Mets Morning News: LOLMets LOLMets Like They've Never LOLMets'd Before, LOLMets Again Succeed At LOLMetsing

Meet the Mets

Let's go through the rundown: Mets' pitcher pitches very good game. Mets' offense scores few or no runs. Mets are defeated by team that has a worse record than them. That was once again the script on Friday evening, a script that has become all too familiar in this horrific second half, as the Mets fell to the Astros 3-1. Jon Niese pitched a solid game, going seven innings and allowing just three runs. Unfortunately, the Mets' offense made Jordan Lyles look like the second coming of (insert the name of a much better pitcher here). The entirety of the Mets' offense was David Wright, who cranked his first home run in his last 88 at bats and the 200th in his distinguished Mets career. Sitting only behind Mike Piazza and Darryl Strawberry on the team's all-time home run list, Wright could take over the lead as soon as 2014. Assuming he signs a long term deal with the team, of course.

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R.A. Dickey takes the hill for the Mets this afternoon at 1:10 PM. Dickey has thrown very well of late but he may have to do the impossible and allow -1 runs in order to win this one. Of course, the Mets face off against converted reliever Fernando Abad and if the Mets can't beat a pitcher with the word "bad" in his last name, I'm not sure what to say.

In a mildly surprising move, the Mets demoted Collin McHugh down to AAA Buffalo a day after he tossed a gem in his MLB debut. McHugh will be back when rosters expand in September and the move was made to activate Jeremy Hefner from the paternity list. In the meantime, you can read further into McHugh's start at Fangraphs, as Carson Cistulli reviewed his repertoire. It's full of animated GIFs and those are always fun.

Daniel Murphy will get another day of rest in favor of Justin Turner for some reason. Maybe I shouldn't be so tough on Turner, considering the fact that he had one of the Mets' measly four hits yesterday. Eh, we'll see.

Terry Collins called this long skid "a humbling experience". I'm not sure what they can do to break out of the rut (aside from playing everybody and hoping guys find their way) but with over a month left in the season, they'll need to figure it out and preferably quickly.

Around the NL East

The Braves fell to the Giants 5-3 as Ben Sheets continues to struggle. The Phillies, meanwhile, continue to win and they beat the Nationals (WHAT?!) 4-2. Finally, Nathan Eovaldi and the Marlins got torched by the Dodgers by a score of 11-4.

Around the Majors

Speaking of the Dodgers, they've either gone insane or they have a really good tip on that whole 2012 apocalypse thing because they're supposedly working on a megadeal that would see them acquire Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto from the Red Sox in exchange for multiple players and prospects. Matthew Pouliot does a great job of breaking down all of the insanity.

Adrian Beltre is on fire these days. On Wednesday, he ripped three home runs. And then last night, he hit for the cycle.

Speaking of three homer games, the Orioles' Chris Davis pulled off the feat last night. Looks like he can pitch and he can hit. Perhaps he's related to the great Ike David, who famously bats 3rd and 6th in the lineup.

The Mariners put together their own version of the LOLMets late inning loss. Let's just call this one the #6org special. My question is when do the Mets scratch this type of loss off of their horrifying loss bucket list?

The Pirates claimed former Mets' reliever Hisanori "Tak2" Takahashi off of waivers yesterday. As you may remember, Tak2 was a huge part of the 2010 Mets' bullpen but his desire for a multi-year contract ultimately sealed his fate in Queens.

Diamondbacks announcer and former big leaguer Mark Grace has taken a leave of absence from the booth after getting arrested in a DUI case.

The Mets may not be ranking all that high in the power rankings when it comes to their record and on-field performance but when it comes to uniforms, they're a top-10 team. Does that mean they're playoff bound? Hello? Anybody?