Although the Mets have fallen to third place with a 9-15 second half, a source familiar with Steve Cohen’s thinking said the owner is not holding the manager responsible for the poor play.

Cohen believes this is a different time with a different type of player makeup than when George Steinbrenner used to fire Yankees managers regularly in bad periods for the club and/or to try to jolt players into better play, the source said.

Cohen was with the team Sunday in Philadelphia and felt the players had a positive outlook and were prepared to play despite being swept over the weekend, the source said.

Cohen remains under the belief that there is no dominant NL East team._.

Even with the second-half stumbles, the Mets are 2 ¹/₂ games out of first. Thus, Cohen does not see a reason to act impulsively because there remains a third of the season for the Mets to right themselves and win the division, the source said.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Joel Sherman