3 New York Mets to blame for lifeless NLCS Game 3 loss: Carlos Mendoza deserves heat

If you're ready to point fingers at members of the New York Mets organization after squandering taking a 1-1 series to Citi Field for three games by losing Game 3 of the NLCS to the Los Angeles Dodgers, you're not alone. But the places to put the blame may have started before this game ever started with manager Carlos Mendoza.

The Mets skipper made some head-scratching calls with his lineup decisions for this game, leaving Jesse Winker out of the lineup at DH in favor of J.D. Martinez but also playing a clearly injured Brandon Nimmo, who didn't look right all night. And on a night when the offense barely had a pulse, you have to look at decisions such as that as things that could've helped this game go much differently.

But it didn't. Mendoza deserves some flak for that as the Mets took an 8-0 loss on the chin in Game 3 of the NLCS and now truly need to take the next to games in Flushing to not be in truly dire situations when the series goes back to LA. Before then, though, there are some other Mets beyond their manager who deserve the blame for how badly things went on Wednesday night.

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3. Francisco Lindor wasted too many chances at the plate

Before we pile on the Mets MVP candidate a bit, let's first say that Francisco Lindor made one of the best defensive plays of the postseason in the fifth inning. It ultimately didn't matter all that much in the result but it does speak to the multitude of ways that the all-world shortstop can affect a baseball game positively for New York.

Of course, that may have been just about the only way that Lindor positively affected the game. While a long flyout in the first inning was hit hard, it wasn't hard enough. The next inning, though, the leadoff man came up with the bases loaded and his team trailing 2-0, a situation made for him to show off his clutch gene. He fought with Walker Buehler, to be sure, but ultimately was geeked on a knuckle curve to strike out and leave a goose egg on the board.

It was another flyout and another strikeout that completed his night at the plate.

Big-time players are who you expect to come through in big-time moments. Lindor had his opportunity to do just that on Wednesday night and simply didn't come through. The Mets certainly aren't in the NLCS without their superstar shortstop but this was far from his finest night at the plate specifically.

2. Francisco Alvarez cost the Mets in the field and at the plate

Given how badly Francisco Alvarez has performed at the plate this postseason, it's not entirely surprising to see that he gave the Mets a nothing-burger in Game 3. After all, what more would you expect from a player who came in hitting 5-for-32 with 10 strikeouts in the playoffs to this point. But he still deserves a share of the blame there because he couldn't even put the bat on the ball, striking out before Lindor with the bases loaded in the second inning but he also struck out twice more in his other two plate appearances.

That wasn't the most egregious or costly error of the game for the Mets backstop, however. In the top of the second inning after a leadoff walk issued by Severino to Max Muncy, Teoscar Hernandez hit a soft dribbler right in front of the plate. Rather than taking an easy out when New York needed it, Alvarez instead tried to gun down Muncy at second. The throw was a bit off (and may not have beaten Muncy anyway) and both runners were safe, which ultimately allowed the Dodgers to put two early runs on the board.

In postseason baseball, those little errors often have a way of snowballing into something much worse. It's hard not to look at a play like this and think that's exactly what we saw with Alvarez putting Severino and the Mets behind the 8-ball so early just for things to keep compiling and getting worse from that point on.

1. Reed Garrett put Game 3 out of reach for New York

Yeah, it was Tylor Megill who gave up a moonshot to Shohei Ohtani that really put Game 3 on ice but, when Reed Garrett came into the game, the Mets were truly still within striking distance. Garrett entered the contest in the top of the fifth with two outs and two on and got Teoscar Hernandez to strike out. When he returned for the top of the sixth frame, though, his results were extremely costly.

Despite getting Gavin Lux to pop out and Will Smith to line out, it felt like Garrett was flirting with disaster with his pitch location. That's when Tommy Edman laced a single, which brought up postseason Kiké Hernandez, a much different player than regular-season Kiké Hernandez. And the Dodgers veteran made Garrett pay for hanging a splitter high in the zone, tattooing it 378 feet for a two-run home run and giving LA the 4-0 lead.

On a night when the Mets bats clearly lacked a bit of life and juice, which we've already discussed, Garrett needed to lead the bullpen charge to keep things, in essence, where one swing of the bat could give New York a new ballgame. Instead, he changed the complexion of the second half of Game 3. And obviously, the Mets never recovered.