Mets Morning News: Mets squander another deGrom gem, Harvey to bullpen

Meet the Mets

Jacob deGrom was fantastic again yesterday, but in a mirror image of his last start, the Mets once again blew a lead in the late innings, capped off by a walk-off bunt single from Ender Inciarte to carry the Braves to victory. The blown lead came at the hands of the relievers that were supposed to be the stalwarts of the Mets bullpen—Jeurys Familia, A.J. Ramos, and Jerry Blevins. The Mets’ offense struggled against Julio Teheran, but Jose Reyes finally broke out of his slump, collecting three hits in the loss.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue short and long, NY Post, Daily News, Newsday, MLB.com, Bergen County Record.

Yesterday, the Mets announced the decision to move Matt Harvey to the bullpen, after his monumental struggles as a starter this season. The Mets beat covers the move, the reaction, what this means for Harvey moving forward, and the hope that Mickey Callaway and Dave Eiland can have success in revitalizing Harvey’s career, as they have done with other pitchers in the past.

David Schoenfield of ESPN graded every Mets starter’s performance so far this season. Unsurprisingly, Jacob deGrom leads the pack with Matt Harvey bringing up the rear.

Despite Mickey Callaway’s insistence that the Mets’ relievers have not been overworked, the Mets’ bullpen inconsistencies are something to be worried about, writes Kristie Ackert.

However, despite being the victim of a bullpen meltdown his past two starts, more lengthy starts like Jacob deGrom has been having may be an antidote to the bullpen’s struggles.

In pretty much the one bright spot from last night’s game, Keith Hernandez’s Twitter reaction to seeing a cardboard cutout of his cat Hadji amongst The 7 Line Army was priceless.

Speaking of Keith, Jacqueline Cutler of the New York Daily News reviewed his book, I Am Keith Hernandez.

Around the National League East

David O’Brian takes a look at how analytics have improved the Braves’ defense.

Derek Jeter got defensive in a rather, uh, interesting interview he gave on HBO, calling Bryant Gumbel “mentally weak” when challenged about the Marlins’ tanking. Meanwhile, the Marlins also floundered in the late innings, falling 6-5 to the Brewers, despite a home run from Lewis Brinson.

Hyun-Jin Ryu out-dueled Stephen Strasburg, striking out eight Nationals, as home runs power the Dodgers’ 4-0 win.

The Phillies optioned Hoby Milner to Lehigh Valley and it looks like key offseason acquisition Tommy Hunter will be activated from the disabled list to take his place. The Phillies continued their recent success with a 6-2 win over the Pirates in yesterday’s game.

Around Major League Baseball

Sean Manaea threw the seventh no-hitter in Oakland A’s history against the mighty Red Sox, striking out ten in the process.

Joel Sherman highlights the effects that tanking teams may already be having on Major League Baseball, with the already apparent separation between great teams and awful ones so far this season. He highlights the AL East as an example, saying the Yankees will have trouble catching the Red Sox if they are able to continue beating up on the bottom of the division.

The Yankees announced a couple of roster moves. Adam Warren was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a right back strain and replaced on the roster with Jonathan Holder, called up from Triple-A. The much touted prospect Gleyber Torres will also be promoted to the big leagues and join the Yankees today.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Chris McShane covered the announcement of Matt Harvey’s new role on the team and also pointed out an interesting factoid about Robert Gsellman.

Vasilis Drimalitis wrote about Jason Vargas’ impending Mets debut.

Nicholas Schreiber covered the Mets’ other bullpen move from yesterday.

This Date in Mets History

On April 22, 1970 Tom Seaver received his Cy Young Award plaque from the year before and showed why he earned it, striking out 19 Padres, including the last ten in order.