The Phillies have lost only 17 games under Don Mattingly. (Logan Gehman/Phillies Nation)

NEW YORK — Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns took questions for 18 minutes after the firing of manager Carlos Mendoza after an uninspiring first half of the season that has New York 13 games under .500.

“I understand there’s no magic bullet here,” Stearns said in his opening statement. “There’s no one change that immediately is going to turn this around. This is incremental, this is day-to-day, this is doing the work every single day to get us back on track.”

The Phillies no longer have to worry about getting back on track. After a 9-19 start that got manager Rob Thomson fired, the Phillies are 45-36, just two games off their win total halfway through last year. They are four games back in the National League East behind the Atlanta Braves and hold the first wild card spot in the NL.

It’s all still remarkable when you take a step back. The Phillies lost 19 of their first 28 games of the season. They still have more losses under Thomson than they do Don Mattingly, who is 36-17 as Phillies manager.

“I think you are where you’re supposed to be,” Mattingly said. “It just falls into your lap more than anything else.”

Mattingly demanded “better baseball” when he took over as interim manager on April 28. He has to be happy with where his team is at, especially after three straights nights of go-ahead home runs in the ninth inning.

“Obviously while it’s going on, it’s kind of amazing to see it night to night,” Mattingly said.

On the other side, the Mets find themselves in a deeper hole with less time to turn things around. The Phillies proved that a bad start was just a bad start. The Mets are who they are until proven otherwise.

New York was also 9-19. They now have the second-worst record in the NL with a new roster, new coaching staff and now a new manager in Andy Green.

“I understand that we have an uphill battle ahead of us this year,” Stearns said. “But we’re not turning the page. We all remain very focused on doing everything we can to win as many games this year.”

A good weekend against the Phillies could be the start of something for the Mets. Citi Field has been a house of horrors for the Phillies in recent years. They have lost 10 straight against the Mets in Queens, including the postseason. The Phillies’ last win against the Mets in New York was on September 20, 2024, when Philadelphia officially clinched a postseason berth. The Mets also have their three best hitters, Juan Soto, Bo Bichette and Francisco Lindor, all in the lineup together for only the 10th time this season.

Maybe a great week in Washington, where they have historically tortured the Nationals, will override the bad vibes in New York for the Phillies.

Either way, a few losses this weekend in Queens won’t make or break the Phillies’ season. The Mets, meanwhile, can’t say the same thing.