Meet the Mets
The Mets were beaten by the Phillies last night, in large part because of a barrage of singles against Bartolo Colon—and one against Buddy Carlyle—in the sixth inning. With that, the Mets have lost 73 games. If you're not in the mood for simple math, several of the recap headlines below will tell you whether or not the Mets can win 90 games this year.
Choose your recap: Amazin' Avenue, New York Times, Newsday, Star-Ledger, The Record, New York Daily News, ESPN New York, or New York Post.
With that, "90 wins" jokes are officially dead. Wait, the Times wrote a separate piece about just that. Okay, now we'll never hear another joke about it again!
Tim Rohan of the Times has a great piece about Frank Viola's coaching of Noah Syndergaard in Las Vegas this year.
Things might be pretty bleak for the Mets this year, but just in case you haven't heard, the team has a young bullpen that should be a strength next season.
Speaking of young players, could the Mets call up another middle infielder from the minors in September?
That '330 rule' that was brought up a little while back—limiting starting pitchers to 330 pitches over any three consecutive outings—doesn't sound like an actual Mets rule.
Ruben Tejada knows his time with the Mets might be coming to an end after this season. The 24-year-old has had another poor year at the plate, and given the Mets' financial limitations, it would not be a shock to see the team non-tender Tejada, who would probably make $2 million next year, his second of arbitration.
Stop if you've heard this before: The Mets should give Wally Backman a more prominent role next year.
R.A. Dickey says he can relate to Matt Harvey's relationship with the Mets and thinks the team should let Harvey be Harvey.
Around the National League East
The Braves were shut out by the Marlins, and they sit one-and-a-half games behind the Cardinals for the National League's second Wild Card.
The Nationals won, which doesn't matter much to the rest of the division at this point.
Around Major League Baseball
The A's might trade for Adam Dunn, says Ken Rosenthal. Make it happen, Billy Beane!
With Garrett Richards lost to injury, the Angels seemed to have a big need for a starting pitcher to replace him. Well, last night they used only relief pitchers—eight of them, to be exact—to beat the A's. That's an interesting strategy, as September call-ups could give the team extra arms to pull it off again, and it has the potential to really mess with a team like Oakland that uses platoons so heavily.
The Orioles acquired Kelly Johnson from the Red Sox. Johnson began the year with the Yankees, of course, before he was sent to Boston for Stephen Drew, and he has now played for every team in the American League East. Baltimore also acquired Alejando De Aza from the White Sox yesterday.
If you read an article or find a link that you think would be a great addition to a future edition of Mets Morning News, please forward it to our tips email address tips@grission.com.