PHILADELPHIA – The first pop hit Brandon Nimmo’s glove and fell to the ground. The second popup was between Francisco Lindor and Tommy Pham, with the same outcome. They were routine pieces that ended up being anything but routine.
Collectively, the dropped Pops cost the Mets all five runs they allowed Friday in a 5-1 loss to the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. They also represented a continuation of the sloppy play that determined the results of New York’s 14-game, 14-game loss streak.
“We’re a much better team than what we’re showing right now,” Lindor said.
Nevertheless, this way of playing is becoming a trend. Every night the Mets made defensive mistakes, mental errors, recorded outs on bases and more. Because they didn’t bat or pitch well as a team – they only recorded three goals against former teammate Taijuan Walker all night Friday – each mistake carried outsize importance.
“I don’t really know what to attribute that to,” said Nimmo. “Sometimes that happens over the course of 162 years. But it’s happening more often than last year and I don’t really have an answer as to why.”
Nimmo’s mistake, his first since 2021, was the result of what he felt was a bad jump from his midfield position. As he approached the pop that Kyle Schwarber hit, Nimmo debated whether to slip or stay on his feet. Ultimately, he chose the latter option, but the ball bounced off his glove as he reached it.
Lindor’s mistake was listening to the crowd as he and Pham encountered a Brandon Marsh pop fly in the sixth set. With the fans making their screams louder, Lindor believed at the moment that Pham was close enough to make the play. But Pham never called off Lindor, leaving the shortstop to regret his passivity.
“It was up to me,” Lindor said. “I should have taken full control of the ball.”
It doesn’t help that the Mets pitchers compounded both mistakes, as they’ve made a habit of doing in recent weeks. After Schwarber’s ball bounced off Nimmo’s glove in the first inning, Kodai Senga uncorked a wild pitch, going with two batters and allowing an RBI single and a sacrificial flight. Both runs were unearned as neither would have scored if Nimmo had made the catch.
Marsh’s ball technically went down as an RBI single since no one touched it before it hit the turf. That added a deserved run to Senga’s line, then another when Trea Turner subsequently hit a two-run single against Jeff Brigham.
“Mistakes happen,” Senga said through an interpreter. “If I can recover from that and keep it to zero, I know it will give the team another boost. That’s the kind of pitcher I want to be.”