Mets Morning News: Mets remain undefeated in 2019

Meet the Mets

In a battle of two heavyweights on the mound, it was the Mets who emerged victorious over the Nationals. Both Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer were as good as advertised, but Robinson Cano got to the Nationals’ ace early to give deGrom the lead. deGrom and a stellar bullpen made the slim lead stand up until Cano tacked on an insurance run in the eighth. That left the game in new closer Edwin Diaz’s hands, who had no issues locking down the first victory of the 2019 season.

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

The reigning Cy Young winner perhaps was not at his best but was still brilliant in his first Opening Day start.

The matchup of two Cy Young winners equaled a bad day for hitters. As the strikeouts piled up on both sides, the two combined to make a little bit of history.

deGrom has a chance to improve upon his dominant season last year because he has a better supporting cast around him.

Even working with the slimmest of leads, the revamped bullpen was able to hold it before handing it off to Diaz to pick up his first save as a Met.

The biggest standout was Seth Lugo who struck out the side in his one inning of work.

Jeurys Familia pitched the eighth and is still happy to be back in New York despite no longer being the closer.

Robinson Cano was an integral part of the win but it wasn’t just his offense that contributed to the victory.

The trade for Diaz and Cano is already paying dividends for the Mets.

Pete Alonso picked up his first major league hit in the win and afterwards he discussed the emotions he felt when he found out he made the team.

Keith Hernandez has been impressed with Brodie Van Wagenen so far and the changes he has made to the team.

The Devin Mesoraco situation shows how messy it can get when a team makes an oral agreement with a player.

Around the National League East

The Braves’ bullpen had a terrible day in Atlanta’s ugly loss to the Phillies.

One bad inning by the Marlins led to a 6-3 loss to the Rockies.

The Phillies’ offense had a good day in their 10-4 win over the Braves.

Despite his best efforts, Scherzer was the tough luck loser in the Nationals’ loss.

Around Major League Baseball

Zack Greinke had a terrible debut against his former team, and all told the Dodgers set a new Opening Day record for most home runs hit.

Chris Sale is another ace who struggled in the Red Sox’s 12-4 loss to the Mariners.

It was a wild ending in Milwaukee, when Lorenzo Cain robbed Jose Martinez of a game-tying home run to end the game.

With many teams not really competing, payroll across the league is down an average of $8 million.

Commissioner Rob Manfred sat down for an interview with Michael Kay and discussed tanking, analytics, and the new rules in the Atlantic League.

It was a fun Opening Day, but the business of baseball is hanging like a dark cloud over the game.

League delegates gather every year to discuss arbitration and the team that did the most to keep salaries down in arbitration is awarded a championship belt (paywall alert).

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

There is a great new shirt featuring Pete Alonso that could be yours!

Vasilis Drimalitis thinks this opening series could send a message to the rest of the division.

Allison McCague argues that Jacob deGrom has seized the title of ace of the Mets’ pitching staff and hopefully he can replicate the success from last season.

Robert Wolff took a look back at some of the best and worst moments on Opening Day in Mets’ history.

Four new Amazin’ Avenue podcasts were unveiled with a brief introduction from the new hosts.

This Date in Mets History

On this date in 2000, Mike Hampton make his Mets debut in Japan against the Cubs. Hampton was not at his sharpest and the Mets dropped the opener 5-3.