Mark Vientos and Griffin Canning on Mets' 9-4 loss to the Chicago White Sox
Mets have offensive issues, Steve Cohen says it will all be OK | Mets Off Day Live
On Mets Off Day Live, SNY contributor Hannah Keyser and host of the New York, New York podcast John Jastremski join Chelsea Sherrod to discuss the issues the Mets have hitting with runners in scoring position, other concerns with the lineup, and Mets owner Steve Cohen sharing positive reinforcement on social media as the team struggles.
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Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Pete Alonso powers Mets offense, Griffin Canning shuts down Dodgers to grab season series
LOS ANGELES — The Mets might look back on Wednesday night in Chavez Ravine as a pivotal moment in their quest for National League supremacy. Last August, it was a fateful afternoon in Phoenix that set the course for the Mets' postseason journey when a ninth-inning Jose Iglesias RBI single clinched the season series and a tiebreaker over the Diamondbacks, which came into play down the stretch in early October. Advertisement On Wednesday night, the Mets took home the season series and a potential tiebreaker with the Dodgers down the line with a 6-1 victory in front of 45,733 fans at Dodger Stadium. "It's good to win the series overall, but we've got one more tomorrow to win this series here," Carlos Mendoza said. "Yeah, we're talkiong about the seven-game set, but that's a really good team there. We're showing that we're a good team, I've been saying it, yet we still have a ways to go." Griffin Canning and Pete Alonso played the leading roles in the victory. Alonso tagged a pair of home runs and drove in five of the Mets' six runs, while Canning held the Dodgers scoreless across six innings. With the win, the Mets maintained the top record in the National League, improving to 39-23 and 4-2 against the Dodgers with the series finale on deck at 4:10 p.m. Thursday afternoon. Advertisement "Whether it's playing an extra game for a division or playing an extra game for a playoff spot, don't want to have that," Alonso said. "We want to pick up as many games as possible, and this group understands that. We're locked in. We're just really excited for the opportunity that we have tomorrow." Griffin Canning brings season's best performance New York Mets pitcher Griffin Canning (46) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 4, 2025, at Dodger Stadium. Canning was coming off his worst performance of the season on May 28 when he needed 80 pitches to get through three innings and allowed five runs (three earned) on four hits and four walks. The right-hander felt that he did not have a handle on his secondary pitches and it led to his second loss of the season. It came on the heels of a rain-shortened 2⅔-inning outing against the Dodgers at Citi Field. Advertisement Canning got his repertoire back dialed in on Wednesday night. He only allowed three hits and one walk while striking out seven. A Dodgers baserunner did not advance past first base against the veteran right-hander. "Just executing pitches, going one pitch at a time, trusting Luis (Torrens) back there," Canning said. "He called a great game. We were on the same page. Jeff (McNeil), in particular, running some balls down. The offense jumping out to an early lead helps to reinforce going out there and attacking the zone. He led with his slider, which he threw 37 times and induced nine of his 13 whiffs. He handled the top three of the Dodgers' lineup, holding Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman to one hit in nine at-bats. After allowing a one-out single to Dalton Rushing in the fifth inning, Canning ended the frame by striking out Kike Hernandez and Ohtani looking on a fastball and changeup. He entered the sixth inning with 90 pitches and only needed nine to get through the frame, picking up fly balls by Betts and Tesocar Hernandez and striking out Freeman on a slider. Advertisement "I feel like I kind of got back to how I was pitching the beginning of the year and spring training, kind of leaning on the slider and changeup," Canning said. Pete Alonso provides the pop New York Mets first base Pete Alonso (20) hits a three-run home run during the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 4, 2025, at Dodger Stadium. Pete Alonso ensured that there would be no drama on Wednesday night. After the Mets and Dodgers played back-to-back extra-inning games on Monday and Tuesday, Alonso nearly single-handedly provided the separation for the Mets in the win. Early on against Dodgers starter Tony Gonsolin, the opening run scored on a Juan Soto groundout after Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo had reached on a hit by pitch and error. Advertisement With a runner on base, Alonso moved the Mets ahead 3-0 on an opposite-field two-run home run to right field on a first-pitch slider. With