Episode 756 - Mets Get Swept By Pete Alonso and the Orioles

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1:03Evan Roberts. Welcome to RicoBronia. Hi, Evan Roberts episode 756 of the Rico, the Baltimore Orioles sweep the New York Mets at City field it. Ah, I'm just, I am so glad this is over. Everything about this three game series sucked. Everything about the dialogue over these three days sucked. Everything was bad. Like there is no redeeming quality to this three game series. I know that some took joint it, some enjoyed Peter Lonzo sticking it to the meds and really sticking it to David Sterns and the fire Sterns chance and look, I get it. I understand. I hope this brings closure to a lot of people. It's not gonna bring closure to me. I gotta be honest with you. I think that decisions that are made around this franchise that we don't like, they stick with us forever. No, the idea that I'm gonna get closure or you're gonna get closure, I say I hope

2:05that doesn't mean I actually expect it. There are 70 year old men and women who have no closure from the Tom Seaver trade. Tom Seaver is not walking the earth anymore and there's no closure to the Tom Seaver trade. There's no closure to Darryl Strawberry Leaping. We don't get closure. It's just things that you'll think about for the rest of time as a sports fan. So maybe as time goes by, it gets easier. Certainly in the case of Alonzo and the Mets, the Mets could win the World Series next year. They could win the World Series the year after that and we could look back at this and say yeah, it sucked but it ultimately worked out. But unfortunately what happened over these three days against the Baltimore Orioles, number one was bad baseball, the Mets got swept. And number two, the Mets became a story again and it wasn't a fun story. It wasn't one of those cool stories. It wasn't, this was not enjoyable. I don't know if Met fans out there

3:06took enjoyment on these three days, but I personally am so glad it's over. I'm so glad that we can put an embargo on talking about Peter Alonzo for a little bit of time and I'm glad that we can go back to simply sucking in our own privacy. Because for the last month and a half after the Mets decided to sell it and even before that, when the season had spiraled out of control, the Mets weren't a topic around town. We barely talked about them on WFAN. Now we do the Ricos and we break down each game and we've been doing it all year but it's like our own little geeky club. You know, it's like our own, lick our wounds together a club as opposed to being the Joker baseball or being the joke of national shows that never talk baseball. Like I love Steven A. Smith. I find him very entertaining. I came across Steven A. Smith ran thing about the Mets and I wasn't even mad about it. I was just laughing about it. Like literally that's where we are.

4:08This series got enough attention for a guy like Steven A. Smith to just scream about how the Mets are incompetent. So I'm glad it's over. I'm glad they're playing a four game series against the Phillies where we can maybe spoil their season. A three game series against Texas where we'll probably spoil their season and then a battle to stay at a last place against the Washington Nationals. I'm happy with done with this. Before we break down game three, some more thoughts on the first two games of this series and our normal routine, the Rico on the Man right now, star of the series, the net negative. I ask you, Pete Hoffman, Pete Alonzo hit two home runs in this series. We all know about number 300. We did an instant reaction to the game tying back flipping 300th home run. He starts game three with an absolute piss missile of a home run. I ask you this off. Are you happy? Like was this return by Alonzo

5:12and his success, he did it to home runs and his awesome defense. I mean, his defense was a plus. Like did this make you happy? I thought I'd be a little bit happier, but no, I'm not. Yesterday, I think all my life was taken out. Like I think the home run did it. The time we got the home run did it. Today we just kind of like, all right, let's move on with the world. So when Pete Alonzo hits a home run, the first inning, it's like, here we go. And then everybody else in all runs was like, oh, jeez. Yeah. Pete hits the home run. It's one nothing. And then Jeremiah Jackson, by the way, former met, hits a home run and Christian Incarnacion strand. Hits a home run that hasn't landed yet. Samuel Bessio hits a home run. It became batting practice. What made this very difficult, the last game of this series,

6:16really difficult, is that it was on ESPN. And I don't think David Ross is bad. I don't think the play by playing answer, whatever his name is. I don't think he's bad. Kevin Brown. Kevin Brown, I should remember that because he shares the name of that former pitcher. They weren't bad. I want to make that clear. They were not bad. But you know what they did? They did what a national broadcast does. They told us the story we already know for the 500th time. Like they are telling the national audience, Pete Alonzo is a met. He left as a free agent. Met fans are upset. He got a curtain call. He had a home rent. Like, I know. You know. And the worst part about national broadcast, he we think they suck. It's not that they suck. It's that it's not a broadcast for us. That's the problem. Like these guys didn't do anything wrong. They did their job description because they're trying to appeal to somebody

7:17who hasn't watched the Met's all year. They're appealing to guys and gals who turn on ESPN. It's Met's Orioles and they have to tell us a story. So I get it. But for you and I, especially for anyone listening to the Rico, Bronya in September of what could be a 90-law season, we know the story. We don't need you telling us the story. So I found myself agitated by the broadcast and I was agitated by Pete because Pete, and again, this isn't even Pete Alonzo's fault what I'm about to say. He's been asked the same question over and over again. How did feel Pete? What do you think of the crowd reaction, Pete? He's saying the same thing. We're in a penit race, but I'm really grateful. And I love everybody. It's like, okay, I get it. I'm done with this. And so by the third inning, because Pete, I think, did his little interview in the bottom of the second. I'm muted the game.

