It's not easy what Jonah Tong is attempting to do for the Mets.
Last month the young right-hander was pitching for Double-A and now he's going up against Jacob deGrom at Citi Field, thrusted in a pressure-filled playoff race and trying to help his team overcome its losing ways.
Forget about difficult, that's just unfair.
And even though manager Carlos Mendoza said Tong is mature for his age, he's still just 22 years old and deserves all the grace in the world following his rough start on Friday night.
"Keep your head up, keep going," Mendoza said about his message to Tong. "There’s no other way around it. Flush that one out and just keep moving forward."
Tong, of course, has the talent and potential to be a successful starting pitcher in the league. Look no further than his MLB debut just two weeks ago and you'll see a pitcher with the stuff that can be dangerous for a long time.
However, it's obvious he still needs time to continue to develop into the starting pitcher that he has the talent to be. But asking him, along with the two other rookies in the rotation, to be the savior of a flailing team with sky-high expectations that have not been met this season isn't the proper way to foster and nurture that talent.
After the loss, a clearly emotional Tong didn't have a lot to say. Still, he managed to get out that he didn't give the start that he wanted and even thought of the bullpen, saying that it "hurts" to know that his outing put "more stress" on a beleaguered group — quite selfless for a 22-year-old.
"He’s a competitor," Mendoza said. "Obviously he cares a lot… He'll get through that one."
The question now becomes what will the Mets do next?
While he didn't confirm or deny that Tong would make his next start, Mendoza reiterated that New York could get creative. What's most sad about the situation, though, is despite how poorly his outing went on Friday, Tong remains one of the better options the Mets have at the moment due to massive failures elsewhere on the roster.
"It’s just life, so take it one step at a time," Tong said. "I mean, I’m always grateful for opportunity."
Among the players giving the right-hander advice was David Peterson who Tong said told him, "Keep your head up. The sun’s gonna rise tomorrow."
Wherever Tong makes his next start, he'll have time to learn from this one and hopefully grow from it.
"(I'm) gonna have some time to reflect on this and get ready for the next one and just go from there," he said.
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