has actually played well over the last couple of weeks. And the only way to get comfortable and improve against left-handed pitching is to face it. Would I have started Carson Benjamin this game? Sure, why not? Against a soft tossing lefty like Jose Quintana? Wouldn't have been afraid of it. Would I have started Brett Beatty against a lefty? I would have, and here's the reason with Brett Beatty. Brett has not had a good year. I mean, he's hitting 215. He hasn't hit lefties, but he hasn't hit righties for the most part either. Last year, in a much bigger sample size, Brett Beatty performed against left-handed pitching. So I wouldn't have been afraid for Brett Beatty to be in this lineup. But the problem Mendoza runs into is that if a guy is on your roster and Vidal Bruhan is going to be on this roster . I'd say for a while, unless they DFA him and find another shortstop alternative, unless they call up Jose Iglesias and say, hey, OMG, you got anything left? Didn't look like you did last year in San Diego, but sure, why not? We need a backup shortstop. Unless they do something like that, Vidal Bruhan's gonna be on this team. And you can't have guys on your roster and never play them. As much as you may not trust the player or like the player. If you've got 26 guys on your roster, you have to find a way to get those guys at bats every once in a while. So this was the matchup against a lefty with Beatty again not having a great year, where Carlos Mendoza said, screw it, I'll get him in the lineup . I don't like the lineup, but I am more annoyed about the tools that Mendoza has than even the way he executed the tools for his lineup. He does not have a lot of great pieces. That, of course, is on the architect of the roster . But they did not lose this game because of Austin Slater. They didn't lose this game because of Andy Ab anez. They lost this game because the guys who are paid to hit did not come through in the biggest of spots. Before I trash Mark Vientos, I gotta trash Juan Soto. And we all love Juan Soto. SNY showed him signing autographs minutes before the game. And Juan Soto, what's funny is when he goes through slumps, and right now he's in a slump. It isn't horrific looking because he'll always mix in getting on base. Like he goes through a slump, and in game two of this series, he hits a lead-off home run. Doesn't do much the rest of the game to have a sack fly, but he bounces into a double pla y, has a foul pop-up, has a ground out, goes over for three in the opener. And in this game, around the one for four with two huge at bats, he came up small in, he hits a triple off the fence. And I've noticed this about Janu. I remember this from last year, and it's sort of a compliment, I guess. When he slumps, it isn't this, oh my God, he's over 30. He isn't Lindor when he slumps. His slumps will feature some decent moments . But Juan Soto is here to not just have that. He's here to drive in the biggest of runs. And right now, with Lindor out and the state of this lineup , they need Juan Soto to be a superman. They need him to carry this offense . When he came up in the seventh inning with two on and two out in what was now a tie game, because the Rockies tied at the previous inning, they needed Ju to to do more than chase a one-two changeup off the plate and pop it up to the shortstop. When Juan Soto came up in the fifth inning after Tyrone Taylor. I hope he bunted for a hit because bunting for a sacrifice with Vidal Brujan on deck is grounds for a benching. So I hope that Tyrone Taylor was just bunting for a base hit . But Ju comes up in a big spot, in a spot in which I admit I was even surprised they faced him because there was a base open. And even though the Mets had the lead at the time two to one, we all knew they need more runs. We all knew the two wasn't going to hold up, especially with how short-handed the bullpen was. And Juan Soto again pops up the shortstop . So if you are looking to find a reason why the Mets lost game three of this series against the Colorado Rockies, look no further than Juan Soto . Those are two big at bats, those are two important at bats, and he came up small. And right now, with the state of this roster and the state of this lineup, they cannot afford that . That's number one . But he isn't the only one. He's not the only one that came up small. They get the two runs in the second inning on the Andy Abanez sack fly and the very clutch hit by Tyrone Taylor, who runs into the final out of the inning, which is kind of disappointing, only because not that I think Vidal Brujan is going to keep the rally going, but you clear the Vidal Brujan's spot and you get to the top of the order in the third inning . But there were other missed opportunities, and this is the story of the Mets, because they're not a great offense. So it's not as if they get a million of these opportunities. It felt like last year when they slumped in these big spots, they had a lot of chances. And a part of my confidence was, well, you keep getting chances e,ventually you're going to break through. The Mets are not that offense. They don't get a million chances. They'll have plenty of innings where they just get mowed down . So when you get those chances, you have to come through. In the third inning of this game, Juan Soto hits a triple. He probably could have had an inside the park home run if he was busting out of the box, but I'm gonna choose not to complain about that. You've got to run around third and less than two outs. You're up two nothing in this game. That runs got a score. Bobichette drew a walk, so can't blame him, but you can blame Mark Vientos. And you can blame the fact that Mark Vientos got a 2-0 pitch that was off the plate. That is a hitter's pitch. And he's chasing a sinker off the zone. And what does he do? He bounces into a double play, which crushes the inning. So you combine that at bat, the Vientos double play with Juan Soto's two huge pop-ups to shortstop. Look no further than that. You can't score two runs in Colorado against the pitching that they were facing and win a game. You're not going to . It's not good enough. Now, as far as the pitching is concerned, I think we've made very clear that the offense had its problems. Uh, we did see Mendoza empty his bench. He went to Carson Bench for defense in the sixth inning, which I didn't mind because it meant Carson Benjover and the Iban as. We did see Brett Beatty pinch it for Austin Slater in the eighth inning. We saw M. J. Melendez pinch it for Tyrone Taylor in the ninth inning. By that point, the ninth inning, I know they put the first two guys on base, but I mean they rallying men . I was hoping when they got the first two guys on, can you at least get Soto a chance for revenge? Can you at least get Soto up as the tying run? And if Soto had come up in the ninth inning, it would have been as the tying run. But Vidal Brujan had the pop-up weekly shortstop . And probably I would have pinched hit for Vidal Brujan with Luis Terenz. I think you would have run into some defensive problems if you did that, though. Trying to think what I guess they could have done. I guess if they do that, Terenz or Alvarez has to play first base. Vientos would have to go to third. Bachet to shortstop. Yeah, I guess they