Mendoza's Leadership and Gutsy Decisions

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Because when you win these back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday, you've already guaranteed yourself a split. You've guaranteed yourself at least a decent road trip. Three and four may not be the greatest thing in the world, but you know what? You got a split in San Francisco. You're without one soto. You get to the off day. It's a no-biggie spot. You're five and five , not the end of the world . And when the Met offense continues to give you some frustration, or at least I don't say continue, goes back to giving you some of the frustrations , like having great opportunities and not being able to score, go back to the second inning after Mark Vientos comes through with an RBI hit. You're still set up with two on and nobody out and Marcus Simeon bounces into a first pitch double play. You have a great opportunity in the fourth inning, and somehow, when Jared Young bloops that base hit to right field, somehow, someway, Luis Robert Jr. isn't scoring from second base, which I can't figure out why. And when he doesn't score from second base on that blue base hit, which I think he just got a terrible read on, I'm going to blame him more than I'm going to blame Leaper. I think Robert Jr.'s just got to see it better. Off the bat, you could tell that ball's going to fall in . But once it doesn't, as much as Vientos is locked in and he's locked in, I just had a feeling they're not gonna they're not scoring this run. And Vientos unfortunately bounced into a 4-6-3 double play . So another great scoring opportunity that you leave with nothing. And then the seventh inning was probably the biggest example of it. You get the leadoff double by Jared Young. Simeon strikes out with a runner on third less than two out after Vientos advances him on a sack fly. Bench draws a walk. Alvarez gets a board on the catcher's interference. And here's Lindor who, is, I mean, it's typical April Lindor. Let's just call it like it is. And he has been awful. Worse so since Soto got hurt. And he bounces out, leaving the bases loaded in the seventh inning. And let's all be honest. We all gotta be honest with ourselves. You thought the game was over . They're down two to one . You had bases loaded with your best hitter up, or at least one of your best hit ters up, especially without Soto . And he very meekly grounds out the second base . It felt like a loss. It did. And I'm not saying I was going to come on the Rico and say, ah, everything's fine. It's great. The split was wonderful. Like, I wouldn't be panicking, but it would feel very disappointing. I think that'd be the word. Well, disappointing loss, especially with the way Sangha started this game . So we needed to see some fight. Am I right? We needed to see this Met team, who last year was infamous for not coming back. And it's more than just the stat that's a stupid overrated their record trailing after eight. Because obviously this game isn't trailing after eight. But they felt like a team that just didn't come back a lot. They felt like a team that how many times they're down, they're dead, and they're not coming back. And after the Lindor ground out, as they start the top of the eighth inning down two to one . It was a little bit of a gut check. Can this team show some fight? Can this team give us like a nice come from behind victory? If you're going to win the National League East . If you're gonna make the postseason, you need a bunch of these . You need some games where you dig deep and you find a freaking way. The new LinkedIn hiring pro can't undo your last hire, the lone wolf. Who you thought was a good collaborator because you didn't have the right candidate insights. But once you hired them, it was all hoarding info, declining meetings, and howling at the full moon? But LinkedIn Hiring Pro can go deeper than just the resume to find you a perfect fit. By using insights from the LinkedIn Network to give you a short list of best fit candidates, hire right the first time with LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Post a free job today at LinkedIn .com slash quality . So let's go through that eighth inning where they found a freaking way. First of all, they got Logan Webb out of the game. Isn't that like key number one? Because despite Logan Webb sh'aksy start, he is he's an ace . He's a he's a horse. And he's able to make the big pitch when he needs to. You get the one out double by Jorge Polanco. Huge hit by Polanco. I thought he was going to get thrown out at second base. Luckily, he slides around that throw, gets into second base. You got the tying run on second. Luis Robert Jr., his base running leaves a lot to be desired. His defense has been average, but the freaking guy is hitting. And he rips that base hit the right field. Again , God forbid the Mets score a runner from second base with