4 takeaways from the Dodgers’ sweep of the Mets

Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles) – The day after the Mets’ sixth straight loss Monday night, shortstop Francisco Lindor sat reclined in a chair, jersey off, chatting quietly with Luis Robert Jr. The only noise audible in the visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium came from the clubhouse attendants scraping dirt from the cleats. “It sucks to go through this, whether it’s early in the season, mid-season or late,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “You know at some point during the ‘162 regular season you’re going to face adversity, and here we are, pretty early on, facing adversity. You just have to find a way to get through it.” Instead, it only got worse from there, as the Mets’ losing streak stretched to eight games after being swept by the Dodgers on Wednesday night. New York was outscored 14-3 in its three games in Los Angeles. Here’s my takeaway from the series: 1. The Mets’ offense without Juan Soto seems lifeless Wednesday night, Francisco Alvarez was halfway down the line on a soft pitch against Dodgers second baseman Alex Freeland in the seventh inning when he slammed his bat into the ground, a sign of the growing frustration of a remade offense that has been one of the worst in baseball to this point. The Mets entered the series finale at Dodger Stadium having been outscored by 26 runs during a seven-game losing streak in which they were hitting .182 with a .215 on-base percentage as a team. No other team during that span had an on-base percentage lower than .255. It was a short sample size, but until the Mets lost Soto to a calf injury on April 3, their offense ranked 14th in OPS. They now rank 29th and their losing streak stands at eight. This week in Los Angeles, New York’s offense was kept in check by the stars and supporting cast. On Monday night, Dodgers starter Justin Wrobleski pitched a career-high eight shutout innings in the longest outing of his professional career. The next night, Francisco Lindor greeted Yoshinobu Yamamoto with a leadoff home run before Yamamoto retired the next 20 batters he faced. By the end of the night, the Mets had scored one run in their final 29 innings. That drought extended to one run in 33 innings until MJ Melendez’s RBI double in the fifth inning Wednesday against Shohei Ohtani. It was the only run the Mets scored against Ohtani in an 8-2 loss. 2. No two-way Shohei, but Ohtani’s shoulder looks good on the mound In the Dodgers’ first at-bat of the series Monday night, Mets starter David Peterson hit Ohtani with a 94 mph, 0-2 sinker directly behind the four-time MVP’s right shoulder. Ohtani was clearly uncomfortable, but he stayed in the game and finished the night 0 for 4 with a run scored. After going 0-for-3 with a walk on Tuesday, a surprise arrived on Wednesday: For the first time since 2021 — before the creation of the “Ohtani Rule,” allowing two-way players to remain in the game as a hitter even after their pitching outing ended — Ohtani was not in the lineup as a hitter on his first day on the mound. Manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani was still dealing with soreness behind his shoulder and wanted Ohtani to focus solely on throwing Wednesday night. He did this job expertly, maintaining his speed and pumping his four-seamer into triple digits while striking out 10 batters and allowing just one run in six innings. The run, which scored on a double by MJ Melendez, was the first earned run Ohtani allowed in the regular season since Aug. 27 of last season. The plan is for Ohtani to return to his regular two-way duties for his next start on the mound. His on-base streak – 48 games, the longest active streak in MLB – is still ongoing. 3. The Dodgers still have plenty of pop from the DH position without Ohtani. Having Ohtani only serve as a pitcher Wednesday night gave backup catcher Dalton Rushing an opportunity to enter the lineup as a DH. He took the opportunity to open the match with a grand slam in the eighth. Rushing took advantage of his few opportunities as a receiver behind Will Smith. The 2022 second-round pick is 9-for-17 with four homers. He recorded a hit in all five games he appeared in this year and homered in three of them. That hit kept closer Edwin Díaz from running against his former team. He was ruled out of Tuesday’s game after throwing a training session earlier in the day after reporting knee discomfort, but he insisted he was fine. He was warming up, preparing to go in before Rushing’s grand slam. 4. The Dodgers’ supporting cast is thriving; The Mets newcomers…are not. Even with Mookie Betts and Blake Snell on the board and Kyle Tucker not yet at his peak, the Dodgers look every bit the expected juggernaut. As Rushing’s power demonstrated, their team’s supporting players help pick up the slack. Andy Pages ranks fifth among all MLB qualified hitters in OPS and hit a three-run homer in Game 1. Hyeseong Kim, who played shortstop Wednesday night with Betts out, started the scoring Wednesday with a two-run homer after Rushing doubled. Support continues on the pitching staff. Wrobleski, the Dodgers’ sixth starter, pitched a gem Monday. With Díaz down Saturday, Alex Vesia struck out the side in the ninth to secure the save. As a team, the Dodgers’ offense ranks first in OPS and home runs, while their pitching staff ranks second in ERA. The Mets, with Soto down and Lindor struggling, didn’t get much help from their supporting cast. Bo Bichette entered the first year of a three-year, $126 million contract with a .575 OPS. Marcus Semien is hitting .182. Jorge Polanco is banged up and hits .179. Rookie Carson Benge is hitting .151. Luis Robert Jr. has been one of the bright spots, but his .716 OPS isn’t enough to carry the sputtering offense, which was inevitably going to take a spotlight after this winter’s erasure of the team’s core players. The first results are… not promising.