8:19Like I just couldn't listen to it anymore. They weren't, I wasn't learning anything new. I was just getting a regurgitation of everything that happened. So I wanted to bring up ESPN because I know anyone who watched this game, they bitched about it. But I want you to know, it's not that they're bad at their job. It's that they're doing their job and it's not for us. Right, but on the other hand, I do think there were some jabs at us troll jobs. I mean, yes, Pete Kerr Armstrong decided to hit home run 43 and 44, but like they keep on going back to, hey, guess what's going on in Chicago? And then they make no Chris Bassett happens to be on the mound for remet. Josh Walker's on the mound for remet. I mean, it was just like, hey, let's just pour the salt on the open wound. By the way, can I just say something real quick about something else just off the track? Before the season started, I think there was this rule about

9:20we couldn't say Pete Alonzo's name. Pfft! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Remember, can Dan go back and like see how many times he said Pete Alonzo. Ha, ha, ha! I mean, the defense though will have as I think the exception was this series. I'm okay. Playing him. So, yes, we broke the rule. And I think we'll go back to it. We'll go back to it as they begin the final three series of this horrific season that we have endured to not mentioning Pete Alonzo's name. You know what bothered me the most about this series? A couple of things about what bothers me and what doesn't bother me. I'm not bothered by Pete Kerr Armstrong. It doesn't because he was a prospect. He was a lottery ticket. Like, I know rationally I can hate it and it'll live in Met history, right? Like Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi will live in Met history. I get that it will and it should. But it doesn't cause me physical pain because I remember how I felt at the time.

10:21It was like, all right, we traded a prospect. You never know what that'll turn out to be. Just like Jefferson Rohas couldn't become our superstar. You just never know. So the P. Crore Armstrong stuff doesn't bother me. I think what bothered me the most this week besides the discourse between Met fans which was done a lot on WF fan. I'm not gonna do that much of it here on the Rico. I think was actually Pete's defense. Pete played so good defensively. He made a handful of diving plays. How many times did he make a perfect flip to the picture covering? Like, it bothered me because that was the main argument. That was the argument that we had here on the Rico with so many the e-mallors and so many the listeners which is the lecturing that Pete's not a good defender. And I know he's been better this season. So a lot of credit goes to him and the Orioles coaching staff for the improvement that he's had. But I always felt he was not represented fairly as a defensive first baseman. And in this series, like he only had two hits though they were both home runs. But in this series, the guy made every defensive play.

11:23He was all over the place. He did a great job. Now there's a lot of bad stuff that has nothing to do with Pete Alonzo that I think we've almost ignored over these last few days. Number one being Francisco Alvarez. Francisco Alvarez is losing his grip on being the everyday catcher of this team next year. He's losing it. His defense continues to be bad. He injured Daniel Duarte. You know, we're gonna make a big deal about Pete Alonzo injuring Cody Senga. Go back to the crazy extra inning game of game too. And we forget the 10th inning when the Orioles took the lead. They took the lead on a wild pitch by Duarte with first and third and one out. And it was a wild pitch. So it wasn't a pass ball. But Alvarez seemed lazy on the block. Then when he finally gets to the baseball, he makes an absolutely wild throw. Duarte gets slid into as he's leaping out of the way. That's where he injures the hamstring.

12:23It's kind of amazing that Duarte finished the inning with two strikeouts on a ground out after that play. So you had Alvarez's bad defense. You had atrocious at bats. I mean, he was awful offensively. Remember, he ended the 10th inning with a chance to win it when he came up with first and third and two outs. And he strikes out looking. And he had horrible at bats all week. And I look at these last few weeks and I know that there's not that much that can change in terms of our opinions on players. But Alvarez has become the enemy of met fans. You heard it with the booze. You hear it here on the podcast with the discourse around him. Where I'm at right now on Alvarez is that I'm not looking to dump him. I'm not looking to trade him. Unless I'm getting the chance to do it. I'm looking to trade him. Unless I'm getting good value back. But I think that the power dynamic between Alvarez and Terence is completely changing. Because even if Louise Terence isn't the offensive player

13:27that he has been at times, really in the second half of the season, he's so much better defensively. And I always make this speech to everybody. I always say, you know, there's not a lot of good catchers in baseball. You get rid of Alvarez. How are you replacing him? Well, I mean, the replacement is Louise Terence. As much as I don't view him as this star every day catcher. Again, if they're not a lot of great catchers in baseball, Louise Terence is probably if you're ranking one through 30 and you're finding the starter catchers in baseball, he'd be in the top half. Not because of his offensive numbers, but because of how solid he is. So I look at Alvarez in the way he's playing. And again, I'm not getting rid of him, but I would almost go into next season with the view of Terence starting most of the time of looking at seven days in a week saying, I want Louise starting four or five of those games, but he had a bad series. And a lot of people had bad series. Francisco Lendor, who was also looking to hit his 300th home run

