Mets Morning News: That Winning Streak Sure Was Nice While It Lasted

Meet the Mets

Collin McHugh took an early shower on Tuesday evening, as he allowed seven runs in just an inning and a third in the Mets' 10-6 defeat. McHugh got smacked around by the Pirates, giving up a long opposite field bomb to Pedro Alvarez, among the other hits. On the positive side for the Mets, Justin Turner and David Wright hit back to back jacks, the first pair of back to back home runs for the Mets in 2012. Wright's two-run single in the seventh inning was notable because it tied him with Ed Kranepool for the franchise record in hits.

Choose Your Recap: MLB.com, ESPN NY, Daily News, New York Times, Associated Press, Star-Ledger, Bergen Record

Game three of the Mets' four game set with the Pirates takes place this evening at 7:10 PM and the Mets will send Jeremy Hefner to the hill. He'll face off against lefty Jeff Locke.

R.A. Dickey will choose when he wants to make his final start next week. But considering his deity status, doesn't he always do that?

Robert Carson left Tuesday's game with a left elbow strain. Carson left immediately after throwing a pitch and Terry Collins is concerned. Hopefully the injury isn't serious for the man known as Pookie-Nookie. Meanwhile, Jason Bay missed Tuesday's game with back stiffness. Or bat lifelessness. Whatever.

How quiet has Citi Field been? The Wall Street Journal bought a decibel meter and actually tested it out at Citi Field on Monday.

This shouldn't be too surprising but the Mets' announcers are considered some of the most unbiased in baseball according to a new study done by the Wall Street Journal.

Seedlings To Stars looks at a trio of interesting Mets prospects and gives a review of their seasons.

Yesterday At AA

The entire SB Nation network switched over to the much anticipated, brand new SB Nation United layout. Hooray! Honestly, I think it all looks pretty sweet.

You can check out AA's recap of Tuesday's defeat here. Also, Sandy Alderson stopped by the SNY booth for one of his always informative chats with Gary and Ron and we've got the transcript.

Guest writer Cee Angi writes about the chances of the Mets dealing Jon Niese off of his breakout season.

Eno Sarris writes about Mets' Media Relations staffer Shannon Forde, who was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer.

Keeping Jason Bay through 2013 would likely be a bad thing. That sounds like a huge understatement.

Chris McShane presents this week's Pitcher Performance Meter.

Around the NL East

The Braves clinched a playoff berth in grand fashion via a Freddie Freeman walk-off bomb in a 4-3 victory over the Marlins. GO GET YOURSELF SOME, FREDDIE FREEMAN! Meanwhile, the Phillies defeated the Nationals 6-3. With just eight games left, the Phils find themselves 5.5 games behind the Cardinals for the second wild card and their magic number is down to 3 games.

Around the Majors

Reds' manager Dusty Baker apparently suffered a mini-stroke last week while in the hospital for an irregular heartbeat. Get well soon, Dusty.

This seems kind of self-destructive but the Giants have decided not to activate Melky Cabrera in the NLCS and World Series, should they reach those rounds. Cabrera's suspension ends after five postseason games.

Surprise, surprise: Heath Bell has backtracked a bit on his comments about Ozzie Guillen, saying that he was "taken out of context." Yeah, okay. Later in the day, Ozzie Guillen went on the radio and this happened. MarLOLins!

Roy Halladay may be finished for the season, closing out an injury-plagued and inconsistent 2012. Apparently, Halladay is human after all.

A St. Petersburg developer is set to unveil a new plan for a Rays' stadium. Except nobody wants to pay for the thing and the Rays aren't really on board with it. Those details all sound sort of crucial.

Finally, veteran shortstop Jack Wilson is calling it a career after 12 big league seasons. I'm sure Gary Cohen will be shedding a tear over this one.