could have done that. They could have pulled that off. It just would have meant someone awkward playing first base, like Luis Terenza or Francisco Alvarez. Well, whoa, now that I think about it, what's wrong with that? What's wrong with awkward at first base? Awkward at first base should be the slogan of the 2026 New York Mets . As far as the pitching is concerned, I I'll give you positive. Because ultimately the Mets did win two out of three, and I am a hypocrite because thirty-six hours ago we did a Rico Bronya, a snow day Rico Brogna following the game one victory. And I conservatively said, just split the next two games. Just win this series. Go win this series. Go win the series in Arizona. And it's small chopping wood progress towards creeping towards five hundred. And I did say that and I stand by that. And I think big picture, it is true. The Mets one, two out of three, and that's the goal going into any series. I think when you lose games though that you should win and you lose games for specific reasons that cause concerns, that's where you get angry. That's why when you project win this amount of game, win that amount of game, well, let's see how you win the game. Let's see how you lose the game. So grand picture, yeah, the Mets have won back-to-back series. That's all true. And grand picture is going two out of three against Arizona, continue to chop wood, continue to slowly but surely cut into the deficit you created. And then maybe you wake up in late June and you're only three games under 500. They got a lot of work to do, but winning two out of three is certainly a part of that process . But when you score two runs in Colorado, I'm sorry. I can't just poo-poo that and say, hey, we won the series. No biggie. Everyone has a passion. 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Now, as far as the pitching is concerned, I'm very encouraged by Christian Scott. I really like what I'm seeing from Christian Scott. First of all, and I think there was an emailer who pointed this out after his last start. Such similarities to Zach Wheeler. It's not just the 45 that he wears, it's not just the way he holds the glove up to his head. But Christian Scott's got a presence, and I thought he was impressive in this game. He got off to an incredible start. He struck out the first two guys. He went six up, six down, only seventeen pitches. He worked out of trouble in the third inning when he gave up that double to Kyle Karros, unfortunately. And what else is new? Ahead in the count, he gives up an RBI single to Willie Castro , which was disappointing because that's kind of the Mets MO. They'll be ahead of the count. They'll be a pitch that's right there. And that's how you give up a run. Two outs and ahead of the count. It's like a Mets specialty. And it was frustrating because, and this would end up defining Christian Scott's performance, the four-pitch walk, right before Castro got that RBI single. And maybe I don't know what it was, but he lost Troy Johnston and walked him on four pitches, which set up the Willie Castro RBI single with Scott ahead of the count. But he was able to get out of that inning, got the first two guys out in the fifth inning, and then the four -pitch walk to Edward Julian cost him the game. Do I agree with Carlos Mendoza taking him out? Let me address that. So Scott was at 82 pitches. He was going third time around the batting order, and he was about to face Mickey Moniak, who he actually got out twice so far. I was in favor of allowing Christian Scott to have one more batter , but I understand I understand a four-pitch walk being enough for Carlos Mendoza to say, eh , let me get him out before this thing gets bad. That's not why Mendy took him out. Sometimes you agree with someone for the wrong reasons or for different reasons. He was taken out because at eighty-two pitches they are still being very careful with Christian Scott. And if you look at how many pitches he has thrown in the minor leagues, he hasn't gone much past 82. Will there be a point this season where he can exceed that number? I hope so because if he's going to take the baseball every five days and he's going to be capped out at 80 to 85 pitches, he's very rarely going to go six innings, which is that benchmark that you have for a starting pitcher in 2026. Five isn't good enough. Six? Okay. You feel okay about six innings. Now you're only asking your bullpen for nine outs. I didn't hate Mendy taking Christian Scott out. I think if we're being real about where Scott is coming off of Tommy John surgery, even if you allow him to face Mickey Moniak, that's going to be his last batter . He goes to Waskar Barazban , who does his job. I mean, he gets Mickey Moniak out. Unfortunately, and it's the old bas in ball, as Bob Murphy would say, the two walks in the sixth inning, the wild pitch did him in, and then he gets unlucky, gives up the little bloop double to Jake McCarthy again ahead of the count . It is unbelievable on this road trip, a road trip that's so far is four and two, but how many times in those two losses they have given up RBI hits, not just with two outs, but ahead of the count. When this road trip is over, I'm going to have a count. We're going to have a counter. A two-out head-of-the-count counter in terms of how many runs the Mets have given up. But here's what sucks, and it goes back to the offense, and I don't want to go too much back into that . But when Braz ban gives up that RBI double to Jake McCarthy in the bottom of the sixth inning and it's two-one game that turns into a two-two game, we're all thinking the same thing, which is they're not scoring another run . I mean, now you're gonna need perfect pitching from your bullpen to maintain. And to a degree, they got it. Austin Warren comes in after he issues a walk. He strikes out Brett Sullivan with the bases loaded. So he makes a big pitch. He gets out of a one out- oneout walk situation by getting Tyler Freeman to bounce into a double play. So Austin Warren continues to be worth holding on to. He continues to be worth having a major league roster spot. And then you've got Craig Kimbrell . Craig Kimbrell is not in the circle of trust. The only reason Craig Kimbrell appeared in a tie game in the bottom of the eighth inning is because Tobias Myers and Sean Mania pooped the bed . And this is why there are certain games, there are certain moments, there are certain situations that may feel innocuous at the time because it doesn't impact you winning or losing. But baseball's a long season. It's a long ass season, as a wise man once said. And so what happens the night before can screw you the next day. When Tobias Myers comes into a game and it's eight nothing, what you can't do is give up two home runs and four extra base h its versus the first six batters you face . You can't face seven batters and give up five base hits . Tobias Myers doing that cost Brooks Rayleigh to not only have to pitch in this game, but get four outs . If Brooks Rayleigh isn't asked to get four outs after the Mets had an 8-0 lead on Wednesday night, then Brooks really is being asked to get big outs in a tie game in the bottom of the eighth inning . Tobias Myers has mostly been good as a New York Met. That performance on Wednesday night , cost them