14:27made very little impact offensively in this series. He didn't do anything. Juan Soto. I mean, it was typical Juan Soto. He had a couple of moments, especially in game two, two hits in his first two app ads, but he comes up in a big opportunity in the 11th inning. Is the mess of trying to rally once they're down by three and he grounds out. He doesn't do much in this series offensively. There was a lot of just negative, a lot of negative, nothing and a lot of negative that came out over this three game series. Drink up, baby. Fantasy football happy hour is here to get you wins and have some laughs. Matthew Berry here and my podcast, Fantasy Football Happy Hour, has the sleepers bust and start-sit advice you need to win your league. We're diving into the tape, we're crunching the numbers to bring you sleepers bust weekly start-sit advice whether you're defending a title or desperately avoiding last place. I've got you covered every single weekday. The bar is open. It's Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry,

15:29wherever you get your podcasts. We also saw some injuries. I mentioned Daniel Duarte having the hamstring injury that was not caused by Alvarez, but he contributed to it. We also have this scary injury with Robert Stock, where he's got numbness in his fingers at which Robert Stock, nothing but the best. So instead of Robert Stock starting game three of this series, we get Xaviankuri, which nobody needs to see Xaviankuri. Not that you were getting something more special to watch with Robert Stock, and it's nothing personal on Stock or Curry. They're just not a part of the team next year. And when you're playing out the string of a baseball season, you want to see guys that are going to be here. You want to see the guys that are competing for rotation spots. That's what you're looking for. Xaviankuri and Robert Stock, who was scheduled to start, does not supply that. And as far as what Xaviankuri did in his start,

16:30in the finale of this series, I mean, he was bad. Anyway, now he gives up the bomb of a home run of Peter Lonzo, one out into this game, second batter of the game. The second inning he was given bad luck. And I guess ESPN was right with their description of the bloop that started the second when Christian and Carnacian strand hits a fly ball to short left field. And you get really the triangle of doom with Lindor, Soto and Besht, staring at each other on an easy pop up. It was the A-Rod Geter moment from years ago, except with all three of them. And an easy out turns in a lead off double. And the ESPN broadcast described it as almost indicative of the met season. And they're not wrong. I mean, here are your three highest-priced players. Lonzo does making 50 million. Bull baschettes making 45 million.

17:31Francisco Lindor is making 30 million. I mean, it's insane to think what those three guys are making. And all for different reasons have had disappointing seasons. Lindor and Soto is health. And Besht, I mean, it's almost not been talked about enough. He's had a bad year. He's tried to recover in the second half. He's been better in the second half. But his overall numbers are still not good, not acceptable. I think his adjustment to third base has been fine defensively, but overall, the numbers are the numbers. He came into the finale of this series, 264, 1674, but with an OPS dancing in the low sevens. And you get this easy pop up off the bat of Inkarnasi on Strand. And these three guys are staring at each other. If I had to rank the blame, first, I think it's Soto because he's the outfielder coming in on the ball. Then it's Lindor, then it's Besht. But either way, that ball can't drop. That ball cannot drop.

18:33And that sets up that second inning with a runner on second and nobody out. And two batters later, another former met, Jeremiah Jackson, hits a two run homerun. It's a three nothing game. That goes as a hit because no one touched it. That's a freaking error. I know you can't give an error. I'm not trying to argue with scorekeeping. But if you watch this game, you know that the second inning began with a pop up that either Soto, Lindor, or someone has to put in their back pocket. And nobody did. And at this point, watching this game, I mean, you could have turned the TV off. And I'm sure a lot of people did. I've gotten plenty of notifications from people who say they don't watch the games. They tune into the Rico. And I give you your little recap. Well, if you want to get depressed, watch the replay at the beginning of the second inning, because that play cannot happen. And you see Andy Greenick asked Zavion Curry to come out for a third inning

19:36because they need innings. And it all starts with a two out walk, two outs. Nobody on a walks Kobe Mayo gives up an absolute monster shot to incarnasione strand. And then on the next pitch, Samuel Bessio goes to center field for a bomb of the home run. At this point, mercy, mercy, mercy, Xavion Curry is giving up bombs. If they're down six, nothing, it, it dug, it did feel like, okay, this is rock bottom. We've waited all year for rock bottom. Every time there'd be a bad moment or a bad game or something bad would happen. We would ask is this rock bottom and then there'd be a new rock bottom. Considering the meds played well in the second half after the trade deadline, I think we all just assumed there is no more rock bottom, but they lose two out of three to the Yankees. They get swept by the Orioles. So yeah, do the math one and five in their last six games against the Yankees

20:37and the Orioles. And you're watching bombs of home runs. You're watching Peter Lonzo get a curtain call. You're watching three guys who make it combined $120 million. Can't figure out who to catch a pop up. I it was, it was bad. And the rest of the game was just kind of going through the motions, which is probably going to be the rest of the season going through the motions. We'd be the best way to describe it. They didn't get anything done offensively. They did get an RBI single by Marcus Simion in the fourth inning against Chris Bassett, but they didn't even really have a lot of opportunities against Bassett to Rens came up with a couple of guys on on the seventh. Lindor led off the eighth with a base hit by this point. They're down six to one. It's just too little and too late. And speaking of Chris Bassett, I don't know. When I say Chris Bassett's name, I'm not sure what met fans think probably the way he came up small in game three against San Diego. He was a decent met for the one year he was here, but I think he's remembered for

