Carlos Mendoza is finally giving Mets fans what they want with the Game 5 lineup

The New York Mets have a long way to go if they want to reach the World Series. After two straight tough losses at Citi Field, New York trails the Los Angeles Dodgers at 1-3 in the NLCS and needs to win three straight to keep the season alive. There's been plenty of blame to go around in recent days – from poor pitching to stars collapsing at the most inopportune moment – but coach Carlos Mendoza's lineups, which benched some of New York's best hitters, haven't helped the team helped to benefit veterans who had not been feeling well for weeks.

Ahead of Game 5 on Friday night, we have good and bad news for Mets fans. The bad news is that historically it may be too little, too late. But the good news is that Mendoza finally appears to have seen the light of day, at least in terms of lineup construction.

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Mendoza is not willing to make the same mistake three times in a row. JD Martinez and Jose Iglesias were finally benched, with Jeff McNeil starting at second base for New York in Game 5 and Jesse Winker serving as DH. Tyrone Taylor will also be back in the lineup after light-hitting Harrison Bader got off to an inexplicable start in Game 4.

It may not be a cure for everything that ails New York, but it's a start. It also raises some questions about what Mendoza has done in recent days: The Dodgers are once again putting a right-handed hitter on the mound in Jack Flaherty, so whether the lineup in Games 3 and 4 was the one Mendoza wanted against right-handed pitchers, why Shouldn't he be ready to go back to the well for Game 5?

The answer, of course, is that these statements were not really based on evidence; They were rooted in Mendoza's misplaced trust in his veterans and the belief that he could afford to give them a starting spot in the hope that they would suddenly return to previous performances. If New York wants to pull off an improbable comeback, they need to look after Mendoza much more urgently, and this is at least a step in the right direction.