the next night . The Sean Mania thing, look, I think right now we're all mad at Sean Mania h. I tweeted out after that performance, get him off my roster. And I think most Met fans feel that way . I don't think Sean Mania and his performance on Wednesday directly impacted the Met bullpen and the results of Thursday's game nearly as much as Tobias Myers. And just hear me out on that. Because when Maniah came in in the ninth inning and he failed too, four or five batters get on base and it forces you to use Devin Williams. I don't think Devin Williams was ever coming in eighth inning tie game on the road. So it may have affected this game later on , but it was the fact that Myers forced Carlos Mendoza to use Brooks Rayleigh and Luke Weaver, two relievers that say what you want about Weaver specifically. Raleigh, I think we all trust, but you trust both of those guys more than you trust Craig Kimbrell . And they did not appear in Thursday's game because of the way Tobias Myers pitched . We can rip Shaw Maniah, I'm going to. We'll talk about game two in a second. And if he should be on the roster or not. But if we're being fair, and sometimes it's difficult to not, you know, use our biases to impact what we think. Sean Minaiah crapping the bed on Wednesday was not as bad in terms of impacting the next day as Tobias Myers crapping the bet. And it forced Carlos Mendoza to use lesser relievers. But just to bring it back , does it matter if you can't score runs? Does it matter if you're stuck at two when you're playing at Coors Field against the Colorado Rockies, who came in with a team ERA almost near five ? So we can get nuts about bullpen management and who's screwed up on Wednesday and who it forced to pitch on Thursday. But if you're scoring two runs in course field, you're asking for perfection. And right now, that's kind of the way it feels. I know they scored 10 runs two days ago or a day ago, but more times than not, this is an offense that caps out at scoring four runs, three or four runs, and that's not enough. You score four runs even in major league baseball, you got a bad offense. That offense isn't good enough . They need more. They need more from the LD offense. And unfortunately, I don't know where that's coming from . Carson Benge, sure. But Mark Vientos ended up having a terrible series. It's amazing because Mark Vientos opened up this series with as hard luck a one for four as you'll ever see. Hit two balls that should have been home runs, gets a clutch two out single, and lines out. You couldn't have felt better about that one for four, except he backs it up with an O for four with two strikeouts and an O for four with a huge double play in a big spot. So he responds to his hard luck game one by having a dreadful rest of the series . Now let's get to the positive. The positive is that they actually did score runs in game two of this series. Carson Bench had two hits, which was very encouraging to see. Juan Soto hit that leadoff home run, which set the tone. Mets never trailed. So that was fun . They had productive outs. Luis Terenz drove in a run by just hitting the baseball. Uh Juan Soto had a sacrifice fly. Bo Bachet came through with a clutch hit. They scored a run on some bad Rocky defense. Marcus Simeon had a huge game, four hits, two extra base hits, a two-run home run that put the game away. So it was a solid offensive performance on Wednesday n ight. They scored in four of nine innings. That's like the new thing I'm looking at because it feels like they spend eight of nine innings not scoring runs, but at least in game two of this series, they scored in 44% of the innings. And they also got really good starting pitching. Now, is five innings enough? I said that on purpose before, that in this modern age, asking for seven or eight feels un realistic. It feels like you're living in the past if you ask for that. But I don't think it's crazy to ask a starting pitcher to go six innings . If Freddie Peralta wants the money that he wants . And he wants a lot of it . Five innings, five and fly. It's just not enough . Did Carlos Mendoza screw up by taking him out? I don't know if I'd say screwed up, but what I want to start seeing, and the results may not be good, I admit that, I raised my hand, but I want to start seeing them push Freddie Peralta . He pitched a one-two-three inning in the fifth inning against the top of the order, and his pitch count was at ninety-one. And at the time when he walked off the field, the Mets had themselves a four-nothing lead. It turned into eight-nothing because in the top of that inning , that's when they blew the game open with a Francisco Alvarez RBI single, Soto Sack Fly, Bachette RBI single, some bad defense, a bad throw by Edward Julien on what should have been a double play . So maybe in Mendy's mind, the thought was I have an eight-run lead. I can use Tobias Myers to just eat the final four innings. It's a no-biggie spot. He clearly didn't know that Topias Myers would have a horrendous performance. But I think it's time, starting in five days, to push Freddie Peralta just a little bit more. Because five and fly is just not enough. It's not enough. It's not enough with this bullpen . It's not. In theory , if Myers was effective and he came in and pitched four scoreless innings and it was just a peralta to Tobias Myers situation, it would have been fine. But I think you need to ask your starter to do just a little bit more. When they acquired Freddie Peralta and you looked at his past game logs, this was not a surprise. This is who he is. He's not a guy that goes incredibly deep into game. So I'm not acting surprised by it. You shouldn't be. But what I thought at the time and what I'm bringing up now is the idea that you can push him a little bit. It's a different situation. He's not in Milwaukee anymore. He's a free agent at the end of the year. He's probably not going to be a met in 2027. If I had to bet right now, and I think I've been pretty consistent about this, I don't think he's going to be locked up to a long-term contract . Push him. Every game matters right now for this team. They're freaking 10 games under 500 or nine games under 500. You know, you got to push them . Where are we now? Hold on a second. Let me see how many games under 500 we are. Jesus Christ. Fourteen and twenty uh fourteen and twenty-two, fourteen and twenty-three. All right, we're nine games under five hundred. I got that right . Push 'em . They need more from him. So that would be my first uh kind of course of action in terms of talking about Freddie Peralta. He didn't give up a run, so I'm not saying it was a bad start. It was a fine start. It's just they need more from him . Because here's what can't happen. And you put a little bit on Peralta because he only went five. When you ask your bullpen to get 12 outs, even with an eight-nothing lead, a lot of weird stuff can happen . And the weird stuff happened. He ended up he ended up having to use five relievers . When Freddy comes out of that game with an eight-nothing lead in the sixth inning, you cannot end up having to use five relievers. And that's what happened . But I put most of the blame on Tobias Myers. I don't even put the blame on Peralta because I think it's about time that Mendoza