Canning holding down the Dodgers' offense, the Mets carried a 3-0 lead into the eighth inning. Alonso stepped to the plate with Brandon Nimmo and Soto on base and destroyed a three-run home run 447 feet up the bleachers in left field. "It felt good, but for me, I was just more excited to grab some insurance runs right there. That's a very high-octane, potent offense that they got over there, so those insurance runs are really, really big for us and give our pitching staff a breather." Alonso's two-home run performance gave him 14 on the season — tying Lindor for the team lead. He now has 53 RBI on the season, moving him into a tie with the Cubs' Seiya Suzuki for most in the NL. Advertisement After watching his average drop from .349 to .288 by the end of May, Alonso appears to be heating back up to start June. With Wednesday's breakout performance, the Mets first baseman is now 5-for-16 with three home runs, 10 RBI and three runs this month. "I just feel consistent. I just feel like myself," Alonso said. "I've felt pretty much myself the entire year so far, pitch to pitch and AB to AB, so that's all I'm trying to do. I'm just trying to be the same guy every day." This article originally appeared on NY Mets: Pete Alonso two home runs, Griffin Canning quality start in win
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Yankees Build a Better Team After Losing Out on Juan Soto
Sometimes, as the saying goes, the best deals are the ones you don't make. It's a small sample size and very early in the process, but so far, the New York Yankees are fortunate to have not signed Juan Soto. Soto chose the New York Mets for a 15-year, $765 million contract, shunning an offer to return to the Yankees for 16 years, $760 million. Advertisement More from No question the Yanks wanted to keep Soto. They went to the World Series last fall for the first time since 2009 with Soto hitting ahead of Aaron Judge in the lineup, but lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games. When Soto then became a free agent and signed with Mets, the Yankees pivoted and spent a portion of that money elsewhere, signing Max Fried and Paul Goldschmidt as free agents and trading for Cody Bellinger and Devin Williams for a projected outlay of $283 million. The team they built is running away with the American League East at a fraction of the long-term cost of a deal with Soto. They lead the fourth-place Boston Red Sox by nine games already and are playing them for the first time in 2025 this weekend at Yankee Stadium. Soto is batting .232 with 11 homers, 31 RBIs and an .802 OPS so far this season; he will get better and is doing so already with three homers in his last five games through Wednesday night. Judge, playing without him, is having another monster season as the Mets have been jockeying for first place in the National League East with the Philadelphia Phillies. Judge's OPS: 1.237. Advertisement Thus far, advantage Yankees. 'It seems that way now,' David Cone, the former Yankees pitcher and currently ESPN and Yes Network color analyst, said in an interview this past weekend at Dodger Stadium. 'Ten years from now we'll make that judgment, but this year, the first half of the season? Absolutely.' For the Yanks, of course, this is a very short-term snapshot. Fried is signed for eight years, $218 million. But he has his own history of left arm problems, including Tommy John ligament replacement surgery that caused him to miss 2015 as a prospect with the San Diego Padres and a forearm issue that cost a month last season with the Atlanta Braves. Bellinger ($26.7 million), Goldschmidt ($12.5 million) and Williams ($8.6 million) can all walk away after this season. Goldschmidt and Williams are unrestricted free agents on one-year deals. Bellinger has the second of two player options his agent Scott Boras threaded into the three-year, $80 million deal he signed in 2024 with the Chicago Cubs. Bellinger is the fourth highest-paid player this season on the team behind Judge ($40 million), Fried ($27.3 million) and Carlos Rodon ($27 million). Advertisement Those potential departures give the Yankees some maneuverability next offseason in the free agent market and financial room this year to upgrade at the July 31 trade deadline. The Yankees have the third-highest payroll in Major League Baseball for luxury tax purposes at $310.9 million, according to Spotrac, and the team is putting on a master class in short-term roster construction under today's collectively-bargained system. The Yanks spent $74.6 million on Fried, Bellinger, Goldschmidt and Williams, while Soto is earning $61.2 million alone from the Mets for luxury tax purposes. 'They've done very well with the money they spent this year, no question about it,' Cone said. 