Mets' how-to guide for ending a long losing streak
PHILADELPHIA — With half-smiles and shrugs, the New York Mets downplayed the idea of gaining major relief from their season-long seven-game losing streak coming to an end. Yes, players said, they felt great after beating the Philadelphia Phillies 11-4 on Saturday night. But they mostly stressed some of the same virtues that clubhouse leaders had spent time emphasizing over the past week.
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'It happens, man,' Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. 'We know we're good. We know we got good players. It's part of the grind of 162 (games). You just have to be consistent. It was good to get that one. We got a long way to go.'
More than half the season remains. Some of what worked for the Mets (46-31) on Saturday night also went missing for the last week. With that in mind, here's a how-to guide for ending a long losing streak, featuring insights on what to make of the Mets the rest of the way.
The Mets have won 28 straight games in which Francisco Lindor has hit a home run.
'I wish I would've hit homers in Atlanta,' Lindor quipped, smiling.
Lindor's home run in the third inning snapped an 0-for-20 skid.
.@Lindor12BC got all of it! 😤
Vote Francisco! 🗳️👉 https://t.co/pvcqpJqQb7 pic.twitter.com/h0dfFKHHgE
— New York Mets (@Mets) June 22, 2025
'It's hard to explain,' Mendoza said. 'It seems like every time he goes, we go.'
Sure enough, Brandon Nimmo followed Lindor's home run with his second of the game. Then, Juan Soto crushed a high fastball from rookie starter Mick Abel (who entered with a 2.21 ERA through his first four outings) to make it back-to-back-to-back home runs.
BACK-TO-BACK!@You_Found_Nimmo | #LGM pic.twitter.com/k9MkRydRW8
— New York Mets (@Mets) June 22, 2025
Lindor is the catalyst.
Nimmo is part of the glue.
(Pete Alonso had a modest night, going 2-for-4, but he has been the run producer.)
As for Soto? He's the difference-maker, capable of taking the Mets offense to another level.
AND NOW @JuanSoto25_!!! pic.twitter.com/rixLkI4GWU
— New York Mets (@Mets) June 22, 2025
Soto typically takes 28.3 seconds to trot around the bases after hitting a home run. He takes his time, checking in as MLB's 10th-slowest trotter. After hitting his second home run of the game during the fifth inning, off Joe Ross, Soto spent 30 seconds savoring the moment. By the time Mets first-base coach Antoan Richardson outstretched his arm for a congratulatory handshake, Soto had only just reached halfway up the line.
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And why not indulge a few more seconds?
Soto's second home run traveled an estimated 437 feet, making it his longest home run as a Mets player.
SECOND DECK@JuanSoto25_ | #LGM pic.twitter.com/AyZR2MCiNR
— New York Mets (@Mets) June 22, 2025
'It feels pretty good,' Soto said, laughing.
Soto went 4-for-5 with four RBIs. It was his 26th career multi-home-run game, tying Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx for the most before turning 27 years old.
Over the past three weeks, Soto has hit eight home runs. On May 31, he owned a .770 OPS. Now that figure stands at .877.
Soto said he has felt good 'since day one' and attributed his substandard start to poor luck, a theory advanced numbers mostly support, especially after he stopped hitting so many grounders. Throughout the season, Mendoza carried a similar sentiment. After Soto's big day, Mendoza gushed over how Soto controls the strike zone and racks up 'barrel after barrel,' as he put it, while taking a page from Soto's book to appreciate the long home run.
'Special hitter,' Mendoza said. 'We just have to take a step back and kind of admire.'
Even the Phillies fans did so — in their own way. They roared in the seventh inning when reliever Jordan Romano retired Soto on a routine grounder. Such acknowledgement is reserved for traveling stars.
Nearing the midway point of the season, Francisco Alvarez's proclamation from spring training that the Mets boast baseball's best lineup appears false. The lineup isn't deep enough for such a title. For the season, its sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth batters own a .646 OPS, better than only 10 other teams' final four in the batting order. In June, as the Mets played without third baseman Mark Vientos, things worsened. Their bottom half of the order carried a .575 OPS for the month into Saturday's game.
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In the fourth inning, the bottom of the Mets' order, featuring Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio, mustered just three groundouts that traveled a collective distance of 11 feet.
Things finally improved. In the sixth inning, Alvarez hit a one-out single. After Baty struck out, Mauricio singled to provide runners on the corners for Lindor, who cashed in with a two-run double to give the Mets a 7-4 lead. It was a rare instance of the Mets succeeding with runners in scoring position.
Griffin Canning spent the last week trying to hit the bottom of the strike zone with his changeup and slider.
Canning is a good representation of the sudden downward trend of the rotation. Signed to a one-year deal after a rough season, the 29-year-old shined under the Mets' tutelage early on with a 2.47 ERA through his first nine starts. But he had a 6.75 ERA over his last five starts heading into his outing against the Phillies. He might be back on track.
Canning's line looked ho-hum (five innings, three earned runs, six hits, two walks, four strikeouts), but he said he thought it was one of his best starts. He leaned on his slider in big spots and used all of his pitches effectively. He worked out of trouble and overcame defensive mistakes (a ball getting by Alvarez for a run, Jeff McNeil's error in center field). He went back to what worked.
Canning is throwing his slider more than ever. He needs the pitch, especially against right-handed batters. The slider helped Canning negotiate the fifth inning after two batters reached base with one out. He got ahead of Nick Castellanos with it and put away Max Kepler with it.
In his second year, Mendoza handles tough situations well because of his steadiness.
Instead of large meetings, Mendoza prefers to check in with his players one-on-one. In such personal settings, Mendoza learns how to push people. To change his style in the face of adversity would come across as inauthentic. So he never called a grand get-together over the past week. Not his style.
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Mendoza remained consistent. He checked in with players daily. He walked the line of promoting a sense of urgency without overdoing it. He pointed out areas that needed improvement, concerns that the last week underscored, but didn't lose sight of two-plus months of good work.
A mostly veteran clubhouse appreciated such stability from its manager. Nimmo, the club's longest-tenured player, called it 'huge' and 'really important.'
'It helped facilitate what you saw tonight,' Nimmo said.
For Nimmo and other veterans, any seven-game stretch in a baseball season leads to knee-jerk reactions. So, what to do with one game, one win after a dreadful streak, the club's longest in two-plus years?
'You don't overanalyze it and be like, 'OK, we're done,'' Nimmo said. 'You're like, 'OK, great, it bought us a win; now we gotta go do it again tomorrow.' For me, it's that 1-0 mentality. The only thing you take from it is how you can use it to try to win tomorrow.'
The Mets hope that's how to start a winning streak.
See you tomorrow ✌️ #MetsWin #LGM pic.twitter.com/GLjRwfpJp0
— New York Mets (@Mets) June 22, 2025
(Photo of Juan Soto after hitting a solo home run in the fifth inning: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)
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