start to push him. And if he struggles and you know it doesn't work, then we reevaluate and we re-evaluate him as is he worth paying? I mean, that's the way I look at it . Like eventually you've got to make decisions that give your team the best chance to win. So if the Mets start pushing Freddie Freddie Peralta and the results are bad, like they're not good, and you end up having to take him out anyway and it ruins his entire pitching line. Okay. I'm not saying you have to continue to do that, but it informs you on how much he's worth. My critique on Mendy, though, is not about that. It's about taking MJ M elendez out as early as he did. It's time to bring on the blooms at the Home Depot with spring garden deals. Find savings on hanging baskets and flowers to brighten your backyard or any space that needs instant color. Then get everything you need to plant and protect them with low prices guaranteed on soil and mulch. Dig into spring garden deals for four days at the home depot. Now through May 10th. Exquision supply c home depot.com slash price match for details. When you need to build up your team to handle the growing chaos at work, use Indeed Sponsor Jobs. It gives your job post the boost it needs to be seen and helps reach people with the right skills, certifications, and more. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Listeners of this show will get a seventy five dollars sponsored job credit at indeed.com slash podcast. That's indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. In Wednesday's game, MJ Melendez got on base in his three plate appearances. He had a one-out triple. By the way, he didn't score on that. I know the Mets ended up scoring 10 runs, so it's kind of easy to gloss over the fact that Vientos, Beatty, and yeah, it was just Vientos and Beatty couldn't drive him in. Specifically, Vientos run around third less than two outs. But Melendez triples, walks, gets an infield hit . And in the fifth inning, yeah, in the fifth inning, Carlos Mendoza is going to Tyrone Taylor for defense . So two issues with this. One I'm going to repeat, if you're new to the Rico, it's new to you . If you're gonna take this guy out as early as you do, you can't bat him third. Because now whoever you go to, in this case Tyrone Taylor, is batting third in the sixth and eighth innings when his spot in the lineup comes up . If you're going to be Uber aggressive to take MJ Melendez out of games, do not bat him third. That's number one. Number two, do you need to be aggressive in taking him out of games ? While Tyrone Taylor may be a better defender , is MJ Melendez enough of a butcher that you've got to take him out for effing defense in the fifth inning ? Can't happen. So that was my other critique. Luckily, Juan Soto was fine because late in this game, it looked like Juan Soto injured himself in that eighth inning at bat. He was holding his hand or his wrist, whatever it was. He finished the at-bat. He went back to the locker room. Luckily, he came back out. Obviously, started the next day. So even though Juan Soto didn't have that triple, but those two big spots in game three of the series, at least it looked like one sort of came out of it healthy, but uh there was a little bit of a scare on Wednesday. Right. And and one critique about that as well, because you're you nailed it with the M Jimmel of this stuff. I was furious with that. But the one soto, right? Like he looked uncomfortable. He looked like he was working it. There was nothing from anybody on that bench that's like, hey, you know what? Let's give it a second. We are in a really bad spot. We lost 12 games in a row at one point in time. Every game counts. We're down Francisco Ledore. We don't have Mauricio, which is whatever. Like we can't afford to have anybody else get hurt again. Can we at least see? Are you okay? Like I know he finished the F-bat , he walked off, and Mendo za followed him, but by that point in time, like he hit the ball grounded out, he looked like he was hurt. Yeah, like what are we what are we doing at this point in time? Like, is there no one that that's trying to step up and say, let's try to stop the bleeding before it happens? I wonder if there's almost like a respect for Juan Soto, like he knows his body, he knows the deal, and we don't really need to do anything. We don't need to run out there and give him a timeout. But yeah, it would have made sense. Would have made sense just to check on him. I assume ever ything's okay only because he played the next day, but they can't afford to lose him. And forget about not being able to lose him. They need him to play better. I mean, they need Juan Soto right now to be to be a superstar. And maybe that's unfair because he's a baseball player and you can't hit three eighty-five the entire season. But in the biggest of spots, they need him to come through. And he failed in game three of this series. He did, but let me just say one thing about yesterday's game again with the wrist. Uh last year, I think it was last year with Aaron Judge, he went on the I. There was a play in Toronto that we all noticed. Everybody saw it. And then a week later, they're like, oh, he's got an issue. He has to go on the I. So I don't care what if they believe in Soto . I care is the player healthy, and I hope you're doing due diligence and checking this guy out and not waiting for him to come to you. You know what's crazy though, and I it's sad that I'm gonna say this, but it's kind of true. Considering the situation the Mets are in, unless the injury could become like major, major where it impacts you for years to come, they need one soda to play through anything. They they're they're not in no position to put him on the IL. Ah, we'll give it two weeks, we'll be okay. They're nine games under 500. And their lineup is anemic. If God forbid you take Juan Soto out of this current day lineup, it is, I don't even know what word to use, because it's already bad. So I think that unless it is so bad, the injury, and the injury is risky, where it could turn into something incredibly major, they need one soto to play through everything because they they can't afford it. They had an outfield in game three of this series, a starting outfield of Andy Ab anez, Tyrone Taylor, and Austin Slater. If I said that to anybody at the beginning of the season, that there would be a game in which that was the outfield. You would say, What the hell happened? What led to that? So they need one soto playing through just about anything at this point. And the sad thing about that outfield, let's really think about it what what was the cause of that what what is the cause of that awful outfield no one's hurt in the outfield luis robert junior is hurt luis robert junior oh oh oh oh so oh sorry, Luis robert junior has caused Tyrone Taylor to play more. Austin Slater to be called in. Aban z. I mean, come on, dude. This is a pathetic, pathetic team, and it's being watered down with more pathetic players. Well, there's there's two outfielders that are affected by this. First of all, Luis Robert Jr. being on the injury list, but the other thing to keep in mind is Brett Beatty being an infielder again. The injury to Lindor and Mauricio has basically caused Brett Beatty to be a third baseman, which