The Mets look defeated right now, and SNY play-by-play announcer Gary Cohen isn’t afraid to admit it.
“The Mets going out with a whimper,” Cohen said on the broadcast in the ninth inning of Wednesday’s 7-2 loss to the Brewers. “That’s really been the case often in these games where they’ve fallen behind. The at-bats late in games have really suffered.”
After starting the season red-hot, the Mets have gone 3-14 over since June 13 in an abysmal stretch that has everyone around the team puzzled and frustrated.
What seemed to be most disappointing to Cohen, though, was the team’s lack of heart and fight in late-inning at-bats while trailing.
The Mets’ showing in the bottom of the ninth seemed to back that assessment: Juan Soto struck out on three pitches, Pete Alonso grounded out to shortstop and Brandon Nimmo flew out.
It was a similar story over the weekend — the Mets got swept by the lowly Pirates by a combined score of 30-4, with plenty of noncompetitive late-inning at-bats throughout the series.
The relationship between MLB teams and their broadcast booths sometimes can be an issue while the respective team is struggling.
The most notable instance of tension came in 2023, when Kevin Brown, the Orioles’ play-by-play announcer on MASN, was briefly removed from broadcasts by the team after he made a comment about Baltimore’s struggles against the Rays at Tropicana Field. MASN is owned by the Orioles and Nationals
The suspension led to widespread outrage, before Brown re-joined the broadcast a few weeks later.
No such situation will play out in Flushing, though.
The Mets and Steve Cohen do not own SNY and have no authority over what is said, and the broadcast has a long precedent of criticizing the team on-air regardless.
The lone issue at hand is the Mets’ awful play, which only can be solved by manager Carlos Mendoza and those on the field.
