Mets manager Carlos Mendoza doesn't want chippiness to continue in NLCS vs. Dodgers
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza speaks during a news conference ahead of Game 6 in a baseball NL Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in Los Angeles. Credit: AP/Mark J. Terrill
LOS ANGELES — Five games and a full week into the National League Championship Series, the Mets and Dodgers got chippy on Friday. Carlos Mendoza wants to avoid more of that as the Mets continue to try to save their season.
“The last thing you want to do is wake up a team,” the manager said Saturday ahead of Game 6 on Sunday. “That’s not who we are. We’re going to continue to play our game and we’re not here to try and create anything.”
The Mets’ 12-6 win in Game 5 — the first of what will need to be three in a row if they are to advance to the World Series — featured fleeting but heated exchanges between David Peterson and Max Muncy as well as Francisco Alvarez and Andy Pages.
Peterson-Muncy came first. In the top of the fourth, Peterson tried to throw inside with a pair of sinkers. Those pitches went a tad too inside, nearly hitting Muncy, so Muncy stared him down, Peterson said.
“I mean, I wasn’t trying to hit him there,” he said. “I’m trying to get outs. I didn’t necessarily appreciate his stare. If he felt there was intent there, that is his prerogative.”
The plate appearance ended with Muncy grounding out and Peterson barehanding Pete Alonso’s feed at the first-base bag. Upon getting the out, Peterson turned to stare back at Muncy and muttered a vulgarity, which he regretted afterward.
“It’s going to happen,” Peterson said. “After the fact, my kids are watching, there are kids in the stands watching. My emotions got the best of me in the moment.”
Two batters later, Pages hit a solo home run off Peterson, trimming the Dodgers’ deficit to six. He flipped his bat dramatically before rounding the bases, which irked Alvarez, who expressed as much when Pages got to the plate.
“He was doing too much,” said Alvarez, also an emotion-showing bat-flipper. “I like to pimp home runs, too, because I think it’s part of the game right now. It’s fun. It’s part of the show. I like to do it, but some moments you can do it, some moments you can’t do it. Like when you’re down by seven in a playoff game and everybody is watching. It doesn’t look good. He disrespected my team. I just said run the bases.”
Pages waved him away and raised a finger to his lips as if to tell Alvarez to shush. “I don’t care what he said or signed to me,” Alvarez said. “I just want him to respect my team.”
When Pages homered again (and tossed his bat again) the next inning, Alvarez didn’t say anything. “He did it, but they still lost,” Alvarez said. “Tomorrow is another day. Let’s see what happens.”
What Mendoza hopes happens: no more of this.
“It just happened in the heat of the moment,” he said. “The last thing you want to do is try to create something unnecessary on the field.
“They’re competing. We know everything is a do-or-die-type deal. And they’re competitors. And sometimes players will show their emotions.”
Extra bases
The Mets held a full team workout Saturday at Dodger Stadium, the best-attended off-day activity of their postseason run. “Everybody wanted to be here,” Mendoza said. “I just felt like the guys felt like they needed to show up today. Plus, there’s a lot of guys in the training room.” . . . Jesse Winker will be in the Game 6 lineup at DH or in the outfield, according to Mendoza. The inclusion of the latter option opens the door for Brandon Nimmo (plantar fasciitis) to DH.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