you could argue is a good thing because that's his natural position and he's played the position well. But Beatty is no longer someone who I mean, he ended up playing right field, which is kind of funny in the uh finale of this series when he pinched hit for Austin Slater. But for the most part, they're going to play him at third base. And so that's what's led to this outfield featuring those kinds of guys. When you go to game three of this series, uh, and I want to spend a few minutes on it because it was a very controversial play. They lost the game on a grand slam. They lost the game on a grand slam by Jake McCarthy that did not look like it was fair . It was a play that as soon as it's called something on the field, it is going to be impossible to overturn because as great as the cameras are nowadays, as great as replay is, you know, you look at ABS and how you could see by a quarter of an inch or a centimeter if something is a striker ball. One thing in baseball that we have not figured out is fair versus foul on home runs. And I don't know what to do other than just installing. I guess I do know what to do, install amazing cameras right down the line. Because whether it was SNY or the Rockies broadcast, there was no camera angle that showed you what it was, fair or foul. If you showed that to me without telling me the call on the field, I wouldn't even know how to rule it. I would assume foul just because it landed in a spot that was so foul, but obviously that's not how it's ruled. It's about where it crosses the fair foul pole. But once it's called fair, and this was the sick feeling I had, once John Lipka is signaling it's a fair ball, there's no way they can overturn it. But I want to show you guys something. Because there are some Met fans who are very upset with Gary Cohen because his call was it's a foul ball. And then he called it fair. In fact, if you didn't hear it, I'm going to play it for you. Courtesy of SNY, this is the call on the Jake McCarthy Grand Slam by Gary Cohn and Keith Hernandez, and you'll hear that even Gary thought it was a foul ball. McCarthy 0 for 4 in his career against Kimbrell, and he hooks one deep down the right field line. And that ball will go foul. Way up. Oh, he's caught a fair. They called it a fair ball . No . Oh, wow . The Mets are almost certain that that ball was foul, but the first base umpire John Libka called it a fair ball. It's a grand slam for McCarthy unless it gets overturned. Oh . Well, it wasn't overturned, and Gary is taking some heat for calling it a foul ball. Well, let's check it on the radio, guys. Let's see how Pat McCarthy and Keith Radd made the call on the Jake McCarthy grand slam foul ball. Kimbrell ready. Corner's pinch in the one-o. Swinging and he sends a high fly ball to right toward the pole. It is foul . Oh no, it's gone! They say home run and immediately a look into the dugout Carlos is saying no no no well it's a grand slam for the moment to put the Rockies up six to two, all the while Carlos Mendoza has already made eye contact with Sean Barber to say I need a crew chief review on this . So Gary Cohen called it foul. Keith Radd called it foul. What about Rocky's Radio? I'm curious, what did Rocky's Radio say on the Jake McCarthy Grand Slam foul ball? The 1-0 . Well hit the right. Stay fair. Baseball. It is foul. Oh no! It's gone ! I thought they were gonna call it foul . Touch them all time . Jake McCarthy , the grand tour . So every broadcast called it a foul ball. Mets TV, Mets Radio, and Rockies Radio all called it a foul ball. Now on Rocky's radio, they were very quick to and you could hear on Rocky's radio they were waiting. They were waiting. But even with waiting, it looked like it was such a foul ball that they were saying it was a foul ball. That just sucked. And again, I go back to something I said earlier. It sucked that it was rule fair. There was no replay view that could show that it was clearly a foul ball, but it was one of those things where the offense put them in a spot and Craig Kimbral put himself in a spot with bases loaded, nobody out, where it felt like the game was already over. It felt like when Kimbrell walked Willie Castro . Because there was two on and nobody out. He gave up the back-to-back hits. But it was the walk to Willie Castro to load up the bases where it's like, this game is over. He's not, he's not escaping this. I guess you could. It's baseball. You never know. But he set up a spot where that fair foul call would just end you. And look, John Lipka is the first base umpire. If you watch the replay, you can see John Lipka right on the line staring at this baseball. He is the only person in the world who had the perfect view of it. And I know we don't trust umpires, but I'm actually gonna give him the the benefit of doubt that while staring at it, he got it right . But it went against the Mets, and we lose. But you know you can always win when you celebrate your highlights with Mio's sparkling Sake, a true crowd pleaser. Light, bubbly, and easy to enjoy. Whether you're hanging out at City Field or your favorite spot, ask for Mio Sparkling Sake by name. A new tradition served chilled, imported from Japan. It's the official sake of Rico Brunia. Enjoy responsibly. Let's pound through some of your emails to Rico B at gmail.com . Jeffrey writes, I hate this lineup. Mendy's lineup decisions are extremely frustrating. Is he ever going to allow a lefty to playy every da other than Juan Soto? I don't need to see Bruhan, Slater, Ibanez, and Taylor in this lineup. Play bench. What else does he have to do to get playing time every day? How do we expect him to become an everyday player if we never start him against the lefty. And Beatty, I get he hasn't been good this year, but he was on base three times the other day. See if he can get hot. He has more of an upside than any of those other guys. I'm definitely with you on Benjam.in I think we're at the point now where he's so good defensively that I don't even want to give up his defense. Just keep him in the lineup every day and hope he can be and put together competitive at bats against left-handed pitching. Miller writes, Stearns broke up the core because he thought they weren't winners and were part of teams that would collapse. I'm pretty sure Vientos, Beatty, and Alvarez were also on those teams. And those three guys are very important to turn in this lineup around. And Mark Vientos, as we touched on, after a very promising opening game of this series, went O for his next eight, including some huge outs . Kevin Wrights, Juan Solo. Can someone please let Juan Soto know he's allowed to get a base hit with runners on? Christopher writes, Evan, I think we lose anyway, and it may have been fair, but honestly, the camera views they gave us were horrendous on the grand slam. There isn't even one camera down the line shot for a billion-dollar league. We can't have 60, 360 GoPro cameras on the top of the foul pulse. There's no ABS-like system. Make sure a home run is a home run or not. A grand slam on a ball that no one can tell 100% if it's fair or foul is crazy in this day and age. Maybe MLB had a better camera view, but I highly doubt it. Yeah, I flipped on over to the Rockies broadcast to see if they had a better camera