PHILADELPHIA — The sting of a seventh straight loss lingered in a quiet New York Mets clubhouse as Francisco Lindor tried to explain a poor stretch and his role navigating the ugly streak as a team leader.
Lindor, the star shortstop who doubles as something of a de facto captain, typically offers appropriate perspective for good times and bad.
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The most obvious example happened last year when Lindor called a players meeting with the Mets’ season on the brink. Things were different back then, in late May 2024. The Mets were below .500. The alarm bells went off early. They had to — a season needed saving.
After falling 10-2 to the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night, Lindor indicated the Mets aren’t quite there this time. But the Phillies claimed first place in the National League East from the Mets for the first time since May 30. And the Mets matched their longest losing streak since they lost seven in a row June 2-9, 2023.
“It’s gotta happen organically,” Lindor said. “We all have a sense of urgency. We’re all trying to do whatever it takes to win.”
By “organically,” Lindor said he means a conversation among players grows into something like, “All right, yeah, let’s talk about this.”
“It’s not about slamming things,” Lindor said. “It’s nothing like that.”
Such an approach doesn’t mean the concern level is low. Things are more nuanced than that. The Mets (45-31) spent two-plus months looking like one of baseball’s best teams. Over the past week, however, other teams aren’t just beating the Mets; they are thoroughly outplaying them.
“This is not good,” Lindor said. “This is not good at all. But it’s adversity that we’re going to have to go through at some point of the year. It’s just, we want to get away from it as fast as we can. It’s a tough moment in the season.”
The challenging part for the Mets is that their problems continue to pile up.
In a twist, it wasn’t their starting pitching, which recently nosedived, that let them down this time. Over their last six games heading into Friday, the rotation sported a 6.04 ERA, worst in the NL in that span. Though Sean Manaea’s rehab outing Friday with Triple-A Syracuse offered hope (5 1/3 innings, one run), the Mets are also down Kodai Senga and Tylor Megill, with Frankie Montas set for a return Tuesday after poor results throughout his rehab assignment. Friday, New York turned to spot starter Blade Tidwell, who lasted just 3 2/3 innings but limited hard contact and surrendered just two runs.
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No, instead of the starting pitching, it was everything else that went awry.
The offense, which has produced just seven runs in five games, continued to struggle. Though Phillies ace Zack Wheeler didn’t allow a run, the Mets at least pushed him to 98 pitches through five innings, forcing him out of the game. Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil then hit back-to-back home runs off Taijuan Walker in the sixth inning, but the Mets stopped producing from there.
JEFF GOES BACK-TO-BACK! pic.twitter.com/bN2dFRcqAV
— New York Mets (@Mets) June 21, 2025
The lineup needs to carry the team. But as a whole, it chases too often lately and fails to produce with runners in scoring position. The Mets’ young players, such as Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio and Francisco Alvarez, aren’t adding much at the bottom of the order. And none of their stars are doing any serious heavy lifting. That includes Lindor, who is 0-for-his-last-19.
“We have to be better, especially me,” Lindor said. “I have to be better. I am at the point where I have to do stuff to help the team win.”
Little things are adding up, too, particularly on defense. Before the Phillies broke things open in the seventh inning, they took extra bases from the Mets. With the score 3-2 and none out in the seventh, Alec Bohm hit a single to right field with runners on first and second. Juan Soto fielded the ball without urgency. He lackadaisically threw to the cutoff man, Alonso, who then threw high and late to Baty at third, which allowed Kyle Schwarber to go from first to third.
If all that wasn’t enough, the bullpen is starting to leak, too. The Mets have shuttled players in and out lately, trying to supply the bullpen with fresher arms because of a high workload. Perhaps things are catching up to them. Friday, Reed Garrett allowed four runs without getting an out in the seventh. His ERA has gone from 0.70 at the start of June to 2.45 by the end of Friday night.
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“We’re going through it right now,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “I think it’s a little bit of everything.”
That’s what has made it hard to get out of.
“Obviously, it kind of stinks going through it, no doubt,” Alonso said. “I’m sure people watching, it’s not necessarily fun to watch. It’s not fun doing it, I can promise you that.
“But for us, we just need to be better on all sides of the ball.”
(Photo of Francisco Lindor: Rob Tringali / MLB Photos via Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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