C-Mac: Carlos Mendoza had a rough night in Mets NLCS opener
Chris McMonigle isn’t bailing on the Mets and their magical ride after one lopsided playoff loss, but he did believe that Carlos Mendoza, typically so on-the-ball and pushing the right buttons in his first year as manager, was far from his best in Sunday’s NLCS opener.
“I think the manager had a rough night,” C-Mac said. “I don’t like starting [Senga]. I don’t like him being a part of this series. But if you’re only gonna have him for three innings, and you realize he has nothing after one, go get him. It made no sense to bring him back out.
“If you know [Jose] Butto doesn’t throw back to back days, why is he in this game? Now he’s out. Him and [David] Peterson are out.”
Senga lasted just 1.1 innings in what was only his third start of the season, and Butto threw over 30 pitches in relief. With Peterson pitching in bulk out of the bullpen in game one as well, two top options to eat up innings are now out of the question for Monday’s critical game two. Sean Manaea takes the bump and has been the Mets’ best starter, but in the worst-case scenario that the potent Dodger lineup gets to the lefty and chases him early, New York could be in a precarious situation before heading back to Queens.
“That leads to the roster decisions,” C-Mac said. “If you know you’re throwing Senga in this series, possibly twice, why don’t you have Ottavino to give you late innings if things go sideways? Why was Jose Butto in this game?
“I thought the manager had a bad game. So did the defense, the baserunning, the offense…everyone had a bad game. But you wipe it, you flush it. They can still win this series. But this was a wake-up call.”