angle. They did not. Chris also says Shaw Maniah has to be the net negative. We can give it to Kimbrell for the grand slam, but Shaw Maniah one job is to pitch one inning up six runs and protect the bullpen. Kimbrell might be might not be in such a high leverage situation if Maniah does his job. Yes, Kimbrell imploded, but he knew what everyone knew. Giving up a single run there, the Mets lose this game. He needed to be perfect. You knew having to bring in Devin Williams last night was going to hurt us the following day. Look, you're half right , but he only impacted Devin Williams. Tobias Myers was the one who impacted both Rayleigh and Weaver. And both of those guys, if they don't pitch on Wednesday, are certainly pitching on Thursday. Howard has the Rico on the man right now, star of the series candidates, and the net negative. He wrote out a list. His star candidates are Carson Benge, Marcus Simeon, David Peterson, Freddie Peralta, Brooks Rayleigh, Luke Weaver, Devin Williams, Austin Warren, and Francisco Alvarez. The net negative candidates are Juan Soto, Mark Vientos, Craig Kimbrell, and Tobias Myers. We'll go through it in a few minutes. I'll tell you where I'm leaning. Craig writes: Every time this team starts to make you think the summer is not ruined, they laugh at you and remind you how bad they suck. Am I out of line for saying Soto comes up small every time he comes up in a big spot? With the start we had to the season and to this game, you really need to win that game. Yeah, that's why despite two out of three is good, and it is on the road, and four and two is good, I agree with you. When you create the hole that you've put yourself in that that game they lost, game three of this series against Colorado, is a winnable game, and it's a game you have to win. But you are right about Soto. We've called him out already. He needs to produce . They need him in big spots. They need him to get the big hit. More so than ever. It has nothing to do with money. It has to do with who he is and who is in this lineup. Matthew writes: Carlos Mendoza punted this game against the Rockies. This lineup was embarrassingly bad. Having a Bañez, Taylor, Slater, and Brujan on the same lineup is the definition of punting, especially when Benja's been hitting well lately. And I prefer Melendez over Slater and Abanez. They were They were eight games under 500 and are still punting games. I would fire Mendoza tonight. Maybe we get a Phillies type of run after it. Punt is the wrong word . Punt means I don't even know what pump means in baseball. It's overused. It's a term I can't stand. But I kind of take it as ah, we need an off day. We got to get these guys off. We got to keep them fresh. We're not thinking that much about today. No, I think Mendoza was thinking about today. I think he thought that those guys gave them a better chance to win because they're right-hand headers . That's what I think. I think he looked at it and said, this gives us the best chance to win. Oh boy. All right. Anthony writes, or Tony and Phoenix. Then we'll pick our Rico on the man right now and net negative. Anthony writes, two things for you. Great job with the Ricos. We appreciate it. When we tie with the Rockies for the final wild card spot, please note that they have the tiebreaker. I know you're into keeping track of that . You're jackass . Uh yeah. Tied for what though? It's not the last wildcard spot. We may be tied with them, Tony, but I don't know if it's gonna be the last wildcard spot. Uh number two. I watch just about every game and score about half of them in his tenure with us, has Juan Soto had a single signature moment? Because if he has, I don't remember . It feels as if we've been waiting for Juan Soto's signature moments. And finally , this will be the last one. Nick writes petition for Tobias Myers to be the net negative. His failure to effectively eat some innings in game two led to the lack of bullpen in game three. Nicholas, I completely agree with you. Now let's go through the net negatives because to me, there are two guys that jump out. There are two guys. I mean, actually, three guys. There are three guys that jump out at me as a net negative. It's not Sean aiah. Shaw Mania h not being able to get through the ninth inning on Wednesday sucked. Was annoying. Makes you think they should DFA him. It's annoying to have to use Devin Williams in a situation that shouldn't have been a safe situation , but I don't believe that affected them the next day. The three guys I lean towards as the net negative, and it doesn't even include Craig Kimbrell, are Are You Ready? In no particular order, Mark Vientos, Juan Soto, and Tobias Myers. Let's start with Tobias Myers, as Nick pointed out . It is eight-nothing in the sixth inning . Tobias Myers comes into that game, there's a real chance he is finishing the game. They need to stretch him out anyway. At least that's what I wanted. Not sure if I'm in that same world anymore after that dud of a performance. That Tobias Myers would be the next man up to get an opportunity to enter this rotation. So I look ed at him coming into the sixth inning as what a great chance to stretch him out. And it's eight-nothing. So even if he's not great, yeah, he's not going to blow the entire game. You cannot give up five hits to seven batters in which you force your manager to now go to two of your better relievers. He was the one who impacted the next day. It was not Sean Mania . This is a bias that we have towards being unhappy with Shaw Mania , which is fine, and wanting him off the roster, which is fine, but you can't say he was the one who impacted the bullpen the next day in a major basis. That was Tobias Myers . That was him . Number two, Mark Vientos had a great game one. And that's probably what saves him. But think about some of the at bats he comes up with in game two and game three. First inning of game two, runner on third less than two outs, strikes out. Third inning, two on two out, pops up. In the sixth inning, at this point, it's eight-nothing, so it's tough to get two nuts. Comes up with a guy on base, pops up . Then you go to the finale of this series. All right, pops up uh to end a one, two, three inning, comes up with first and third one out in a game that's only two-nothing mets, bounces into a double play, and then makes out his final two at-bats in the sixth and the eighth inning. He just missed some balls. I give him that . But a lot of big outs for Mark Vientos. I don't give him the net negative. I just think he's a candidate. The other one I'm thinking about is Juan Soto. And it goes back to something we've said a lot on today's Rico, which is that they need him. They need him to come through in these big moments. And so save me Hoff if you really disagree. I think the net negative is Juan Soto. I think I put him a little bit above Tobias Myers for this reason. While Tobias Myers greatly impacted the bullpen the following day, that doesn't change the fact that the Mets scored two runs in the finale of this series, and the main reason they scored two runs was Juan Soto came up in the fifth and seventh inning with guys on base and had atrocious at bats. So yes, he had a triple. Yes, he had a home run. Yes, he had a sacrifice flight. This reminds me of Bo