Mets Morning News: This team doesn’t know how to lose!

Meet the Mets

Todd Frazier homered twice, and the Mets teed off against Zach Davies as they overcame two brief hiccups from Steven Matz to win 6-5. Yoenis Cespedes made two excellent defensive plays in the outfield; Robert Gsellman and Jeurys Familia shut the door as the Mets won yet another close game, pushing their winning streak to nine.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue short and long, Bergen Record, Daily News, Faith and Fear in Flushing, New York Times, New York Post, MLB.com, and Newsday.

The Mets are running out of options at catcher after Kevin Plawecki was placed on the disabled list with a broken hand. Peter Botte urges them to be proactive and prevent their catching woes from sinking their season.

Along those lines, Sandy Alderson added minor league catching depth yesterday when he signed former Met Johnny Monell to a minor league deal.

Laura Albanese outlined the Mets’ plan at catcher going forward, and Tim Britton emphasized the injuries to Plawecki and d’Arnaud as a test of how the team views itself. The team has reportedly been in contact with the Marlins regarding a trade for JT Realmuto.

The Mets still have the best record in baseball at 11-1, but Craig Edwards at Fangraphs is not surprised.

SB Nation’s own Chris Greenberg profiled the Mets’ rotation.

The Mets’ bullpen was named the Bullpen of the Week by MLB.com on Tuesday, and they continued to impress on Friday, pitching 3.2 innings and allowing one run in relief of Steven Matz. Jeurys Familia has yet to allow an earned run and remains a perfect 7-for-7 on save chances.

Dilip Sridhar at Metsmerized Online praises the Mets’ new pitching philosophy, which has resulted in higher success rates with breaking pitches.

Noah Syndergaard recently moved into a new apartment in the city’s largest rental building, which has been cited as a hot-spot for many New York athletes.

Around the National League East

Joe Frisaro of MLB.com interviewed Marlins CEO Derek Jeter, who said he is not making the trip to the Marlins-Yankees series in the Bronx. Miami beat Pittsburgh 7-2 on Friday night in a game that featured good pitching from Dillon Peters, and a bases-clearing sac fly from Starlin Castro.

Federal Baseball broke down the Nationals’ offensive struggles as Washington’s bats remained dormant in a 2-1 loss to the Rockies. The Nationals are now six games behind the Mets.

The Ringer outlined Gabe Kapler’s wildest decisions from his first two weeks as manager, and Bob Brookover expressed his confidence in Scott Kingery as a candidate for Rookie of the Year. On the field, Jorge Alfaro lifted the Phillies to a 2-1 win with a ninth inning single.

Over at Fangraphs, Jeff Sullivan illustrated the similarities between Freddie Freeman and Joey Votto. Anibal Sanchez blanked the Cubs for six innings at Wrigley in a 4-0 Braves win.

Around Major League Baseball

Joe Mauer collected his 2,000th hit on Thursday night, and both Jay Jaffe (Fangraphs), and Mina Dunn (SB Nation) have their own perspectives on the milestone.

Nolan Arenado and Luis Perdomo each received five game suspensions for their role in Wednesday night’s bench clearing brawl between the Padres and Rockies. Gerardo Parra and Buddy Baumann were suspended four and one games, respectively, while German Marquez and AJ Ellis were both fined.

The Padres announced that their projected #2 starter, Dinelson Lamet, will undergo Tommy John Surgery.

The Blue Jays placed Josh Donaldson on the 10-Day DL with a shoulder injury.

The Red Sox kept pace with the Mets in the race for baseball’s best record as they rolled to a 7-3 win, thanks to a pair of Eduardos. Rodriguez struck out eight and recorded the win, while Nunez belted a three run homer.

According to Jay Jaffe, the Pirates have reasons for optimism in 2018.

Matt Chapman splashed down with a home run on Friday night... into a fan’s cup of beer at Safeco Field.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Daniel Convery delivered your daily report from the farm.

Chris McShane broke down Zack Wheeler’s excellent 2018 debut.

Allison McCague analyzed Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo’s role in the success of the Mets’ bullpen.

Joe Sokolowski compiled the top Mets quotes from the past week.

Nicholas Schreiber previewed the upcoming series between the Mets and Brewers.

Lukas Vlahos outlined the potential catching solutions for the Mets.

On This Date in Mets History:

51 years ago today, Jerry Koosman made his Mets debut in relief against the Phillies, and on this day in 1999, John Franco picked up his 400th save against Miami in Orel Hershiser’s first win with the club.