a hit. I mean , I'm laughing because it's painful. How many freaking times can they not score a run from second base on a base hit? It happens all the time . So Luis Roberts Jr. does that. Then he almost gets caught trying to steal second base . But before that, we got the mightest touch moment. The mightest touch moment of Carlos Mendoza saying, yes, Jared Young, you're my boy. Yes, I have a love affair with you, but you're three for three. But there's a lefty on the mound, the immortal Eric Miller . I'm going to pinch it for you with our backup catcher. And I love our backup catcher. I gave him an A last year when we did our grades. But you don't think of him as a bat first backup catcher. He's not Todd Pratt. He's not Ramon Castro. He's there for his glove . But the Mets are obviously shorthanded. And Carlos Mendoza decides to go to Luis Torrenz. By the way, Hoff, I want you to cue up the Mendy clip because this was surprising and very impressive. I am a sucker for a leader who doesn't go out of their way to tell you about the moves they made. I like leaders who talk about the other people in their cabinet or administration or their bench who advised you to do that. I think that's a sign of good leadership. It's what Abe Lincoln would do. That's right. I'm good. I'm whipping out an Abe Lincoln comparison. Honestly, I give this to the Yankee fans who consume this, uh, who don't like Brian Cashman. Brian Cashman will always shout out his lieutenants for moves that they made. I once had him on and I was saying, Hey, uh, Bri . Yeah, because I call him Bri. Hey, Brian, boy, that decision to sign DJ LeMayhew over Jed Lowry. That was a good one, man. I was on sports talk radio suggesting Jed Lowry made more sense for you guys than DJ. And Brian Cashman could have said, Yeah, well, I'm smart. What do you want from me? And he immediately said, wasn't me. And he named someone on his staff that strongly pushed for them to sign DJ LeMayhew . It takes a lot of comfort in your abilities, and it takes a lot of uh lack of ego to shout out someone else for something you ultimately did right. I want to play a clip for you after the game. Here's Carlos Mendoza being asked about the decision, which felt odd at the time, to pinch it for Jared Young So the manager on the hot seat said, Yeah, that big decision that I made, that big decision that helped us win the game, that mightest touch ballsy move that I made. Yeah, it wasn't me. It was the bench coach who may replace me who came up with that decision. Uh there's uh a lot of things that formulate my opinion on a good manager or a bad manager. I will tuck this away for the future. Carlos Mendoza showed you something with that answer. That's a good answer by him. I appreciate that honesty. But that was something, man, because I'm sitting there and I thought as Young was coming up, you know what, he's three for three . Screw it, let him hit . I did not think of going to Luis Terence. And there's a lot of risk atta ched to it. Because they have such a short bench, and you have to assume there is no Juan Soto and there is no Brett Beatty, it means that Tyrone Taylor, who two batters earlier had come in as a pinch runner for Jorge Polanco , it means that Tyrone Taylor is going to stay in the game and play left field. And that means you're losing the DH. In this moment, you have not even tied the game. You have no idea . No idea where this game is going. You also have no idea, especially if Taylor stays in the game to play left field. If you're keeping Teren z in the game, that means the pitcher spot is going to be in the nine hole because Alvarez is coming out. And if you don't do that and you say, Well, I'm going to keep Alvarez in the game, that means the pitcher spot is in the five-h ole. Which means there's a decent chance that spot 's coming up, and you will not have a batter to use . Because I'm assuming Brett Beatty wasn't available, and I'm certainly assuming Juan Soto wasn't available. So, hey, Nolan McClain, get that bat ready. So that was a really gutsy move by Kai Correa and Carlos Mendoza. And by God it worked . By God, it worked. And so many little things could have gone wrong. I had visions of Terence bouncing into a double play, though I guess that was ruled out when the Giants decided so for some reason to play the infield in. And then Robert Jr. steal second. And then Terence has this great at-bat before he lines the base hit to right field, the two-run double that gives the team the lead. Marcus Simeon picks up an RBI double to add to it. Turned out to be a great inning, plus some bad defense. Mark Vientos hits that ground ball to third. Chapman makes the long throw. Rafael Devers can't scoop it. And the Mets turn would have a chance to be a really frustrating loss into a nice gutsy rally that featured clutch hitting, great at bats, a key stolen base, and a ballsy managerial move by a manager who has decided