About territory is back Mets manager at Carlost Mendoza joining us right now, Mandy, we really appreciate the time.

I know it's a busy week, so let's get right into biz.

How are you feeling?

First of all, are you excited?

Nervous?

This is like the playoffs happening over the final six games for your team.

Yeah, good to see you guys.

Definitely, I'm excited.

You know, even though it's been it hasn't been pretty, you know, I'm excited.

You know, we have a big week ahead of us starting tonight, and here here we are and beautiful Chicago, getting.

Ready for a super important game today.

Like you said, every game feels like a playoff game, and he's been like that for the past I don't know how.

Many days, but you know, here we are and go sentrim one day at a time.

There's a preparation any different for these games.

Are you sitting there in your meetings and going, Okay, this is who's available, just like every other day, But then you're like, you know what, I might go to this guy sooner because we are, like you said, in a playoff type of situation.

As far as the preparation, goes.

It's pretty consistent.

I think it's just the way you manage games, you know, and then and how much you use guys down the stretch, you know.

So I think that's the way we see it is that's the only difference.

You know, you're gonna be aggressive when you're taking out your starters or relievers or pinch hitting.

It's like, you know, there's not tomorrow for us.

You know, it's do what we need to do today to win the baseball game, and then we go about tomorrow tomorrow.

And the mentality has been like that for I don't know more than a month.

When you're in the big leagues, you know you're trying to win every night.

But right now, I think it's just how aggressive and the way you use all of you guys that are available.

Do those guys know that to the bullpen guy?

Because I mean, you're you're talking about the bullpen.

You're not you're not making a wholesale platoon changes in the lineup like some teams.

You're talking about the bullpen.

Do you have that conversation today when they get there, you walk around the outfield, what is what does that look like?

Yeah?

Of course you got to let them know.

You got to give them a headsop, and you know, because they got different routines, you know, and a guy that is probably used to pitching the seventh or eighth, hey man, you could be as early as the fourth inning, so their routine's got to change a little bit.

And uh, you know, I'll try and do it myself, are pitching coaches, but we make sure we give those guys ahead stop what we're thinking going into a game, so that way can they can prepare and be ready on time.

Mandy, you're playing the Cubs, this is a playoff team, and I know you're mostly thinking, hey, we just got to win the games were supposed to win, not only this week, but you know even last week.

It's not an excuse, but just the natural human reaction over the weekend from you.

I know you were checking out the score at least to see how Cubs Reds was going.

Were you surprised, like the Cubs got swept by the Reds and now we're here.

No, I mean, anything can happen, man, anybody can beat anybody at any particular day.

I was just you know, concenter at it on our games, and uh, we didn't win a series It was tough.

It was frustrating for us, the fact that we couldn't win the series against the Nationals.

We were, you know, one swing away on Saturday, and then on Sunday we didn't do much as a team, and then here we are sitting in this position.

But again, the.

Past is in the past and all we could control now is taking care of business today.

What is tougher playing a team that's already cleansed in the playoffs, but it's a good team playing a team that has nothing to lose because they're packing up at the end of the series because you don't know what you're getting.

When you talk about preparation pregame for these teams, they're both.

They're both tough, you know, and especially not only when when you're playing teams are out of it, but you're playing a team like the Cops that you know, they might not push their starters, you know, and they might go bumping and uh Like, it's a completely different game.

But at the end of the day, you have to be ready for uh everything that they can throw at you.

Uh in control the teams that you can't control.

But we didn't play well against the Nationals.

We didn't play well against Miami.

Uh, you know, a couple of weeks ago, and we got them next after this series.

Uh.

So, you know, for me and for all of those years, win.

Today, Mendy, with the state of the starting staff, are you surprised it got to this point based on you know, what it looked like at the start of the season really for what the first month and a half or two and where you are now.

Obviously the the youngsters have been a great addition here late.

But when you looked at what the starting staff was like in spring training and then how good it was early on in the season, if I told you what it was going to look like by the end of the year, with you know, Sega still trying to figure things out in the minors, some guys going down, some guys not looking like themselves from last year, would you be shocked.

Yes, I'm not gonna lie.

You know, people are ask me that.

You know, if we would have asked you that three of these kids there are when I start in the minor leagues are going to be part of your rotation in September, it's like no chance.

Maybe one of them, especially with how well we were throwing the ball for the first couple of months and the death, you know, because I kept talking about our death.

We lost Manaya in months.