21:40coming up small in that game as well as the game against Atlanta. And then the comments he made about the fans have, man, they take winning so seriously. Well, I don't know if he has a vendetta against us, but Chris Bassett just sticks it to the mats. I mean, there's another guy that you can make a long list of former mats who come back and stick it up that you know what, Chris Bassett's one of them. Another awesome outing. One of the best starts he's had all year pitches into the seventh inning, allows one run. The met offense does nothing against him. And remember a couple of years ago, Chris Bassett was pitching on a Friday night and his wife went into labor. And Bassett was like, let me finish my start against the meds. And then immediately when the start was over, got on the plane and visited his wife and the baby was born. This guy is so locked in at dominating the meds that even when something like that happens, you know, the birth of his child, he has enough confidence to say, just, just give me,

22:45give me a few more innings and I'll get through it. But he was great. And he put the exclamation point on what was all around a bad series. Just all of it was bad. Game one was bad. It's a one one game in the eighth inning. It turns on a Gundar Henderson home run. The met offense does absolutely nothing goes down meekly against another former met the great Rico Garcia in the ninth inning. We all know game two, three, two lead in the ninth. Sanga gives up a home run to Alonzo Curtin call. They're down by a run in the tent. They come back and they tie it out of a chance to win it. They don't the three run inside the park home run in the eleventh. It's just all bad. And then it's capped off by this lifeless loss to the Orioles and look at the met offense. The met offense scores 12 runs against the Yankees on Saturday. They scores zero runs on Sunday. They score one run on Monday.

23:47They do score five runs in game two. But remember two of those five came with the ghost runner in extra innings. So if we're looking at you know, real runs like the real runs, that's three that they score. And then they score one in the finale of this series. So that's five runs in four games after scoring 12 runs against the New York Yankees. And this is why. And you know, I'm going to give you a positive. I found one. And I think I said this before a few weeks ago during one of their series defeats because the men have played reasonably well in the second half of the year. But you go back. Maybe it was the series. It may have been losing back to back series to Milwaukee in Houston. That may have been it where I said, this is probably a good thing. It was three straight series that they lost. They lost two out of three to the white socks.

24:47They lost two out of three to Milwaukee and they lost two out of three to Houston. And it was, you know, this is a good thing because this allows us to not be fooled by when they were playing well. And we can't be. You cannot be fooled by the meds playing decent baseball for a period of time. If you are and you think that's who the real meds are, I don't know what to tell you, man. Are there good individual performances to be encouraged by? Absolutely. They have good young players that are exciting. AJ Ewing has gotten hot. I think that's very encouraging. We know about the year Benches had the pitching. I, I get it. That's all good. But as a team, they've mostly been bad. And so losing this series, getting swept and it's the first time the meds have been swept in the second half of the year. You got to go all the way back to the Boston series right before the All Star break. For the last time the meds got swept also at home, also against an American league East team.

25:49But I think this is all a reminder of what they truly are, which is not a good team. I mean, this was a bad team this season. And the offense, which I have felt for two years needs to get better. And that's before they lost the 40 and 100 from Peter Lonzo. There are offenses been widely inconsistent, even during this second half. They score the 12 runs against the Yankees. Look at the way they responded. And let's not act like they were getting shut down by superstars here. They weren't came Schlitler on Sunday fine. Uh, of course, I'll give you that. But chainbas pitched four innings got knocked out early. They actually got to them what got to them decently, but Brandon Young and the rest of the Oriole bullpen. Chris Bassett and the rest of the Oriole bullpen. That's who shuts you down. So I think maybe the positive is we don't get fooled by a little bit of a hot street. The other positive is if you head out to city field this weekend for the four games against the Philadelphia Phillies,

26:54you can knock one out of the park and raise the apple with the car and chew. I a sparkling cocktail that blends real show two spirits with the delicious flavors of fruits, locally grown in Japan. It's available at city field in Fuji apple, of course, white peach and lemon. Let me read a few Alvarez emails because I tend to get a lot of crap when I say something that's not even positive about Alvarez. I get crap when I say they shouldn't get rid of him. Frank writes, I haven't firstly, I commend you for continuing to do these podcasts and watch this God awful team. I continue to watch, but not with the dedication you do. I appreciate that. Actually, this one isn't about Alvarez. This is about Andy Green. I'll get to Alvarez in a second. I genuinely don't understand the fan bases in fatuation with Andy Green. The Mets are 35 and 36 under his leadership. What exactly has he done that has people convinced he should be the manager going forward because he pushes the young pictures to go another running. Great. Isn't that something a manager should be doing?

