Mets Provide Rationale for Star's Early Defensive Lapse

Lindor owned the mistake while explaining his perspective after the game, saying "I went after the ball. Marcus was there and didn't make it to second base and didn't turn the double play. Senga could've got out of the inning there and I didn't help him."

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza also spoke about the play, struggling to explain how his usually reliable shortstop failed to cover the bag.

"It's weird because that's not him," Mendoza said. "It's hard to explain. He'll be the first one, he'll tell you that he's got to be better. Never seen that, some of those plays that he's just out of position at times."

Criticism of Lindor's defensive lapses began to pour in from all angles, as media personality and former MLB All-Star A.J. Pierzynski chimed in about it on an episode of the Foul Territory podcast.

“What the heck is Francisco Lindor doing?” Pierzynski said. “We’ve all made mistakes. We’ve all forgot how many outs there are. We all forgot this and that, but forgetting to turn double plays repeatedly. I don’t know. It’s just something I haven’t seen from him. So, it’s shocking.”

MLB Insider Gives Mets' Perspective on Lindor's Defensive Woes

But on Wednesday, another media member spoke up to provide a different perspective on the situation. Joel Sherman of the New York Post took to his podcast The Show to explain what he heard from people within the Mets organization regarding this particular play.

"In the last messed up play, the one where he went behind Semien," Sherman said. "I was talking to Met people and they were like 'look, it's a bad play. But understand, for the last few years, we had him pulled all the way up the middle because Jeff McNeil and Pete Alonso were on the right side and those guys were really pushed toward the right field line."

The insider continued to recount from his conversation with Mets officials, saying "I think his muscle memory was that nobody's going to get this ball, I got to go cut it off before it gets to the outfield, and so he didn't break to second base."

What Sherman ultimately qualified as "excuses" from the Mets actually gives some interesting insight into how some of these early season errors can occur, especially given the complete roster overhaul that occurred during the offseason. With Lindor unable to get reps alongside Semien during spring training due to his hamate injury, it's reasonable to expect some disconnect between the two veteran infielders.

Of course, Lindor is held to a higher standard than most in New York given his years of excellence and role as a leader in the clubhouse. But with added context it is easy to see how a lapse like this occurred with his new double play partner in a game against his former double play partner.

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