Bachet from last week when we gave him the net negative because of the two big outs he made and the one loss that they had. Same thing with Juan Soto. The two big outs that he made and the one loss that I had. So Tobias Myers, worthy candidate, I believe it's Juan Soto. What say you? I'm gonna go with Tobias Myers because he literally lit gasoline on a on a on nothing. Like there was no reason for for them to be in that situation eight enough the lead and he can't get an out it was is pathetic and i know they didn't lose yesterday but that basically cost them the game today you're right one soto did a bad job, couldnn't' didt hit the ball in clutch situations, but because of Tobias Myers yesterday, caused big time relievers not to be available. And not saying that the Mets have a ton of them, but they have enough that they should have been in this game. You can't you can't have K Craig Kimbrell in a spot where you allow him to get bases loaded in the eighth inning and give him a grand slam on run. Never would have happened . So you say no photo, Tobias Myers. Oh, hold on. I I'll give I'll give this one to you. This will be the uh I'm not gonna overrule you. I'll I'll give you Tobias Myers. He was woffled. He had one appearance. Like that's the thing is we always talk about we can't give uh you know the the uh on the band right now to guys and have one appearance. This guy's one appearance was so bad it affected two games. Fair enough. I also don't want to be a bully where like whenever we disagree, it's always me who gets the right away. So I'll give this to you. We'll make Tobias Myers the net negative, which is the first time he has won the award. We've had a few multi-time winners. Bo Bachet's a three-time winner. Marcus Simeon's a two-time winner. Francisco Lindor's a two-time winner. Tobias Myers, who did win the I'm the man right now star of the series, uh, during the second series of the year against the Cardinals. Now he's got himself a net negative. Congratulations to Tobias Myers. In terms of the Rico, I'm the man right now. I'll throw a few candidates at you. You've got Marcus Simeon, who went I mean went four for ten in this series, but all his hits came in game two. Let me see if he was on base in game one of this series too. No. He was on base six times in this series . Francisco Alvarez went four for ten in this series, had a hit in each game. Carson Benge went four for nine in this series and drove in three runs uh and continued to play really good defense. I think he's a really strong candidate. Freddie Peralta through the five scoreless innings. Um Devin Williams. I mean he can kind of think of Devin Williams a little bit for coming in and cleaning up the Sean Minai Mess. Plus, he pitched a one-two-three inning to secure the save in game one of this series. You know what? I think I'm leaning towards Devin Williams. I I really am because I we forget about it because oh wow, you have to clean up Sean Maniah's mess, and we're so mad at Sean Maniah. The guy came into a bases loaded one-out jam in which if he puts one guy on base the tying run comes up and he struck out the two hitters he faced. He made what could have been a really stressful situation non-stressful. And then in game one of this series, it's only a two-run game. I mean, there's no, that's not easy. And he pitched a one-two-three inning. So I think there are some really good candidates when you win a series. But my vote's for Devin Williams. I think he's the Rico on the man right now, star of the series. What say you? All right, I'm I'm gonna fight you on this again. I'm gonna go car bench. I think Benj defensively had I know he had a mishap um in the in the game on uh on Wednesday, I believe. Was it Wednesday we had the bad play in the outfit, or was that that Monday's game? Either way, which bad play? The one where he fell down? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that was on uh I think it was game one of the yeah, it was game one of the series. It was really what short-circuited David Peterson because he had gotten the first two guys out, gave up a base hit, and then Benge screwed up on that triple. Yes. But I think that for the most part he's played really good defense. He hit in every game, even though he came off the bench tod ay. Uh, you know, he had a home run in in the first game. He had a clutch hit to kind of open the scoring for the team. I think that Carson Bench is coming along as def a defender, obviously, but as a hitter too, I feel like he's gotta be up there. I and I'd fight you for de f him over Devin Williams on that one. Yeah, I'm gonna overrule you. I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why. I gave you Tobias Myers. You did. I think that yes, Devin Williams is still not completely trusted by Meth fans. I don't even completely trust him. I think he was so effing good in the two appearances that he made that we all forget about it. That it's like, oh yeah, didn't even happen. He faced the middle of the Rockies order with a two-run lead in game one of this series. That can easily be a blown save. That can easily be a game that really short circuits the good things that the Mets have started to do. Same thing with the situation he came into when Shaw Maniah created the mess. He made it look so easy by striking out back-to-back eyes that all we talked about was how Shaw Maniah made a mess, and not how wow, the the Rockies came back, or it got even closer than that. So he faced five batters, he got two saves, he got everybody out he was supposed to face , and he positively impacted two games in this series. I give you right about Carson Bench. You didn't say anything wrong about him. And he actually won the Rico on the man right now three weeks ago in the other Colorado series for the way he played with the great diving catch and the offense. And there's no doubt he's coming along. But I think just looking at this series, forgetting about the big picture of who means more or who's making progress, I think Devin Williams was really freaking important to the Mets winning these two games. So I think it's Devin Williams. I'm sorry. That's fine. And let me just um hype up Devin Williams a little bit too because I know a lot of people want to sit there and crush him for all last year. Totally fine. His Aprils are always terrible. The last two Aprils have been god awful. So like there's no defending what he's been doing in April. But you look at his numbers over his career, they get so much better. I think July he he is consistently like uh sub uh you know below one era consistently whatever the case is i expect him to be dominant going forward. I hope so . I mean they need that. The Mets right now don't have a great margin for error. The margin for error is really, really tiny because of the offense and because their starting pitching features a handful of guys that don't don't don't go deep into games. And so when a game is winnable, especially when you're in the hole that you created, the winnable games become more important because you really need to win them, which is why this finale against the Rockies is going to bother a lot of Met fans despite the fact they won the series because they've created this hole. So they're going to need Devin Williams to be