27:56I feel like we're failing or falling for the exact same thing we fell for with Mendoza. Mindy managed during a disgraceful start to 24 and they were basically zero pressure and zero expectations left. The team turns it around. Everyone fell in love with them. And suddenly he was the guy. Then 2025 came expectations were real. And he fell flat on his face by 2026. He was gone. Why are we doing this again? Andy Green is not the guy. I'm perfectly fine keeping him in the organization. Let him work with sterns. Let him be his right hand man. Let him move back to the front office and eventually be the GM. If that's where they see his future, but manager go get Alex Coro. Let me comment on that and I'll read the rest of your email. The infatuation with Andy Green is the way he's pushed the young players. And it's not just pushing a guy to go deeper into a game. That isn't simply it. That's what he did with Zach Thornton Saturday.

28:58That's what he's done at times with some of these youngsters. But I think it's also the comments he's made in which he challenges them. And this is a young met team. It's going to be weird going into 2027 because the payroll is still going to be incredibly high. You still have superstars, but this is a very young team. They are likely to trust Thornton, Scott McClain. And we'll see about tongue as part of their rotation next year. And even if they get an anchor in a slight pitcher, whether it's scuba or someone else, that is still a heavy reliance on young pitching. And there's going to be a reliance on young position players. Carson Benz and AJ Ewing are going to be a part of the team. And who knows if one of the guys they acquired at the deadline could also push to have a spot as an everyday player next year. So the infatuation, if that's the word you want to use with Andy Green is either right guy for that kind of team because of his dealings with them.

30:03And because of the way he pushes them, I said this last time on the RICO, or maybe it was three times ago now because we've recode every game of this or real series. I'm not handing him the job, but I think he's a real candidate now. That's how I would view him. And I wouldn't have viewed that a month and a half ago. And it's more than just the record. I think Andy Green should be in the mix. If Alex Coral wants to match up, am I picking Andy Green over Alex Coral? I'm not going to F R, but I think he is a real candidate. So infatuation may not be the fair word to use. I think it's watching him watching what he says, even when he's asked about the cheering of a Lonzo and all those aspects, like he seems to give the right answers. Now that's not the reason to get the job, but that's another attribute that he has. Anthony writes or it's Tony and Florida. Evan, I don't understand your infatuation with Alvarez. You always say that you don't want to get rid of him. Why? He has to be. He's had a few years to show he could be a part of a championship roster,

31:07not just to catch her on an average team. We need to build a roster of players that will contribute. He is proven he will never contribute. He has no discipline at the plate. He makes poor decisions on challenges. He will never be a player that the men's will regret letting go. So let him go. Send Badi and Vientos with him to you. Do not know that last part. You can't say definitively. They will never regret letting him go. He has tons of potential. He is still incredibly young. It's easy right now because we're frustrated to say, FM get rid of him. I have a better solution with players like that. I suggested this about Anthony Volpe a year and a half ago. And the Yankees are finally doing it now, not that they listen to me. And that is just view him differently. Just view him differently. He's no longer the prized prospect who has to play every day. Catching in baseball sucks.

32:07I don't have a problem with Trens catching more than Alvarez, but those two guys being in the room. And if Alvarez starts to put it together, not that I'm expecting it, not that Tony's expecting it. But if he does get hot, if his bat starts to play, if his defense starts to improve, great, he can take the job. Until then, I've got this sturdy veteran and Luis Trens who plays more. It's, it's not about I believe in him, arrive in infatuation with him. It's instead of giving up on someone instead of saying get out of here. I never want to see you again. How about you minimize them a little bit until they earn it. And it's kind of crazy what's happening on the Yankee side. Anthony Volpe got minimized. He became a minor leagueer who had to learn other positions. Then an injury occurred combined with him playing really well in the minors. He's in the major leagues. He's playing good defense. He's getting clutch hits and it's different.

33:09I can envision that with Alvarez where he's on the team next year. Sorry, I'm not giving you your blood. But Luis Trens, because he's earned it, plays more. And if Alvarez can take it back by his performance, then great. Let me read a few of your emails and then we will get to the Rico on the man right now. Star of the series. Sam writes the only closure I would have gotten from this is if Peter Lonzo went over 12 with nine strikeouts. I don't even think that would have given you closure. You right, say, Evan, I don't know if you'll get this, but this series really erased the good vibes we had for a bit there. It sucks because the fans really get the bleep end of all outcomes. We got a bad off season where our beloved guys were shown the door, followed by a disappointing injury plate season of the front office's plan, followed by a spot of hope and young exuberance, followed by the return of our ones beloved franchise cornerstone to remind us how bad of a year it really was and make all the players on the team hate the fans.

34:16You never know what's next as met fans and that's both the best and the worst. It really is the most torturous fandom because it's not always bad. They give you enough to believe and then you go and then once they do, they break your heart. I think that the players responses to this has also been fascinating. Sean Monaya talking about how weird it is or what was the phrase he used? How strange it is. Sean Monaya shouldn't say a word or if you're going to say a word say what code I sang a set to a translator or what one Soto said, which is, hey, if anyone deserves it, it's Pete. In one's case, he said, this has been a bad year. It's fine. That's a, that's essentially what these guys said. So it's not all met players being mad at the fans and quite frankly, I don't care if they're mad at the fans. I don't care. They've had a bad year. Strange was the word. Sean Monaya was using it's strange.

