NL WILD CARD SERIES: METS VS BREWERS

October 3, 2024

Carlos Mendoza

American Family Field

New York Mets

Postgame Press Conference

Mets - 4, Brewers - 2

Q. Carlos, the game tends to find you in big moments, and it found Pete tonight. After everything he'd gone through in the series in the game, dropped pop-up and what you've been looking for, which you guys had a power outage yourself as a team, how big was that moment for him, and how big was that for you watching the reaction from his guys in that moment?

CARLOS MENDOZA: First of all, I'd like to start by congratulating the Milwaukee Brewers, Pat Murphy, an unbelievable year for them and a really hard fought series. It was a back and forth the whole time, especially yesterday, today. I just want to say congrats to them.

In terms of Pete Alonso, unbelievable. It's one of those where it's been hard for him the whole year. People talk about wanting more from Pete, and you look at his numbers, it's a pretty good year. Obviously the standards and the expectations from him are like -- he should hit 45, 50 homers every year, and it's not easy. He's still going to 30 something, and he's going to hit 800 OPS.

It was loud. It was noisy. Zero extra base hits since I don't know when. As you watch that game unfold and we go into the ninth inning facing one of the best closers in the game, and I'm looking to my right and I see Pete Alonso, and I was like, this could be it right here.

I said it yesterday, he's one swing away from making history. We need a couple of guys on, and there you go. Lindor gets on. And I was like, we just need one more guy to get on. Vientos strikes out and then Nimmo. You could see the whole time, the whole way, you could feel it.

I keep saying it, man. We continue to believe. As a team, we've been punched and knocked down, and we continue to find ways to get back up. We got punched yesterday. We got punched again today in the seventh inning, and we found a way.

For Pete to come through that way is a dream come true for him and what a signature moment there. One swing, and here we are moving onto the next series.

Q. Pete said he liked his bats against Milwaukee this weekend and he liked his at-bats so far in the series, and he also told Eric Chavez right before that at-bat he was one swing away. What gave you the indication he was one swing away?

CARLOS MENDOZA: He's Pete Alonso. He's a dangerous and a really good hitter. Even when it was hard for him, I liked the at-bats. He was walking. He was still putting together some good at-bats, getting behind 0-2 and finding ways to keep fighting, 3-2, lean on some tough pitches. You know, he was fighting the whole time.

I said it yesterday, I guess somebody asked me what do you think about Pete Alonso not hitting homers? And I was like he's one swing away. We just need a couple of guys on, and hopefully he can carry the team deep into October, and here we are, man.

Proud of him. It's a dream come true for him and for all of us.

Q. Last month or so or even really this season, he hasn't quite homered at the same pace he typically does. Have you seen any change in his demeanor with that? Has that been hard for him in private moments? How have you seen him handle that?

CARLOS MENDOZA: He's handled it better than anybody, and he wants it as much as anybody. We've got so many great people, and he's one of them. He wants to win. He wants it really bad for the New York Mets, and here we are.

Proud of him. Yeah, now to the next.

Q. Carlos, you guys had a stretch, I believe, in May, lose 15 of 19. It's the point of the season where it doesn't usually look good for a team. Was there something before you guys hit the month of June and became the best team in baseball the rest of the way that you saw in this team, that you said to the team, that they said to themselves where that switch kind of flipped?

CARLOS MENDOZA: We knew we had really good players. We knew we had really good people, and it was just a matter of time. It was really hard, like you said, in May, and it's a long year. You just got to continue to believe.

They got together, the famous team meeting, and not only that they got together, they backed up those words by going out there and pushing each other, holding each other accountable, believing in themselves, and not afraid to just tell each other the truth.

Win or lose, the same mentality day after day. It happened, man. We got contributions from a lot of different people. Credit to David Stearns and all of his group, player development, scouting, because this is not just who we are here and the players and the coaches, it's just organizational wise.

We kept going, and we continued to find ways, and here we are. The month of May was hard. This series was hard. Getting to this point was hard. We've just got to continue to embrace it, continue to have fun, continue to smile, and just enjoy it.

Q. I apologize if this has already been asked, but how big of a job was it for Quintana to do what he did with the offense kind of scuffling there through the first eight innings to keep you guys in the game?

CARLOS MENDOZA: It's huge. This is who Quintana is. He is a guy that has been in this game for a long time. There is a reason why he's poised. He's calm. He knows the situation. He knew what we were facing, and that's an elite pitching staff right there.

For him to go out there and give us six innings, 94 pitches, going back out for that sixth when they've got the three right-handed hitters, the matchup wasn't in his favor.

The way he was throwing the baseball, keeping guys off balance, getting ground balls, getting weak contact, swing and misses, for him to go out there, and then we lost the lead, helluva job by Diaz and then Peterson getting the last three outs.