![\"Laura](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1777790921_643_image.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nANAHEIM, Calif. \u2014 It was exactly two weeks ago in the visitors\u2019 dugout at Wrigley Field when Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns put his full-throated support behind manager Carlos Mendoza, saying he was \u201cdoing a very good job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since those comments, the Mets have\u00a0continued their decline. Before\u00a0their 4-3 win over the Angels at Angels Stadium on Friday night, they had gone 3-9 against opponents with a combined .488 winning percentage.<\/p>\n
Stearns\u2019 stance has not changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know our record is not what we want, and we know we are capable of more,\u201d he told MLB.com Friday. \u201cWe don\u2019t view this as a manager problem and we don\u2019t intend to make a change.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was Stearns\u2019 most definitive statement yet, and it came on the heels of two early-season managerial firings in the Red Sox\u2019s Alex Cora and the Phillies\u2019 Rob Thomson. The Mets have a worse record than both of those teams at 11-21 \u2014 a worse start than even the historically bad inaugural 1962 team, which went 12-20 in the first 32 games.<\/p>\n
The Mets responded by eking out that win over an almost equally bad Angels team,\u00a0coming back from a 3-0 deficit in the sixth after Angels\u00a0 starter Walbert Urena had to leave the game after getting struck on the knee by Bo Bichette\u2019s comebacker.<\/p>\n
“We haven’t been able to win games like that when you get down 3-0,” Mendoza said. “Today, it wasn’t the case. It was something different. The energy in the dugout [was different]. The guys were playing loose.”<\/p>\n
Francisco Alvarez singled\u00a0and Marcus Semien laced a two-out, two-run single to tie it. Ronny Mauricio gave them the lead in the seventh, turning\u00a0on Jose Fermin\u2019s letter-high fastball for a 421-foot blast\u00a0to rightfield, his first homer of the year.<\/p>\n
Added Mauricio, via interpreter: “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish, and when we go out there, we have to have pride. We have to really feel it [and]\u00a0go out there and have success for each other.”<\/p>\n
Another bright spot: Christian Scott was solid after a tough first inning, allowing three runs (two earned) and\u00a0three hits with no walks and eight strikeouts in\u00a0five innings.<\/p>\n
But though the Mets certainly were glad to get in the win column, it doesn\u2019t erase the rampant early-season frustrations.<\/p>\n
Mendoza\u00a0was gratified by Stearns\u2019 backing, as well as support from owners Steve and Alex Cohen, but he said it doesn\u2019t change the challenge ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all understand the situation,\u201d he said Friday. \u201cIt\u2019s good to have that conversation with him, but at the end of the day, we have a job and we have a responsibility . . . It\u2019s about the results on the field as well. Steve is not happy, Alex is not happy, David is not happy, I\u2019m not happy. All of us are frustrated. Together, we\u2019ve got to find a way to get these guys out of this funk, and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll continue to do. I\u2019m pretty confident in our coaches, our players that things will turn.\u201d<\/p>\n
They\u2019re going to have to: The Mets have been felled by a dormant offense, poor pitching and a slew of high-profile injuries. Juan Soto missed about three weeks with a calf strain and Francisco Lindor very well could be out for months with the same injury. Jorge Polanco (bursitis, wrist contusion), Luis Robert Jr. (lumbar spine herniated disc) and Kodai Senga (lumbar spine inflammation) also are on the injured list.<\/p>\n
In his postgame comments Thursday, reliever Luke Weaver said the team, which entered the year with high expectations, was feeling the weight of its failures.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody wants to be the hero because we care and we want to win really, really bad,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think success lives in that realm. It truly doesn\u2019t. The freedom with which we play day to day is kind of being suffocated a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s assurances should at least give players some clarity, but Mendoza downplayed the potential impact it might have on an already pressurized environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a professional clubhouse,\u201d said Mendoza, who\u2019s in the final year of his contract. \u201cA lot of guys are established in this league and they know the situation. They know where we\u2019re at as a team and they know that together, we\u2019ve got to go out and do it. Pressure [exists], especially in New York where there are high expectations and you\u2019re not playing the way you\u2019re capable of . . . But again, there are a lot of superstars in that locker room and they understand. The messaging is the same for them. We\u2019re in this together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Notes & quotes: Infielder Andy Ibanez, whom the Mets claimed off waivers Thursday, joined the team in Anaheim on Friday. Mendoza said they envision using Ibanez against lefties, occasionally playing him at third while having\u00a0Bichette move to shortstop. He also can spell\u00a0Semien at second. Eric Wagaman was optioned in a corresponding move . . . Polanco took batting practice Friday and began fielding again . . . Soto played leftfield for the first time since returning from the injured list; he had served as the DH since experiencing forearm tightness last week, but the issue has since resolved.<\/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":"ANAHEIM, Calif. \u2014 It was exactly two weeks ago in the visitors\u2019 dugout at Wrigley Field when Mets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,3674],"class_list":["post-297644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-new-york-mets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297644","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=297644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}