{"id":760871,"date":"2026-07-25T06:48:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T06:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/760871\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T06:48:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T06:48:30","slug":"mets-squander-early-lead-against-dodgers-in-latest-punchless-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/760871\/","title":{"rendered":"Mets squander early lead against Dodgers in latest punchless loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hopefully, the plot to the movie \u201cThe Catch\u201d being filmed at Citi Field on Friday<\/a> isn\u2019t as predictable as the game that was played.<\/p>\n

That went as everyone in the ballpark, a crowd of 35,338, would\u2019ve expected.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers spotted the Mets an early lead, then did what they so often do: win convincingly.<\/p>\n

The Mets countered by not hitting \u2014 a season-long theme \u2014 in another loss, 4-2 to the heavy favorites to win it all again. <\/p>\n

The Mets lost Juan Soto to his nagging sore left calf<\/a> after two at-bats and received two solo home runs by Luis Robert Jr. and Francisco Alvarez, and little else.<\/p>\n

In a season full of similarly punchless performances, this latest one was merely a sidenote ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline, in which the Mets are expected to be sellers. <\/p>\n

A.J. Minter reacts after allowing a home run during the Mets\u2019 July 24 loss to the Dodgers. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n

Who goes and who they bring back in return, is the lone remaining question in this lost season.<\/p>\n

Freddie Freeman, the Mets\u2019 longtime tormenter, had three hits and a surprising stolen base. <\/p>\n

Freddie Freeman and Kyle Tucker celebrate after Tucker\u2019s home run against the Mets on June 24. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n

Previously struggling right-hander Roki Sasaki was brilliant, because so many pitchers are when facing these Mets, tossing seven innings of one-run, nine-strikeout ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked about it before the game: If you chase him beneath the zone, you\u2019re going to be in trouble, and we did that a lot,\u201d interim manager Andy Green said. \u201cNow, it\u2019s one thing to say don\u2019t do that, it\u2019s another thing to pick up his split-finger and see the pitch. We had a hard time with that tonight.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re probably not going to beat one of the best teams in baseball by scoring two runs. It\u2019s just really hard to beat them like that. We have to put more runs on the board and stay in the strike zone.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

To add salt into the wound, struggling slugger Kyle Tucker \u2014 the $60 million per year outfielder who spurned the Mets for the Dodgers in the offseason \u2014 put the game away with a two-run homer in the eighth. <\/p>\n

Francisco Alvarez (r.) celebrates after his home run July 24. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n

It elicited one of many rounds of \u201cLet\u2019s go Dodgers\u201d chants, a reminder of how far the Mets have fallen in the last year-plus.<\/p>\n

The Mets\u2019 big offseason additions, Jorge Polanco, Marcus Semien, Bo Bichette and Robert, went a combined 1-for-12 with six strikeouts. <\/p>\n

And the team\u2019s strength, their bullpen, struggled in allowing three runs in the seventh and eighth innings.<\/p>\n

Carson Benge can\u2019t make a catch during the Mets\u2019 loss to the Dodgers. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n

The Mets find themselves a season-low 18 games under .500 at 43-61.<\/p>\n

In 2024, the Mets reached the NLCS, losing to the eventual World Series champion Dodgers in six games. <\/p>\n

That offseason, they added Soto. <\/p>\n

But very little has gone right since.<\/p>\n

The Mets blew a playoff spot a year ago with second-half tailspin and they have been a disaster this season, looking every bit like a 95-loss team. <\/p>\n

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They are going to be major sellers at the upcoming trade deadline, and president of baseball operations David Stearns wouldn\u2019t rule out trading one of their cornerstone players, shortstop Francisco Lindor, although it does seem unlikely given Lindor\u2019s large contract and uneven season.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDelivering insights on all things Amazin\u2019s\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Mets by Mike Puma, exclusively on Sports+\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cThe season didn\u2019t go as we anticipated. It\u2019s extremely disappointing,\u201d Stearns said Friday before the Mets kicked off a 10-game homestand. \u201cI am extremely disappointed that we are in this situation, but I\u2019m also very aware we are in this situation and it\u2019s my job to do what\u2019s in the best interest of the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

When owner Steve Cohen took over the franchise five years ago, his goal was to turn the Mets into an East Coast version of the Dodgers. <\/p>\n

That obviously hasn\u2019t happened. <\/p>\n

On the bright side, at least once a year Queens gets to see what the actual Dodgers look like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hopefully, the plot to the movie \u201cThe Catch\u201d being filmed at Citi Field on Friday isn\u2019t as predictable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,29,57,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203,1268,185],"class_list":["post-760871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-mets","tag-baseball","tag-kyle-tucker","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-mets","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-mets","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkmets","tag-sean-manaea","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116979282968285345","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}