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Mets Legend Sends Clear Message After Shocking Pirates Series

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jake Elman | Last updated Jun 29, 2025 5:42 PM ET

Chances are that, at some point growing up, an authority figure taught you, "If you have nothing nice to say, then don't say it."

Longtime MLB pitcher and New York Mets announcer Ron Darling was more than happy to invoke that philosophy on Sunday afternoon.

The Pittsburgh Pirates stunned the baseball world this weekend, sweeping the New York Mets at PNC Park. Mets pitchers allowed 30 runs to a Pirates team that entered Friday at 32-50, well out of both the NL Central and Wild Card races.

So what did Darling, who won 99 games and the 1986 World Series with the Mets, have to say about his former team's performance?

"Well, if you have nothing good to say, uh, let's talk about the Pirates," Darling remarked after Sunday's 12-1 Mets loss.

Darling praised Pirates interim manager Don Kelly, pointing out the club is 16-9 at PNC Park since switching managers in early May.

"They are playing much better under their new interim skipper than they were to start the season," Darling pointed out.

Yes. Yes, they are. Pittsburgh is 23-24 under Kelly after opening 12-26 in Derek Shelton's sixth season.

We can't say the same for the Mets, who have fallen to 48-37 and remain 1 1/2 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East. Carlos Mendoza's club is in freefall, and not even a players-only meeting on Saturday evening appears to have worked.

Admittedly, there were very few, if any, positives for the Mets over the last 72 hours. Credit to Darling, though, for not trying to force fans into looking on the bright side or remaining optimistic when a last-place team outscored them 30-4 this weekend.

When it comes to criticizing the Mets, though, Darling can still take a page from Mike Francesa's book.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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