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Jorge Castillo, ESPN staff writer
NEW YORK – The New York Mets held a players-only team meeting on Wednesday night after being swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 10-3 loss that included another late bullpen outburst and reliever Jorge Lopez throwing his glove into the stands after being thrown out.
The score was tied at 3-3 before the Dodgers scored six to three relievers. One of them was Lopez, who objected to third base umpire Ramon De Jesus’ ruling on a check swing from Shohei Ohtani.
Lopez ended up surrendering a two-run home run to Ohtani. He continued to argue with De Jesus while down 3-1 to Freddie Freeman before the referee sent him off.
Lopez unbuttoned his shirt and threw his glove over the net into the crowd as he exited the field. He showed no remorse after the match.
“No, I don’t regret it,” Lopez said.
“Whatever happened, happened. I’ll be here tomorrow if they want it. Whatever they want to do. I’ll keep doing this thing, you know. I’m healthy. … I am,” Lopez continued. “I’m ready to come back tomorrow if they want me to be here, so I’ll be here.”
Lopez described the dispute between him and De Jesus as a “misunderstanding.”
“Just an emotional thing, I don’t care,” Lopez said. [about] anything.”
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said he had not yet spoken with Lopez about his behavior when he met with reporters.
“When you go through a period like this, you want to see some emotion from the players, from anyone here,” Mendoza said. “But what we saw today from Lobby, that’s unacceptable. We’ll address that internally here.”
Shortstop Francisco Lindor called a players-only meeting while Mendoza addressed the media in an attempt to rally the team to reverse course before it was too late.
The Mets, now 22-33 after sweeping the Dodgers in the three-game series, are 16 games out of first place in the National League East and six games out of the final Wild Card spot. They have dropped seven of eight games and 13 of 16. Several of the defeats, including two of three against the Dodgers this week, included late collapses.
Lindor said the meeting, which lasted more than 30 minutes, was an opportunity for players to talk and hold each other accountable.
“It was good for everyone,” Lindor said. “A lot of players have spoken. It’s really good. A lot of knowledge has been dropped. Now we just have to put it together.”
The schedule says the Mets have 107 games remaining in the regular season, but the reality is the team has two months to convince president of baseball operations David Stearns not to sell players before the July 30 trade deadline.
Stearns said Tuesday that the deadline will be a “turning point in the season.” By the end of the night, the Dodgers had swept a doubleheader from the Mets. They were beaten again on Wednesday in the ugliest loss ever.