The first week of spring training, and we felt comfortable with what we had, uh, but then injuries happened, and you know, here we are, you know, throwing three kids that, like I said, you would have asked me in spring training, what were the chances and I was saying maybe one and maybe out of the bullpen.

And but you got to give those guys credit.

You got to give people in player development a lot of credit because they put themselves, uh in this kid in a position where whatever there was a need here at the big league club.

Uh, they were options, and here they are and we're counting on them.

Mandy if if if you guys, I've been saying this for months.

I'm sticking with you.

You guys are getting in, Okay, I mean I've been saying it for months.

You guys are Yeah.

Plus you're playing the Cubs, and you know I wrote against anybody playing the Cubs.

So, uh, you have to win.

You have to win these games.

But if and when you guys get in, will you start the three?

You know, Manaiyah Peterson obviously has been really good for y'all.

But I know you you're gonna say, oh, one game at a time, but you've had to have taken a small look at trying to set some sort of a rotation.

Uh would it be a sprote McLain Peterson kind of deal or would you fall back into the to the veterans in that first round series?

Well, I mean we got to get in right.

Uh.

I trust that you're gonna get in.

Okay, I've already said I've been banging the drum for a month now, Mandy, so you got to listen to me.

I will continue to listen to you.

No, I think I don't think we have the locks with me right now.

To start thinking, okay, how are we going to line these guys up?

I think, hey, you know, we got Peterson tonight, we got Jonah tom tomorrow, and then you know, we'll take it one day at a time, and uh maybe these goes.

All the way down to the last day, who knows, I.

Mean, and then we're not probably gonna be in a position where it like we start lining up people like right now, everything's on the table, all hands on deck, and uh, you know we'll make those decisions when we.

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All right, We've been talking about pitching the whole time.

I want to go to the lineup.

Can you believe that you're getting what you're getting out of the lineup.

I'm not talking about Wan Soto having career home runs and doing exactly what he was brought in to do.

Lynn Door is right about where you thought he would be.

Pete's up and down, but banging a bunch of homers, like all the way down through Baby and Francisco Alverarez in a bomb in the order.

Do you need to expect more from your lineup because of what the struggles of the pitching staff has been.

You know, that's you know, it's hard to describe too crazy.

Is like you said, I was talking to some of our guys here on Sunday, its like, man like, you know, you look at the year that Francisco's having Lindore, you know, like what you expect out of him, you know, the year that Soto's having p and then some of our guys like name having a really good year, Jeff McNeil, I'll be And then sometimes you look up and it's only a couple of runs.

You know, it's like, man like, what's going on?

It's weird.

It's a strange that the fact that you know we're so streaky, you know, and then you look up in some of the numbers and some of the seasons that these guys are having individually, they're like right there, you know, along with the expectations that we had going into this year.

You know, I just I feel like, you know, everybody talks about our pitch and all that, we've just been an inconsistent team for months.

You know, whenever we hit, we don't page.

Whenever we pitch, we don't hit.

And we haven't been playing uh, you know, there's been stretches where we haven't been playing good defense in you know, here we are in this position.

But hey, man, like there's not looking back now, like today's a pretty important game and we got to get ready for that one.

Mandy with a lineup essentially stay the same, or have you had any thoughts of doing anything different and also just playing off what you're saying when you look at so many of the individual stats and how they look good for the Stars and even some of the supporting staff, do you think, hey, maybe I should try and I don't know, shuffle things up.

I know it's easier said than done.

It's always the question we get from fans, like right now chats loaded up, Hey, ask if you should move up baby, or you know there's a lot of questions like that that arise.

How much does that factor in for you and the staff to think about?

I mean we think about it, we talk about it, and would you continue to find for ways to put these guys in position where hey man, let's see if this can click here today we have an announced the line up, but I got name a plane center and I got marked planing left.

Physically, he's through a point where like, hey man, we need to push you and he's good to go.

So we haven't done that pretty much a whole year trying to take care of him.

But here we are, and you know we're doing that today, like I said, and then yeah, I think that's one of the small adjustments.

But the whole year, I mean thinking with whether it's peed the third neme or fourth.

On Sunday I flipped those two.

Uh.

You know you're always looking for ways to help these guys and you know that's what we'll continue to do.

Here it's Sanger done for the year.

Can you can you comment on that?

Is that something that has been discussed with the team that maybe he's done and it's a reset.

No, I wouldn't say he's done.

