Mets Morning News: In The Race For Third Place, The Mets Make Phillies Pen A Disgrace, Serve Them A Kick To The Face

Meet the Mets

The Mets beat the Phillies 9-5 in ten innings thanks to an offensive explosion in extra innings. Chris Young struggled out of the gate, loading the bases in the first and serving up a grand slam to Ryan Howard. Young was better the rest of the way, though he allowed a solo home run to Chase Utley, which untied the game after the Mets had deadlocked things at 4-4. Tied at 5 apiece in the 10th, Ike Davis and Lucas Duda rapped run-scoring hits before Kelly Shoppach put on the finishing touches with a long two-run home run to left field. Aside from that, Mike Baxter hit his first home run of the year, a two-run shot, in the 4th inning.

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Matt Harvey takes the hill in game two, as he'll face off against Cole Hamels and his shiny new contract extension. First pitch is at 7:05 PM.

Daniel Murphy was in the lineup for the Mets on Tuesday, ending speculation that his shoulder injury would keep him out of action.

Terry Collins says that he's still focused on the 2012 season and his goal is to finish in 3rd place, ahead of the despicable Phillies and Marlins. Hmm...higher draft pick or tears of Phillies/Marlins fan(s)? Let's go with the tears here.

The Mets will pencil Collin McHugh back into the rotation on Monday in St. Louis. Collins mentioned that other Mets' September callups will be promoted after Buffalo's season ends on Monday. Want to learn more about some of the potential September callups? Sure you do!

Toby Hyde looks into prospect Wilmer Flores and whether his bat will profile at third base. Despite what some prospect folks have said recently, the answer seems likely that it'll be yes based on what he's done this year at age 20. The only unresolved issue is whether third base ever becomes available for Flores to play in Flushing. That Wright guy is pretty good, after all.

Savannah righty and 2011 supplemental first rounder Michael Fulmer has had an excellent first full season in pro ball and it looks like the Mets have shut him down for the season as he's hit his innings limit. So far, Fulmer looks like an excellent pick and he will likely place highly on offseason Mets' prospect lists.

The Bisons handed out their end of season awards yesterday before the team's home finale. It sounds like the game was also the Mets' last game in Buffalo, though these things will not be officially decided for a few more weeks.

What should the Mets give to Chipper Jones in his final visit to Citi Field? Ted Berg wants to know what you think.

Around the NL East

The Nationals seem to be going through a late August swoon at the moment. Coming off of a sweep at the hands of the Phillies, Stephen Strasburg was torched by the Marlins in a 9-0 defeat. Meanwhile, the Braves took on the Padres on the west coast last night.

Around the Majors

In relation to Melky Cabrera's suspension, MLB is investigating claims from ex-Met Paul Lo Duca, who says that his former agents Sam and Seth Levinson introduced him to steroid distributor Kirk Radomski. The Levinson's and ACES, Inc are the agents for Cabrera and have roundly denied any involvement or relationship with Radomski.

ESPN and MLB agreed to a gigantic 8-year, $5.6 billion tv rights deal. The deal runs through 2021.

Two star players suffered injuries in collisions last night: Yadier Molina was run over at the plate by the Pirates' Josh Harrison, while Dodgers' star center fielder Matt Kemp crashed into the center field fence at full speed. Luckily, both seem to be day-to-day.

Interestingly enough, Yankees' GM Brian Cashman says that he wasn't surprised when he heard about the suspensions of ex-Yankees Cabrera and Bartolo Colon.

The Dodgers inquired on Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia for some reason. As if the Yankees, in the midst of a playoff race, would just move them for salary relief.

We have two nominees for the "HOW DID HE DO THAT" totally awesome play department: first, there's Joe Mauer's blind grab of a ball that bounced off of the backstop. And then there's Pablo Sandoval and Brandon Crawford's adventure on a foul pop-up.