Mets Morning News: Mets finish off amazin' sweep, Rizzo leaves mascot hanging

Meet the Mets

The Mets sent Citi Field into a frenzy with three home runs in the third inning last night. Thanks to another splendid Noah Syndergaard performance, that outburst gave New York all the runs it needed to defeat the Nationals 5-2 and move into a virtual tie atop the National League East.

Choose your recap: Amazin' Avenue short, long, MLB.com, ESPN New York, Post, Daily News, Star-Ledger, Newsday

The Sunday night crowd may have been the most raucous in Citi Field history.

Just one day after sending Michael Conforto to Triple-A, the Mets brought him back to the big leagues. To make room for the rookie, Kirk Nieuwenhuis is headed to the disabled list with a pinched nerve in his back.

After the roller coaster ride that was the first four months of the season, the Mets' postseason chances are finally looking up.

Even in the midst of a pennant race, the Mets might still keep their young aces from pitching a certain number of innings. Those limits won't carry over to the postseason, though.

Did Mr. Met offer a fist pound to Washington general manager Mike Rizzo?

Around the National League East

A blown save by A.J. Ramos may have spoiled Jose Fernandez's brilliant outing, but Adeiny Hechavarria made sure Marlins fans went home happy with a walk-off home run to defeat the Padres.

A three-run homer by Jace Peterson helped the Braves avoid a four-game sweep at the hands of the Phillies.

Chase Utley is being considered by the Cubs as a possible waiver wire trade target.

Around Major League Baseball

Pittsburgh's 3-0 win over Cincinnati was marred by a bench-clearing situation.

Tempers were also flaring in Toronto, where the Blue Jays and Royals threw baseballs at each other. Toronto won the game 5-2, but former Mets Jose Bautista and R.A. Dickey lost some respect for Kansas City.

The Cubs got a surprisingly strong performance from Clayton Richard en route to a 4-3 win over Milwaukee. The victory completed a sweep of the Brewers and tied the Cubs with San Francisco for the second NL Wild Card spot, but Kris Bryant was forced to leave the game due to a head injury.

Andre Ethier hit a pair of go-ahead home runs to help the Dodgers finish off a sweep of the Angels.

Craig Calcaterra refreshes us on the rules of post-deadline trading.

Yesterday at Amazin' Avenue

Kate Feldman reminded us that baseball isn't played by robots (but maybe in a few years...).

Matt Varvaro said it was silly of us to worry about Lucas Duda's slump.

This date in Mets history

In 1962, Frank Thomas went deep twice for the third game in a row. In 2004, legendary radio voice Bob Murphy passed away.