35:17You know what else is strange? Steve Cohen, he is a strange freaking guy because in the front in front of cameras in front of people being able to see. He actually says to Pete Alonzo, this is your home. This is after an off season in which the meds never made him an offer. Yes, they made him an offer the year before that and the year before that. I never said they never made him an offer ever. They didn't make him an offer this past off season. And yet Steve Cohen, knowing the cameras can see it goes out and says, this is your home. He then follows that up. And this is a guy who's never on Twitter, right? He has not used social media as the bully pulpit. I thought, okay, fine. Mets are having a bad year. He rarely tweets. He decides to respond to a video posted by foul territory in which David Lenin says he hasn't seen David Sterns around city field the past couple of days.

36:22And for whatever reason, this owner who is very tone deaf, say a lot of things about him is a lot of positive things about Steve. But one of the negatives is he just, he don't get it. I don't think he has people in his ear telling him, you know, maybe you shouldn't do this. Maybe you shouldn't do that. So he tweets out at foul territory. That's strange. I was in the dugout pre game Monday with a guy that looked like Sterns. Was it an imposter? First of all, who gives a crap? Steve, who cares if David Lenin says on foul territory, David Sterns hasn't been around in a few days. He hasn't been anywhere seen by fans. He hasn't met the media. He hasn't done his normal home press conference that he does for home stands. So for all intents of purposes, I don't give a crap. If you were having lunch with him, he's not around. He's not there to take the bullets from fans.

37:24So whether he is around or not around perception is reality. That's number one. Number two, that's what you go on social media to tweet about. Of all the things over the last few months, where you could talk to your fan base, calm your fan base down, say anything to us. That's the fight you want to have. I mean, dude, and I say this in the most respectful way possible. Shut up then. Like it's better off not saying anything because to come out there like you're so witty. I was sitting with someone who looked like him must have been an imposter. Nobody cares. You didn't win anything. You didn't convince anybody of anything. Great. David Sterns was around. He wasn't around answering questions. He wasn't around in visible view of what was a very embarrassing few days for both Cohen Sterns and the Metz organization. And that's why so many fans decided to do what they did,

38:27which I don't have an issue with. I didn't share Alonzo hitting the game time home run, but that doesn't mean people were wrong for doing it. A lot of people were doing it, Steve, to send a message to you, to send the message to David Sterns. Doesn't mean you're going to do anything with the message. Doesn't mean you even should do anything with the message. But how about you comment on that instead of Oh, I told David Lenin boy, I really told him I got him good to come on. And here's my other piece of advice. David Sterns meets the media every home stand. I know there's still a week and a half left to go in the season. Meet the media tomorrow. And the only answer you can give the only right answer is to say, Hey, so far, this looks bad. And then maybe because I don't think I've ever heard the answer. One last time we can find out why you weren't very interested in bringing

39:29him back even on a long term deal. And I know that we've got four more years left on this contract, but I made this argument before. So I'm as well making it again. I have no evidence that Pete Alonzo is going to wear down or break down as a player. He always plays his defenses gotten better. He's incredibly consistent. So what are you looking at? What is the formula you're fiddling with that told you that guy's not worth a long term deal? I'd be very, very curious. But I don't think we have an answer. David in Texas, right? Pete is the man right now. He needs to be the I'm the man right now winner for making the most talked about part of the met season and the net negative is Sean Menaya for his whiny comments. Dave, I appreciate it, but that's not how it works around here. I'm actually going to stick to baseball. I'm actually going to use baseball logic to pick the Rico on the man right now.

40:29Star the series and the net negative. Let's start with the positive. It's always very difficult to find in a three game series. We could go Jeffrey on for his return and pitching three scoreless settings, including striking out the side in his third inning of work. We could go with him. We can go with Nate Lavender for getting five big outs before the met bullpen blew it. Offensively, the only guy I would consider is AJ Ewing. AJ Ewing went one for three in the opener with a home run and then two for four in both game two and game three five for 11 with a home run and an RBI. I don't blame him for not making the play on the inside the park home run. Boomer Siason said to me, I think he said it on the air too, but he definitely said it to me in our office. AJ Ewing should have made that play and I said, boom, or I don't know if Andrew Jones is making that play. So I'm not going to hold him not making that catch as a responsibility.

41:34But he's a he's a worthy candidate. AJ Ewing, but the guy who deserves it and I will let a motion play a very small part of this. But I do think he deserves it based on merit is Jonah Tongue. I got a hand it to Jonah Tongue because it isn't easy what he dealt with. This is the second time he had to deal with a big return. 35,000 people on a Monday night, a decent or real team, like not the worst team even though they came in six under. But some major leaguers in this lineup like Pete Alonzo and you had to deal with the crowd. You had to deal with the standing ovation's the booing after the Alonzo walk in the third inning. Like that's not easy. And the only run he gave up in his six innings was an unearned run because of a past ball by the immortal Francisco Alvarez and the hitty gave up which led to that unearned run was a horrible bounce double that got passed the first baseman rep.

