![\"Laura](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776144669_146_image.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nLOS ANGELES \u2014\u00a0Before the Mets took on the Dodgers on Monday, the scoreboard played a video championing Edwin Diaz\u2019s defection to Chavez Ravine.<\/p>\n
“There’s a reason Edwin Diaz wanted to come here,\u201d manager Dave Roberts says on screen. \u201cHe’s chasing a ring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Somehow, things for the Mets only got more offensive from there.<\/p>\n
David Peterson put together his third clunker in a row, the offense did all of nothing as the Mets kicked off this six-game road trip with a 4-0 loss at Dodger Stadium’s Uniqlo Field,\u00a0their sixth loss in a row. They managed just three singles as starter Justin Wrobleski faced one over the minimum through eight, and Tanner Scott closed it out after working around Marcus Semien\u2019s leadoff single.<\/p>\n
The Mets haven\u2019t scored a run in 20 innings.<\/p>\n
Peterson (0-3), who struggled significantly over his first two starts, kept those red flags waving against the two-time world champion Dodgers, who came into the game batting an MLB-best .290. The lefty simply couldn\u2019t find the plate in the first inning, nailing leadoff hitter Shohei Ohtani on the shoulder and walking Kyle Tucker on five pitches. Will Smith\u2019s single scored Ohtani with the game\u2019s opening run, and Peterson proceeded to walk Teoscar Hernandez before finally settling down.<\/p>\n
In a baffling turn, Peterson struck out five of the next six batters and looked downright dominant in the second,\u00a0showcasing better control and an improved slider. That slice of good news immediately evaporated in the third, when he let up three more runs. He again walked Tucker and, with one out, walked Hernandez, as well. Freddie Freeman hit into a forceout at second to bring up Andy Pages, who slammed a 2-and-0 hanging curveball 364 feet to left to give the Dodgers the 4-0 lead.<\/p>\n
Peterson allowed four runs,\u00a0five hits and four walks with seven strikeouts and threw 89 pitches, 55 for strikes. His ERA is now an unsightly 6.41.<\/p>\n
The Mets’ offense, hitting .236 against lefthanded pitching, kept that streak going against Wrobleski, who didn\u2019t allow a baserunner until Jorge Polanco\u2019s fifth-inning single (Polanco was erased on a double play). That was Polanco\u2019s first hit against a southpaw this season, despite being a career .262 hitter against lefties. They didn\u2019t get another hit until Francisco Alvarez\u2019s single against Wrobleski in the eighth.<\/p>\n
To be fair, they had some tough breaks \u2014\u00a0they hit six balls 102 mph or harder, and none dropped in for hits.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a small sample size,\u201d Mendoza said about the team\u2019s lefthanded malaise. \u201cI\u2019m expecting that to change quickly here.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also one of the reasons they brought on Tommy Pham, who signed a minor-league contract earlier this year and was called up Monday in lieu of Ronny Mauricio, who was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse. Pham played left and batted seventh, going 0-for-3.<\/p>\n
Living in a no-Juan Soto world \u2014\u00a0the slugger still isn\u2019t running after suffering a calf strain early this month but so far is still on track for a late-April return \u2014\u00a0they\u2019ll need to compensate.<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t going all that well. The offense came into the day batting .211\/.255\/.286 over the previous seven days. Unsurprisingly, Soto has been their best hitter this season, and was batting .355\u00a0with a homer and five RBIs before getting hurt.<\/p>\n
Enter Pham. Though hardly a replacement, Mendoza likes him for two reasons:\u00a0his professionalism and his ability to hit lefties. And that\u2019s how the outfielder will primarily be used, he said.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s \u201ccompetitor, a pro, [and]\u00a0a guy that goes about his business the right way [in]\u00a0the way he competes and how much he wants to win,\u201d Mendoza said of Pham.<\/p>\n
Added Pham, who played with the Mets in 2023: \u201cI show up. I prepare. I\u2019m just a pro. I know how to play the game. I love the game. That\u2019s what you\u2019re going to get. One thing I told myself this year, I\u2019m going to go harder, I want to leave everything on the table. That\u2019s what I got for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pham has a career .261\/.368\/.434 slash line against lefties, with 49\u00a0homers in 1,129 at-bats. By contrast, he has 100 homers against righties in almost triple the at-bats.<\/p>\n
And while Soto struggled against lefties so far in this young season, he\u2019s a career .262 hitter against southpaws, and his contributions continue to be missed. Francisco Lindor, like Polanco, has historically done well against lefties, but both have looked lost against them this year. Lindor, a career .280 hitter against lefties, is batting .176 against them in what has been a cold start to his season. Polanco, who also hits lefties better than righties (.267 vs. .259 in his career) came into the day 0-for-12 against them this season.<\/p>\n
Though hardly an ideal situation, they hope Pham can provide a little oomph to the oomph-less.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of guys are hungry from what I see in preparation and everything,\u201d Pham said. \u201cI like that. It makes me go out there and work harder. You feed off one another.\u201d<\/p>\n
That may be true, but right now, no one wants what the Mets are eating.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She’s been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014\u00a0Before the Mets took on the Dodgers on Monday, the scoreboard played a video championing Edwin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[50813,48,52,51,47,53,50,49,3674],"class_list":{"0":"post-266804","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-gamer","9":"tag-la","10":"tag-la-headlines","11":"tag-la-news","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","14":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","15":"tag-los-angeles-news","16":"tag-new-york-mets"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}