He threw a li VP today.

I just got that report before I got on.

He's down in Florida.

He threw a LIVP forty five pitches, you know.

So now obviously he's gonna get his three or four days and then we'll see where we're at.

But I wouldn't say he's done.

I mean, there was this time about this time last year, you gave this one to Yeah, you gave us AJ and he didn't quite know at the time, but it was it set you guys on a run.

So maybe he's there for you.

Yesterday off day, I had asked we had somebody with the Tigers on and I said they had an off day too.

Is that a great off day based on the struggles that you've had a time to reset or was it a terrible off day for you because you're like, I just want to see another game.

I need to see us back in playoff, you know, controlling our own destiny.

How was your off day and what'd you do?

Yeah?

I know, he was a nice off day here in Chicago.

I had the family with me, so he's always good to kind of take that day and reset and get your mind off a little bit as much as you can.

But yeah, I think the way we see it here, just.

Kind of get you mine out of it, disconnect for a little bit, uh, and then back at it today, you know, especially after that tough weekend that's serious against the Nationals.

Uh, that past the past two games Saturday and Sunday, we didn't get the job done.

Having an off day here, just kind of, like I said, get your mind out of it and then just get ready for a pretty important week.

Mandy.

When you we were playing the Nationals, you just brought it up.

When when when the guy but Jacob Young, Jacob Young, you know that's his name, made those two catches?

Were you like especially the first one the second one and you see a little bit more often, but the first one.

Do you just look up at the heavens and say, why, Like what the heck is going on?

Because that's one of the best catches I've ever seen, and it happened against you in a playoff race.

Like can't he just kick it a little to the left or a little to the right or the ball hit the ground and we get some runs and we're feeling good about ourselves.

Elite center fielder that looked like Lionel Messi do it?

You know like, oh my, Like I've turned to my right and I was like, giddy, I've never seen anything like that, you know, like, what are the chances that the ball comes out and he kicks it and he's able to control the baseball?

You know, like like you mentioned they wont in the ninth inning.

Uh, you know that happens a lot, right, But that first one on Baby leading off an inning, he was like, this is hard to believe.

But hey, man, like nobody's gonna feel sorry for us.

We got to keep going, all right.

We see your three rookie pitchers that have stepped up in a big way, each in different times.

McClain, Tong and sprot What is the characteristic that you want to see most from those guys?

We see the balls moving every which way.

Tong's got the you know, late life from a small person, delivery, long extension.

What's the one characteristic that you want to see that you'll be like, I know I can go to that guy even though he's a rookie when we make the playoffs.

Yeah.

Look, I mean they all got at least off.

I think it's just they're ability to make adjustments, you.

Know, like having an understanding what a lineup, what hitters are trying to do to you.

For me, that's the number one correcter, is.

You know, and especially for guys that are just getting to the league here, and they've shown that.

You know, we've seen how lineups are trying to make adjustments to Nolan, to Jonah thone and even to Sprotty, you know, and you know, after the first time through the lineup, watching them go out there and make some adjustments, or even in between at bats, the way some of the hitters are taking pictures, or how aggressive they are against certain pictures and in certain situations, and you know, you watch them and just their ability to make adjustments and recognize that, hey, all right, they're doing this, like, but I can also make this adjustment and go with this.

So for me, it's just the their ability to make some adjustments in game is what's been pretty impressive from my end.

Hey, Mandy, last one at the finish line here.

We've seen some of the numbers come out from the Mets Org about the attendance, and the numbers were fantastic, as expected, much higher than last year, obviously coming off a nice playoff performance last year.

Usually get that bump and it looked like it lasted for a while, that the vibes has been great.

So what was that like to experience for most of the year with like, did you feel like there were more fans and more energy throughout this season compared to last year?

And what would your message be to fans here in the final week?

Yeah, I mean, unreal, incredible.

I mean we definitely felt it.

You know, the appreciation from myself, from our team.

You know, it's just off the charge because they packed city field.

They were right there.

Even there was like week days in playing some series the school started and it's almost forty thousand people, like amazing, you know, you know, just appreciation, thank you, and our messages to just continue to believe.

Man, Like, I know it's been hard.

I know they are frustrated.

I mean we get frustrated too, but hey, we got an opportunity to do something special and that's our goal.

Manday, thanks for the time.

You know, we appreciate it.

I know it's a busy week.

Go do your thing.

We'll be watching.

Good luck.

Thanks guys,