42:41Jonah Tongue through six innings he allowed zero earned runs. He was awesome. And I think when you throw in the environment and you throw in what he had to deal with. Which I didn't think he was getting boot. I made that point. I think fans were booing the situation. He still responded. He struck out Gunnar Henderson. So, Hall, if you tell me if you disagree, I think AJ Ewing would be the other candidate. But I think Jonah Tongue deserves with the way he threw the baseball and everything else to be the man right now. I think you nailed it. I think his composure just everything about him. That could have gotten too big for him and he didn't allow it to. I think that we definitely got a tip to cap and raise a glass for Jonah Tongue. What's amazing for Jonah Tongue is that that was only his, I guess that was his second start. So he's only made two starts this year and he made three relief appearances.

43:43This is his second Rico on the man right now star of the series. Believe it or not. Is that right? Yeah. I'll take you back to when he won his other. It was a series against the Marlins where the Metz got swept. But Tom came. I know. He wins it when he gets swept. He came out of the bullpen and threw three scoreless innings and it's obviously tough sometimes to find stars when you get swept. But yeah, he threw three scoreless innings out of the bullpen and that Miami series and won the Rico on the man right now. So Jonah Tongue is a two time winner. Francisco Alvarez, Francisco Lindor has not won the award one time this season. And Jonah Tongue has now joined listening to these other two time winners. You'll love this. Mark Vientos and Luis Robert Jr. The other guys that have won it twice and then AJ Ewing three Zach Thornton four and Nolan McLean one. So Boba, Shack Carson, match all that. But yeah, I think it's Jonah Tongue. AJ Ewing gave it a ride though.

44:44AJ Ewing was good, man. And he's been so good over the last few series major props. Who we given the credit to? I think we we we fought like three different occasions. AJ was getting hot, whether it was Keith Hernandez going into the locker room, whether it was a base hit against Josh Heter at the end of the Astros series. It was the double off day. That's what it was. That's what I think eventually helped him. He took an off day. They sat him and then he got hot at the end of the giant series. And AJ Ewing's been really, really good offensively lately. Yeah. And again, you we go back to the defense part of it too. Like I told you yesterday, I mean, he got me the hell of an effort. That's one thing you can't take away. And I'll put Benz and him together because those two kids are on a team right now where fans are basically fighting within each other right now. And they're going out there and playing ball. Like you got to love that part of it. No, not about it.

45:45Well, deserve for Jonah Tongue. Six innings, zero earned runs, best start by anybody in this series. He deserves it. And I've said a few times like he doesn't have enough time necessarily to earn a rotation spot. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe going out there and he should get two more starts, potentially depending on how they want to work the rotation. Let me do some quick math. He started Monday. He's not going to start Saturday. It starts Sunday or Monday. He should get two more starts. There should be two and I would prioritize two more starts for Jonah. Now the Metz could be careful and say to themselves, you know what? He had a very rough year in the minor leagues. If he has one good, more good start, call it a day. Let's get him out. Let's end it on a good note. I can see them doing that. I understand it because what's the difference between three major league starts and four major league starts, but major props to Jonah Tongue because this wasn't a good year for him. And here he is in the rotation in a very tough environment and he's doing the

46:48baseball well and he's trying to get himself back on that radar for 2026 or 2027. The net negative and there's a lot of options. I think it's Francisco Alvarez. I think it is he commits the past ball that leads to the honor and run. Jonah Tongue gives up offensively. He had a lot of bad at bats, including striking out with a man on the bat. Throw that basically injured Daniel Duarte. Look, there are other guys you could look at. Lendora was very quiet in this series going to for 13. You can pick on code I sanga, I guess, for giving up the tying home run. Pentaro for giving up the basis clearing hit. Zavion Curry for what happened in the last start. Like I get all of that. Those are all fair. Alvarez was bad. He was one for nine at the plate and was bad defensively. I think he's the net negative in this series. I'm going to fight you because this.

47:50This series was the Pitalanso was the face of it, right? Yeah, but you had Sean Menaya who. You know, even though he had a decent start his comments. I like his comments. That is an emotional. That negative, but it's really Francisco Lendora want so though. Because the face of this series was Pitalanso and where are our stars? Our stars. They were silent. Both of them. That's bad. They didn't do enough. I mean, they were combined five for 25 in this series. They did not do enough and there's been a lot of that at times. I get it like they weren't great. They weren't great. I just think Alvarez was he was bad. Like he was the he was the definition of a net negative because he brought this team down like his defense was. It was impactful. Like it was impactful.

48:50That is defense was and then obviously the big at bat finds him and he strikes out on a pitch right down the middle to end that 10th inning. Think about how different the mood would have been on that Alonzo night game two of this series. If they just would have won the game in the 10th or 11th like that's it. Just win the game and they didn't do it and like Soto and Lindor didn't impact them negatively in all aspects. I get your point like everything you said about Manias comments fine. Met fans did not like it. Soto and Lindor as superstars did not make a major impact in this series. One combined RBI all fair. But when you look at the definition of being a negative. I think it was Francisco Alvarez. So I'm sorry. Unlike last week where I gave in to the public pressure. I will not do it this time. Francisco Alvarez you're the net negative and you're the net negative for the fourth time this season. We have ourselves a hell of a race going into the final stretch of this season.

