<p>NEW YORK — From the front office to the field, just about everything has gone wrong for the New York Mets over the past year.</p><p>And on Friday, manager Carlos Mendoza took the fall.</p><p>Halfway through a wretched season, Mendoza was fired as skipper of the underperforming Mets and was replaced by Andy Green.</p><p>New York is 34-47 at the season's midpoint following a six-game losing streak (including getting swept by the <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs" >Cubs</a> in a four-game series), 15 games behind NL East-leading Atlanta and 9½ games back of the NL's last wild-card berth.</p><p>Mets owner Steve Cohen had high expectations for a team without a World Series title since 1986. New York opened the season with baseball's highest payroll at $358 million and was projected to pay an additional $124 million in luxury tax.</p><p>"Our commitment to bringing our fans a championship-caliber team has not changed," Cohen said in a statement. "There is no sugar-coating it: This season has been a disappointment and our fans deserve better than what we've delivered."</p><p>At a Citi Field news conference ahead of Friday night's series opener against the rival Philadelphia Phillies, president of baseball operations David Stearns called it "a very difficult day."</p><p>"Mendy gave everything he had to our organization for the last 2½ years.