Sunday’s 9-0 loss to the Rays was a rock-bottom point of the weekend for the Mets, who lost all three games against Tampa Bay (39-32) by a combined 24-9 margin, but National League-leading New York (45-27) is not dwelling on its season-first sweep as it prepares for this week’s series at the Atlanta Braves.
“You hate to get swept here at home, but you’ve got to move on,” said Carlos Mendoza. “You’ve got to turn the page. We’ve got an off day. And then we’ve got a stretch here where we’re playing the Braves, we’re playing the (Philadelphia) Phillies, we’ve got the Braves again.
“So, again, it’s 162 (games) — you’re going to go through stretches where this is going to happen. Obviously, we’ve got to play better. We didn’t execute, we didn’t play clean baseball and they made us pay. So, like I said, we’ve got to turn the page and start — be ready to go Tuesday.”
The sweep marks just the second time this season where the Mets have lost three straight games, with the first and only other instance coming May 18-20 at the Yankees (one) and Boston Red Sox (two).
“I think there are things you take away from it,” said Brandon Nimmo, whose first-inning single was the first of only five hits by the Mets in Sunday’s shutout. “You try and take it for a learning moment. People will look at this series and see if there’s a recipe on how to beat us. And so, I definitely think there’s something to learn from it.
“But at the same time, you try and not make it bigger than it is. We’ve been very good to this point, so you try and build on that. But there’s always something to learn, so we will go ahead and look at those small things and learn from that and take ’em into the Atlanta series.”
New York enters Atlanta with the Braves (31-39) under .500 since May 22 and fresh off Sunday’s 10-1 loss to the MLB-worst Colorado Rockies (14-57).
“We know, when you look at that team on paper, that’s a really good team,” Mendoza said. “Obviously, they have some struggles. And then the three guys that we’re facing, they’re elite pitchers. And then you look at their lineup, they’re healthy.
“So, yeah — from the beginning, before the year started, we knew there were some good teams, really good teams in our division and the National League overall and here we are. We’ve got to get ready and the next 10 days are — we’ve got to play well.”
After the 7:15 p.m. starts on SNY across Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Atlanta, the Mets’ three-game series at the Phillies (42-29) opens Friday.
“Just take it one day at a time,” Nimmo said. “The Braves are a very good team — I don’t care what their record says — very good team that can play very good baseball, pitch very well, hit very well, especially in their home ballpark, so we’re going to be going in there expecting a bulldog fight, be ready for Game 1.
“Same thing with Philadelphia — we know they’re an extremely talented team, very, very good, very dangerous at home, great pitching staff. So, tough stretch coming up and we’re just going to have to take it one game at a time.”
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