49:51We only have three more series left. So three more opportunities for Lindor to get off the snide and be a Rico. I'm the man right now star of the series. But listen to this battle for the ultimate net negative of 2026. Boba Shet five Marcus Simeon five Francisco Lindor four Francisco Alvarez four one Soto four Freddie Perralta four. Now Freddie's out so good. Good for you Freddie who is pitching his ass off now, which is very concerning about the future of the Mets and their ability to get the best out of pictures. If I'm Tarrick Scouple, I'm looking at this saying, I don't know, man. You you can get me 50 million dollars here. I don't know. But yeah, you look at this net negative race. It's so equally distributed. It's almost perfect. That's that's perfectly describes the disappointment of this season. How well distributed the net negative is.

50:52And if you had to pick who do you think is going to finish with the most net negative you have three series left and the tight race. Who do you think is going to edge everybody out? I think Boba Shet may take it. You know, Boa's a seasons basically over. I know he's motivated. I'm sure by the opt out decision, but you know what screw it. I'll go with Marcus Simeon. No, you know what Francisco Alvarez no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You know what? I have no answer. I don't have a good prediction on this one. I'll tell you this was it won't be Francisco Lendor because I think he does have on the man right now in him. I mean, he's one home run away from 300. I feel like it's going to be impactful. He's going to give him a little boost and that means he's going to have a really good series very soon. So I feel like that's at least one cut away from Francisco Lendor. I hope so. I don't want to go into this off season with Lendor not getting and I'm the man

51:52right now. Well, we have three. I'm going to be a little bit more relaxed at it. What? I mean, but he's played what like 96 games, 97 games. He hasn't even played 100 games yet. It doesn't matter. He's Robert Jr's one that the I'm the man right. Everybody's wanted. I've gone through this before. I get it's I get the award isn't perfect, but 23 different people have won the I'm the man right now. Dead nail Nunez, Daniel Duarte, Brooks Raley, Tyrone Taylor, Tobias Myers, Ronnie, Ronnie Mauricio. So for the sake of Lendor, who I love, he's got to get one and he's got three cracks at the Apple. There's three more series left this season. The four games set coming up against the Phillies, which will be a very like a ventful weekend. You got your Thursday game. You got your Friday game, but you've got the Carlos Beltron, Hall of Fame ceremony on Saturday, number retirement ceremony. And then obviously the great tribute to the voice of the Met's Howie Rose on

52:56Sunday. So you got this series with the Phillies, a series in Texas against the Rangers and then the Met's attempting to stay at a last place with a series against the Washington Nationals will be here the entire time to Rico it until we get to the bitter end. But your thoughts on anything we talked about today and of course looking ahead because we're going to start to do a lot of that as we get to the end of season, you can email us to Rico be a Gmail.com, the Rico be at Gmail.com. Sunday night is a guaranteed Rico, Bronya. Not sure what time it'll probably be rather late because I am going to the Jets game. So I'll be watching the Met's on DVR, which is sad, but I'm loyal to the end, man, to the very, very end. Do me a favor though. If you run into me at the Jets game, don't tell me the Met score because I do want to at least attempt to be DVR'd successfully. So we'll give you our series recap at some points Sunday night. It'll be in your podcast feed.

53:58If you've subscribed to the Rico, Bronya, you can always consume it live on the WFN YouTube page. And look, we've done this all year long. I don't think it will stop. We'll probably give you an instant reaction or two, especially over the course of a four game series. I'm sure we'll split the baby and do a Rico on Friday. So lots of Rico's. The point of this is to subscribe because if you've subscribed then, uh, you don't need me telling you it'll always be there waiting for you. Med fans, I leave with this. This was bad. And this was embarrassing. But the final 10 games, no one's going to pay attention other than us die hearts. So back to being bad quietly, which is a nice place to be. Thank you very much for listening to this edition of Rico, Bronya. We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Rico, Bronya podcast. It's amazing, isn't it? Make sure you download it now to keep it on you at all times.

55:08Hey, all right. Almost here. Are you ready? Just grabbing my shoes. That's what you said 10 minutes ago. I just wrapped the video call, uploading this giant file on my tablet, looking at my watch group and Nana's with the group chat. And of course, still lining up tonight's playlist on my phone. All at once. Yep, story of my life. That's why I switched to T-Mobile. They have the fastest 5G network. Okay, multi-tasker. I see you. Honestly, I never imagined I could do all this at once. It's awesome. Say no more. I'm totally switching. My post is taking way too long to upload. That's a sign you've got to get T-Mobile. So many reasons to join T-Mobile. Find yours at T-Mobile.com. Fastest based on analysis by Uglospeed Distant Intelligence data of national speed score results in corporate 5G download and upload speeds for the first half of 2026.