NEW YORK – The New York Mets held a players-only team meeting Wednesday night after being swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 10-3 loss that included another bullpen implosion late in the inning and reliever Jorge Lopez throwing his glove into his stands after being ejected.
The score was tied at 3-3 heading into the eighth inning before the Dodgers scored six times against three relievers. One of them was Lopez, who challenged third base umpire Ramon De Jesus’ call on a check swing by Shohei Ohtani.
Lopez ended up giving up a two-run homer to Ohtani. He continued to argue with De Jesus while falling behind 3-1 to Freddie Freeman before the referee ejected him.
Lopez took off his jersey and threw his glove over the net into the crowd as he left the court. He showed no remorse after the match.
“No, I don’t regret it,” Lopez said.
Lopez continued: “Whatever happened, it happened. I’ll be there tomorrow if they want me. Whatever they want to do. I’m going to keep doing that, you know. I’m healthy ….I’m willing to come back tomorrow if they want me to be there, then I’ll be there.
Lopez called the dispute between him and De Jesus a “misunderstanding.”
“Just something out of emotion,” Lopez said, “I don’t care about anything.”
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said he had yet to speak to Lopez about his behavior when he met with reporters.
“Anytime you go through a time like this, you want to see some emotion from the players, from anyone here,” Mendoza said. “But what we saw today from Lopey, it’s not acceptable. And we’re going to resolve this internally here.”
Shortstop Francisco Lindor called a players-only meeting while Mendoza addressed the media in an attempt to rally the team to turn the tide before it was too late.
The Mets, now 22-33 after the Dodgers swept the three-game series, are 16 games out of first place in the National League East and six games out of the final Wild Card spot. They have lost seven of eight games and 13 of 16. Several of the losses, including two of three to the Dodgers this week, included late bullpen collapses.
Lindor said the meeting, which lasted more than 30 minutes, was an opportunity for players to express themselves and hold each other accountable.
“It was good for everyone,” Lindor said. “A lot of players have spoken. It’s really good. A lot of knowledge has been lost. Now we just have to put it together.”
The schedule says the Mets have 107 regular season games remaining, but the reality is the team has two months to convince president of baseball operations David Stearns not to sell any players before the trade deadline. July 30.
Stearns said Tuesday that the deadline would be “an inflection point in the season.” By the end of the night, the Dodgers had swept a Mets doubleheader. And they beat them again on Wednesday in what was the ugliest defeat of all.
News Source : www.espn.com
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