“I’m responsible. I’m the manager. It’s my job to motivate these guys. And I will. I’m not going to say I’m worried, but we don’t have too much time. The teams are right behind us. The way you look at it is that we’re still in control of the situation.” Just after being swept by the Phillies, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza took the responsibility for the downfall. Yet again, they went down against the Rangers in the second game, ranking fourth in the NL Wild Card Race. Looks like things are no longer in their “control.”

Saturday, the Mets lost by 2-3: An eight-game losing streak and third consecutive series loss (even if they win Sunday’s game). The more than $320 million team, with names like Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, and Pete Alonso, couldn’t deliver clutch moments. And this time, Mendoza is no longer taking all the blame on himself. Rather, he made a few things clear for the star-stuffed clubhouse.

“When you’re going through stretches like this, everybody has to do their part, right? And we’ve got to find a way to get the job done here. Feels like fundamentally, obviously, we’re not playing good baseball right now. We gave them extra bases, and they made us pay. But as far as the attitude, there are a lot of guys there frustrated, but we’ve got to keep going.” Mendoza was brutally honest after the second game against the Rangers.

The Mets manager even pointed out a couple of costly mistakes in today’s game.

Francisco Alvarez getting called for catcher’s interference, and Lindor not being able to snag a very catchable line drive. The skipper even added, “Leading off the ninth, obviously, is a play that Lindor usually makes. And we’re not doing that… You’re playing really good teams. Especially, when you’re getting through these stretches here, you got to execute.” 

Notably, in the ninth, with Edwin Diaz on the mound trying to hold a 2-2 game, Cody Freeman ripped a single into left that just grazed the top of a leaping Lindor’s glove. And after a sac bunt, Wyatt Langford drove in the go-ahead run with a sharp single to right on a low fastball.

In contrast, Soto was the lone bright spot for New York, crushing a solo homer and becoming the only player in NYM’s history to record 40 home runs and 30 stolen bases in a season. But the celebration was dim. “It’s really impressive… but we have bigger things out there in front of us that we have to go out there and get it,” Soto remarked.

The Mets’ bullpen is making things worse

The sad story for the Mets doesn’t end with their star performers not offering clutch hits. It went further with their bullpen repeating the same script in every game.

Coming into Saturday, the Mets’ ERA ranked 18th in the league with a 4.11 ERA. And even after picking up Ryan Helsley and Gregory Soto at the trade deadline, things haven’t improved. Helsley, in particular, has been rough and surely not performing what the team has expected from him. He’s given up nine runs in just 5 2/3 innings over his last six outings, ballooning his ERA with the Mets to 11.45.

But the blame is not solely on Helsley.

According to FanGraphs, the holistic effort has piled up a league-high 74 bullpen meltdowns by the first half of August. The same story got repeated on Saturday against the Rangers.

After the star-laden hitting lineup failed to put more runs on board, it was the Mets’ bullpen that couldn’t defend what was there. Brandon Sproat was going well, but after 70 pitches, he was pulled. Why? To let the more experienced Edwin Diaz defend the 2-0 lead in the ninth. But the All-Star closer ended up surrendering the go-ahead run in the ninth. And the Mets dropped the game 3-2.

Despite where the Mets head this year, their bullpen should be the focus area in the coming offseason.