NL DIVISION SERIES: METS VS PHILLIES

October 8, 2024

Carlos Mendoza

Citi Field

New York Mets

Postgame 3 Press Conference

Q. You've talked about how impressed you've been with your pitchers attacking late in the season. Specifically in the sixth inning with Manaea, walks the first two batters and then strikes out Harper in three pitches, and throws three straight strikes to Castellanos, what are you thinking as he's attacking the heart of their order in that spot?

CARLOS MENDOZA: Look, I don't think he -- it was a hard decision there. Because I could go to the pen, third time through the order, the righty is coming up. The first two guys get on with walks. But then once he got Harper there, I thought he had momentum back.

I always liked his presence, and especially today, his demeanor on the mound. He was always on the attack, from the first pitch. But then the two walks that inning, you know. But after he got Harper, man, I was like, this is his game. A little bit of cushion there with two runs.

I thought a key overall today was attack the hitters and stay in the attack. What an amazing job from him today.

Q. It's been a while since you've been back here at Citi Field. You talked about anticipating the atmosphere. How did it live up to what you thought it would be?

CARLOS MENDOZA: Amazing, fantastic. Let's do it again tomorrow and more so. Obviously I've got to stay in the moment.

What a privilege, what an honor for us to have that support from our fan base. We feel it. I've been saying it the whole year, and today was the perfect example. For us it's a privilege to be able to put this uniform on and represent this franchise and do it for our fan base. They deserve this, and just know that we will continue to fight. We will continue to believe. And we'll continue to have that one day mentality.

Q. What was your level of concern when Sean walked the first two batters in the sixth?

CARLOS MENDOZA: I mean, I'm not going to say concern. I've got to manage, I've got to make decisions there. I'm glad that he got out of it, not only he got out of that inning, he ended up giving us -- I was going batter to batter after that inning. He gave us the seventh and then he went back out for the eighth. Pretty impressive, especially after a couple of long innings where they make some pitching changes and he's sitting in the dugout.

But, look, man, proud of him. He earned it. He deserve it. And it was a really good moment for him to get that standing ovation the way he did.

Q. What can you say about the way Pete has just continued to step up here the last few days?

CARLOS MENDOZA: He's on. And I think we've been saying it the whole year. He can carry a team. He can carry us. And we're here because of that big swing he got in Milwaukee. And then today first pitch her sees off a really good pitcher in Nola, he goes the other way, and he goes with ease. As soon as he hit it, everybody in the ballpark knew that ball was gone. That's not easy to do on a night where the ball seems like it wasn't going to travel as much after Schwarber hits one of seven and doesn't even make it to the warning track. Then Pete connects that one and he's out of the ballpark.

Proud of Pete, good for him. And we want to continue to win.

Q. Pete has historically always hit Nola well. What is it about his approach to Nola that makes that a particularly good matchup for him?

CARLOS MENDOZA: It's hard to tell, because they're pretty familiar with each other. And like I said before the game, it's a game of adjustments. Nola knows him well; Pete knows him well, as well. They've faced each other for a long time.

I'm glad that Pete stayed on the attack today and got a good pitch that first pitch of the game, of his at-bat, and he was able to hit that homer.

But, yeah, two really good players facing again in the Division Series, and Pete got him today.

Q. Sean Manaea in the first inning was getting hit pretty hard. I don't know what adjustments he made. What adjustments did you see him make to kind of settle down after that?

CARLOS MENDOZA: He didn't back down from contact. He didn't back away. We know they are an aggressive lineup, and they showed it right away. They were attacking him but he kept getting the baseball. He had really good rhythm and he went right after. He trusted his stuff. He trusted the game plan, and he didn't back away from it.

I liked how he used all of his pitches, especially the changeup. And when he needed to make pitches, he did an unbelievable job, and like I said, he was on the attack. It was a different look today, even though we seen it the whole year, but his mound presence, his demeanor, like there was something different about him today that I'm just proud of him.

Q. And then just what would it mean for this team to clinch tomorrow at home, if possible?

CARLOS MENDOZA: Look, obviously it would be special. But we've got to come back tomorrow and we've got to win a baseball game. If we would have lost today, the mentality: We need to come back tomorrow and win a baseball game. One day at a time mentality. One series at a time.

We'll come back tomorrow. We've got to stay humble. We've got to come back tomorrow. We have to prepare, we go about our business pregame, and then we've got to go out there, we got to compete and we've got to go out there and execute. We'll see what happens.

Q. Just on the at-bat with Harper, did you think that was perfect execution, changeup the sweeper, sweeper to get him?

CARLOS MENDOZA: Yeah, and we know he's going to be aggressive. He's hacking. Not only pitch selection but the execution. Really good changeups and really good slider to get a real good hitter on a huge spot.

So, yeah, I thought, like I said, I thought Sean got that momentum back after he executed and got Harper out.

Q. You talk often, especially down the stretch, about winning plays and the need to make these little things happen. What does what Tyrone Taylor did in the fourth inning do for a group in games like this?

CARLOS MENDOZA: Huge. You're exactly right. Winning plays. Winning at-bats. Not giving them extra 90 feet. Not giving them extra outs. Winning counts. Winning at-bats.

Today Taylor executed the ball, hits the wall, bare handed and throws a perfect one hop to second base. Then Lindor, don't forget about that play. Not only is he playing with a runner coming in, not only he's catching it and applying a really good tag. And again, it's a lead-off double, and who knows what happens in that inning. And we get him at second base and we got the momentum back.

So, yeah, we need to continue to make those plays. We need to continue to have that type of mentality. And we need to continue to execute.