'The Yankees are much more well-rounded defensively. [Former Yanks, Mets and current A's pitcher] Luis Severino said the Yankees last year were a team with only two hitters: Judge and Soto. They've caught up with the Dodgers offensively and depth-wise.' Fried wouldn't be in New York had Soto chosen the Yankees. Advertisement At the time, the contract conversations with both players were occurring on concurrent tracks. Fried was New York's second choice. It was universally considered that Fried wanted to play where he grew up, in the Los Angeles area. But he also let it be known to the Yanks he was very much in favor of playing in the Bronx. 'Mostly I had a bunch of meetings, but before making a decision, I was just waiting for Soto to sign,' Fried said this past weekend at Dodger Stadium. Soto announced his decision on Dec. 8 at the Winter Meetings in Dallas and two days later Fried signed with the Yankees. The dominoes then started to fall. On Dec. 13 Williams was obtained in a trade with Milwaukee and Bellinger came over from the Cubs four days later. Goldschmidt was the last to sign on Dec. 30. With that the Yankees closed shop for the offseason. Advertisement While Williams has struggled at times in his back of the bullpen role, the other three have exceeded expectations. Fried, for one, replaced the injured Gerrit Cole and opened 7-0 with a 1.28 ERA before losing to the Dodgers this past Friday. His experience pitching at Yankee Stadium has exceeded his expectations. 'I love it,' Fried said. 'I'm very happy with where I'm at. Everything happened for a reason. I'm just happy I'm here with the Yankees.' The Yankees are happy to have him. In this case, sometimes the best deals are the ones you make. Best of Sign up for Sportico's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
The fine pitching details behind why the Mets are better equipped to hang with the Dodgers
LOS ANGELES — Inside the New York Mets dugout Tuesday night, Griffin Canning studied how Tylor Megill pitched to Shohei Ohtani in the middle of a close game. Canning watched Megill throw four consecutive sliders out of the zone before spotting a changeup on the edge for a swinging strikeout. At a key point in the Mets' 6-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night, Canning applied what he had learned. Advertisement With a runner on first base with two outs in the fifth inning and the Mets holding a 3-0 lead, Canning started a matchup against Ohtani with five consecutive sliders. Then, with the count full, Canning unleashed a changeup. Ohtani stared at it for a called third strike. 'That was the best pitch to call there,' catcher Luis Torrens said. 'It's a different view.' The way Canning ended that at-bat against Ohtani — and, really, his entire outing of six scoreless innings — epitomized why the Mets are better equipped this season to hang with the Dodgers, the team that eliminated them last October in the National League Championship Series. Yes, Juan Soto's presence significantly improves the Mets' lineup and that's a major help. But a handful of finer reasons are also responsible for the Mets' ability to take four of the first six regular season games against the Dodgers this season with one matchup left. They all involve New York's pitching staff. And compared to last year, they are all new developments. The Mets value precision. In carrying out prep work to the mound, the Mets' pitchers are doing a better job of sticking to the idea of something like: We want to do this with these pitches in these areas against this hitter, and from there, whatever happens, happens. That's a small shift from the past. Under pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, the Mets always placed an emphasis on trusting strengths. Since spring training, however, there is a heightened intentionality to this idea. With Ohtani, the Mets know they have to mix things up. Before the fifth-inning encounter, Canning didn't show Ohtani a single slider in two prior plate appearances. In Ohtani's second at-bat against Canning, he hit a first-pitch fastball that was out of the strike zone for a single with an exit velocity of 106.9 mph. He was not going to get another fastball in a big spot. 'They're really not throwing fastballs in the hitting zone,' Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. 'If something is in the strike zone, it's spin or changeup, and they're changing a lot of locations, they're going in, crowding him, going away, they're just not repeating a lot.' They're following a plan. Advertisement That's why it was so strange to see deviation during the Mets' loss on Tuesday night. In the ninth inning, Huascar Brazobán threw Max Muncy a 1-2 fastball down the middle. The situation called for a changeup, Brazobán's best pitch. Brazobán and catcher Francisco Alvarez went with the fastball because they believed Muncy was sitting on a changeup. 