Mets' Noah Syndergaard Calls Wilson Ramos Situation 'Misunderstanding'

New York Mets starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard attempted to explain the recent controversy regarding his comments on pitching to catcher Wilson Ramos on Friday night.

According to SNY's Alex Smith, Syndergaard downplayed the situation, which has made back-page news in New York lately:

"I just think there's a little bit of a misunderstanding with the whole situation. For me, I definitely don't want to go out there and throw any of my teammates under the bus or be critical of them. My whole point was trying to figure out an understanding of why my splits are so different and how to fix that, because we really need [Ramos'] bat in the lineup."

Joel Sherman and Kevin Kernan of the New York Post reported Monday that Syndergaard confronted manager Mickey Callaway and general manager Brodie Van Wagenen about his desire to pitch to Rene Rivera or Tomas Nido rather than Ramos due to his poor splits with Ramos as his catcher.

Despite Syndergaard's reported concerns, Ramos caught him during Friday's 9-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. In five innings, Syndergaard allowed five hits, two walks and two earned runs with just four strikeouts, and took the loss to fall to 10-8.

A three-run home run off the bat of Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux was Syndergaard's undoing in the fourth inning, but he felt good about the outing otherwise: 

"I felt really good. I felt like I was able to keep my tempo up. I thought Wilson called a really good game. I thought we were really meshing out there. I just wish I had that one pitch back. My pitch count got quite a bit elevated early in the game just because that's a good offensive team. They know what they're doing up there at the dish and they were making me work out there."

Callaway added that he thought Syndergaard and Ramos did "fine," and that their rhythm was "good."

After the report regarding Syndergaard's displeasure pitching to Ramos came to light, Syndergaard addressed the media Tuesday. According to ESPN, Syndergaard said he wasn't "livid" and instead had a "cordial and adult conversation" with Van Wagenen on the matter.

Prior to Friday's outing, Syndergaard has a 5.09 ERA in 18 games with Ramos as his catcher and a 2.45 ERA in 10 games with Nido as his catcher. Even so, Syndergaard put the blame on himself.

Overall, Syndergaard is 10-8 with a 4.15 ERA this season, marking the highest ERA of his five-year MLB career.

While Ramos isn't known for his defensive excellence behind the plate, the Mets are reluctant to take him out of the lineup because of his bat, as he is hitting .295 with 14 home runs and 72 RBI this season.

With Friday's loss, the Mets find themselves three games behind the Chicago Cubs for the second wild-card spot in the National League.