Mets Morning News: The wheels on the bus go round and round but then hit a pothole and get a flat tire

Meet the Mets

Zack Wheeler went to the hill in his second big league start and was shaky, as the Mets fell to the White Sox 5-4. Wheeler went 5.1 innings and allowed four runs but only struck out a single batter.

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The Mets wrap up their two-game set with the White Sox tonight as Shaun Marcum heads to the hill to take on John Danks.

Wheeler described his outing last night as "bad." Sounds about right, though he certainly deserves a break considering it's only his second start. Wheeler has mastered the art of adapting to new situations, so hopefully he quickly adapts to the majors. The Mets demoted Greg Burke back to Las Vegas in order to add Wheeler back to the roster.

The Mets' grission quotient has dropped precipitously, as they dealt Collin Cowgill to the Angels for 23-year-old minor league outfielder Kyle Johnson.

Matt Harvey will follow in Jose Reyes' footsteps and appear in ESPN The Magazine's "The Body" issue, which will hit stands in July. Harvey says that the photo shoot, which took place last week, was really cool.

Ike Davis continues to hit in Las Vegas, so is it time to call him up?

Baseball Prospectus released their mid-season top 50 prospects list and the Mets had two players make it: Noah Syndergaard sits at #23, while Travis d'Arnaud is at #28. In the writeup, Jason Parks says that Syndergaard could enter the discussion for a top 10 spot this offseason with a strong showing in Double-A.

Yesterday At AA

Chris McShane continues to track Matt Harvey's starts, this time looking at #15 and #16.

Greg Karam had yesterday's Daily Farm Report.

David Moseder looked back at June 25th in Mets history.

Around the NL East

Jason Heyward had a big night as the Braves beat the Royals 4-3.

Jose Fernandez was just mediocre but the Marlins' offense bailed him out, as they beat the Twins 4-2. Miami is aggressively trying to move Ricky Nolasco.

The Nationals beat the Diamondbacks 7-5 as Adam LaRoche hit a home run and Gio Gonzalez tossed a good game.

The Phillies beat the Padres 6-2 to complete the NL East (except for the Mets) sweep.

Around the Majors

Alex Rodriguez tweeted an update on his rehab and Brian Cashman says he should "shut the **** up." Well, that seems like an over-the-top reaction.

The Cubs designated former closer Carlos Marmol for assignment yesterday. Grant Brisbee reviewed a brief history of Marmol's time with the Cubs.

David Laurila of Fangraphs asks players and coaches who was the better pitcher: Pedro Martinez or Nolan Ryan.

How valuable are draft picks? Andrew Ball of Beyond The Box Score looks into the matter.