really, really good. Couple of other thoughts moving forward as they get set for this three-game series against the Diamondbacks. Keeping an eye on Jack Wenninger down in the minor leagues. He had another impressive performance, six scoreless innings through 88 pitches, struck out five guys. He's now made six starts down at triple A. He has a microscopic ERA. I'm keeping an eye on his pitch count, on his control, and how he's doing down there. He hasn't given up a lot of runs, which is why his ERA is great. But you are talking about another guy that's not going to come up here and go deep into games. He's going to get the Christian Scott treatment because he's kind of touching in the mid eighties, mid to high eighties in terms of pitch count. But I think he's really, really close. I I wouldn't be surprised if in the next couple of weeks we see him get the call above Jonathan and get up here and get us an opportunity to to Another guy that uh you know we were talking about the outfield before and we were talking about oh well who would where would you go if it wasn't for Austin Slater or Bonus . Who got the walk-off hit uh today in Syracuse? Your boy AJ Ewing. AJ Ewing is pushing, man. But remember this about AJ Ewing and Ryan Clifford. Ryan Clifford took an Ofer, but he's been red hot lately. Both left-hand hitters. So they're still not. Are they going to play against a left-handed pitcher? You still see Austin Slater in the starting lineup. The guy who should get the call is Nick Morabito. I've been saying that for a couple weeks right now. He's produced down there. He's got an 840 OPS. He has experience. I think he's done enough at the lower levels where you can bring him up. He's athletic, he can steal bases, and he's a right-handed bat. I think that's the move the Mets should make moving forward. He's also already on the 40-man roster, so it makes the roster construction easy. But yeah, keeping an eye on AAA , AJ Ewing has been productive. He's hitting 364. Clearly, they're going to want to give him some more time. Ryan Clifford may be pushing his way up here, too. Especially if Mark Vientos struggles, because Mark Vientos is the first baseman. And the way things are set up with the injuries at shortstop, which is causing Brett Beatty to be the third baseman, with the injury to Jorge Polanco, and Carlos Mendoza revealed he isn't even close to going on a rehab assignment. So God knows if we'll ever see uh Jorge Jed Lowry Polanco again . Mark Vientos is entrenched as the first baseman unless they give Ryan Clifford the call and say, let's see what we got. And I again that's another one I would n't be that surprised about if we see it relatively soon. But yeah, it's worth keeping an eye on a triple A because there are a few guys banging down the doors to get the opportunity. Christiany Arroo, who I know has produced down there, is not the guy that we want to see. He's a 31-year-old veteran. But in terms of the young players, you can certainly see a way A.J. Ewing and Ryan Clifford and Nick Bora Morabito make a lot of sense. They did add some depth to their minor league system, signing Siono Perez, the left-handed reliever, but they also have a guy down there in AAA right now, another veteran lefty, Anderson Severino, who's thrown the baseball well. I think the next guy who could be on the chopping block, especially with the setback to AJ Minter, because they're going to reset that 30-day clock on Minter . And I'm skeptical how much of a setback A.J. Minter had because Mendoza said that's minor, but we get to reset the rehab clock. Maybe that has more to do with his velocity being down. And the Mets just looking for an excuse to keep him down there . So I don't know if it's a real injury or if it's just the Mets looking for a way to reset that clock, but if they want fresh arms in their bullpen, Anderson Severino as a veteran left-hander is another guy to keep an eye on. This week, it's the Arizona Diamondbacks to wrap up this nine-game road trip. It's the same thing as what we said against Colorado and the Angels. Win the series. Yes, we'll bitch about the game they lose, but this is about chopping wood and slowly, slowly getting yourself back to respectability. It's Ryan Nelson against Nolan McLean on Friday night. It's Clay Holmes against Merrill Kelly on Saturda y night, and it's David Peterson, I guess as a bulk eye, if that's uh how they how they so choose, on Sunday afternoon against Eduardo Rodriguez. That's at the pitching edge in the first two games of this ser ies. Take advantage of it. Score some freaking runs. Hopefully, Nolan McClane gives you a bounce back performance from his worst start as a major leaguer five days ago. And go win two out of three and make this thing a six and three road trip. That would get them to eight games under 500, which is still it's terrible. But I I said this a few weeks ago and I I'm trying to stand by this . If you just win series, you just go ahead and win every series. Beat the Diamondbacks, beat the Tigers. I think they're gonna see a returning Fromber Valdez in one of those games. Win a series against the Yankees. I know that's not easy. Split against the Nationals. It's four games. Win a series against Miami. Win a series against Cincinnati. Win a series against Miami. You do all that. You're three games under five hundred by the middle of June. So if you frame it that way, okay, that's not that difficult. The problem is you can't afford to step up. And the other problem is when you have a game that's winnable, even in a series that you win two out of three, grab it and take it. So yeah, the Mets are playing better baseball. They've won four out of six. They've done it against some awful teams, but they got to keep it going. And we'll see if they're able to do it against the Diamondbacks. I am not confident. I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer. I I certainly don't try to be, I'm always honest. And I'm glad they win games, but I don't feel good. It's not as if I walk away from it feeling, you know, oh yeah, it's coming, man. The turnaround is coming. Don't exactly feel it. But hey, we'll be here every series and just about every day doing Rico Bronias throughout this very memorable 2026 season. You can always email us the rico b at gmail.com, rico b at gmail.com. We may give you a surprise rico over the next couple of days, but the one thing we can guarantee you is when the diamondback series ends early Sunday evening, there'll be a Rico Brunia. If you want to consume it live, then you should subscribe to the WFN YouTube page and you can always slide into the chat, argue with a bunch of Met fans, and consume the Rico live, or you just make sure you subscribe to it, uh, the podcast, wherever you download your podcast, Spotify, Odyssey app, Apple Store, wherever it is. And then it'll just pop up in your feed whenever it's ready. So we'll give you some surprise, Ricos, but at the every series guaranteed Rico Bronha. Thank you very much for listening and hanging out with us on a series winning edition, even though it didn't sound like it, of Rico Bronya. We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Rico Bruno Podcast. It's amazing, isn't it? Make sure you download it now to keep it on you at all times.