'That's 100-percent on me,' Alvarez said. The Mets want Brazobán to throw his changeup a lot. Even when the batterymates think someone is sitting on the changeup, they still want Brazobán to throw it. Why? It's what he does best, so they want him to lean into it as much as possible. In spring training, the Mets' front office instructed their catchers to cut down on movement behind the plate. For example, no coming up out of the squat for high pitches or moving over for pitches inside. Instead, they wanted their catchers to set up directly behind the plate. While they were in Milwaukee, president of baseball operations David Stearns and vice president Eduardo Brizuela had the Brewers work this way, too. The way some executives see it, positioning catchers up the middle provides a better tunnel for pitchers. Some pitchers say it gives a better visual for command purposes. 'We started doing that early in the season, and we're getting really good results,' Torrens said. This is a small thing. But four of the six games so far this season between the two teams have been decided by one or two runs. The small details matter. And that's especially true when it comes to the Mets' pitching staff and command. In the six games during the National League Championship series last year, the Mets walked 42 batters. In the six games against the Dodgers so far in the regular season, the Mets have walked 22 batters. Advertisement Still, catchers can only provide the target; it's up to the pitcher to remain confident and execute. The numbers don't exactly bear this out. The Mets are actually throwing fewer strikes than last year (49.8 percent in 2025 compared to 50.1 percent in 2024). But club officials say that they see their pitchers attacking more in the strike zone when it matters most. When explaining success so far against some of the Dodgers' batters, particularly compared to last year, those same club officials point to pitchers challenging more with strikes. In Canning's showdown against Ohtani in the fifth inning on Wednesday, the right-hander threw a strike without using a fastball. 'I didn't want to give in,' Canning said. He didn't have to. Canning shut 'em down 🔥 #LGM — New York Mets (@Mets) June 5, 2025 The Mets entered Wednesday throwing the Dodgers a fastball 48.5 percent of the time. Only the Miami Marlins (44.3 percent) have thrown the Dodgers fewer fastballs. The Dodgers see fastballs 52.6 percent of the time. The Dodgers feast on fastballs. They're not getting many from the Mets, particularly not early in counts. For the Mets, it's working. One of the best examples is late-inning reliever Reed Garrett, who is using his four-seam fastball only sparingly compared to last season. With two runners on and none out in the eighth inning on Tuesday, Garrett relied on his sweeper and splitter to retire Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández and Will Smith without allowing a run. In the NLCS, Garrett appeared in four games and allowed five runs. In three games so far against the Dodgers this season, Garrett has six strikeouts and two walks without allowing a run. More samplings of numbers changing: Ohtani in the NLCS: 8-for-22, 2 home runs, 9 walks, 7 strikeouts Advertisement Ohtani vs. the Mets in 2025: 5-for-24, 2 home runs, 3 walks, 10 strikeouts Mookie Betts in the NLCS: 9-for-26, 2 home runs, 5 walks, 5 strikeouts Betts vs. the Mets in 2025: 4-for-22, 0 home runs, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts Tommy Edman in the NLCS: 9-for-22, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts Edman vs. the Mets in 2025: 2-for-17. 0 home runs, 1 walks, 5 strikeouts 'They've pitched us really well,' Roberts said. 'The execution, sequencing, we're kind of one step behind as far as anticipating what they're going to do, and then when we do get opportunities with mistakes in the hitting zone, we're not cashing in. I don't know the answer, but I do know you have to give those guys credit for pitching us well.' Mets officials will likely say that they did not build their team specifically to beat the Dodgers. And that they just wanted to construct a better team than last year. The new developments shining through against the Dodgers should help the Mets against all teams. The thing is, improvement means being able to handle the Dodgers. The Mets' brass also would likely say they felt they could hang with the Dodgers last season, too. Last October, the Mets' pitching staff entered the NLCS on fumes after barely making the postseason. Also, they were coming off a series win over the Philadelphia Phillies, an uber-aggressive team and the opposite of the patient Dodgers. For the Mets, the results just weren't there, even dating back to last year's regular-season matchups. Come this October, both clubs' rosters will likely look at least somewhat different than they do now because of health and the upcoming trade deadline. The Mets, however, are demonstrating that they're on the defending champion's level. (Top photo of Mets pitcher Griffin Canning: Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Imagn Images)
