The skidding New York Mets returned home Tuesday to a quieter reception than manager Carlos Mendoza and players anticipated with the club trying to snap an…<\/p>\n
NEW YORK(AP) \u2014 Patrick Heaney, the only person in section 524 at Citi Field shortly before the start of Tuesday night\u2019s game between the New York Mets and Minnesota Twins, grinned as he gazed at the sea of empty seats.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t be here tonight if you weren\u2019t a Met fan,\u201d Heaney said.<\/p>\n
The skidding Mets<\/a> returned home Tuesday to a quieter reception than manager Carlos Mendoza and players anticipated with the club trying to snap an 11-game losing streak \u2014 the longest for the team since 2004.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not going to be happy, that\u2019s not a secret,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cOur fan base, they\u2019re going to let you know when you\u2019re not playing well.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not going to be good, which is justifiably so \u2014 we\u2019re not playing well whatsoever,\u201d pitcher Sean Manaea said. \u201cI just expect it to not be the friendliest of welcome back home.\u201d<\/p>\n Shortstop Francisco Lindor said following Sunday\u2019s 2-1, 10-inning loss to the Chicago Cubs that he expected it to \u201cget very loud\u201d Tuesday night.<\/p>\n But the few thousand fans in attendance on a brisk evening in Queens \u2014 the temperature at first pitch was 46 degrees Fahrenheit (8 Celsius) \u2014 didn\u2019t get loud until the third inning, when Lindor hit a three-run homer to open the scoring and give the Mets their biggest lead since a 5-2 win over the San Francisco Giants on April 5.<\/p>\n New York entered Tuesday hitting .200 during its skid while being outscored 62-19. The Mets didn’t have slugger Juan Soto for any of that stretch, but he is expected to come off the injured list Wednesday<\/a> after missing the last 16 games with a strained left quad.<\/p>\n \u201cI think if they can get it going today, I think the fans will rally around them,\u201d said Josh Hudson, a Tennessee resident in town for business who was sitting in section 509 with a $15 ticket he bought on the secondary market.<\/p>\n Heaney, a resident of Malverne on Long Island who wore a Mets hat and 2022 playoff sweatshirt, grinned as he recalled how he ended up buying a $12 ticket and heading to the game alone.<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t get my wife to come,\u201d Heaney said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t get my kids to come. I couldn\u2019t get my friends to come. I bought one ticket, the cheapest one I could find, and I\u2019m going to see if I can help them turn it around.\u201d<\/p>\n Mendoza, in his third season as manager after six seasons on the Yankees\u2019 coaching staff, said he wouldn\u2019t mind a frosty reception because he knows how fans will react if the team fares better.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re also going to be right behind you when we flip it around,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen that before, too, so it\u2019s nothing new for us that have been here. We expect those guys to continue to support us, but we\u2019ve got to do better for them too.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all part of it. It comes with the territory. Wouldn\u2019t want it any other way.\u201d<\/p>\n