Mets Morning News: Honoring the 1969 Mets

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Despite a moving ceremony honoring the 1969 Mets that included a rallying cry for the 2019 Mets, they failed to draw inspiration from the words of wisdom, falling to the Braves 5-4. Steven Matz gave up two runs in the first inning and was forced into an early exit by a rain delay that lasted just over an hour. Chris Mazza took his place and showed impressive resilience in his major league debut, giving up just one run over four innings of relief, working around some baserunners and hard hit balls. The Braves opted to send Julio Teheran back out to the mound after the delay and the Mets battled back against him and the Braves bullpen, taking a 4-3 lead. But as usual, the bullpen could not hold it, as Seth Lugo allowed back-to-back home runs in his second inning of work in the eighth to hand the Mets their seventh straight loss.

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

Despite it being another rough day for the Mets, it was “a dream come true” for rookie Chris Mazza, who has had to fight to make it to the major leagues. The 29-year-old has been in the minor leagues since 2012 and battled his way back all the way from independent league to make his major league debut yesterday.

Even though Tom Seaver was not physically present at yesterday’s ceremony, his legacy permeated throughout the day, as both fans and teammates honored The Franchise.

Of course it wouldn’t be the Mets without a “lolmets” moment. During yesterday’s ceremony, two living members of the 1969 Mets were announced as dead.

The home plate umpire Bill Welke had to leave yesterday’s game early due to injury. It is the fourth time such a thing has occurred in a Mets game this season.

John Harper spoke to several baseball insiders about the source behind Edwin Diaz’s struggles and they cited his slider, which is far less effective this season, despite being a lethal put-away pitch last year.

Mark Herrmann takes a look back at the miracle 1969 Mets and what they achieved in the context of a decade that was full of change.

The 1969 Mets shocked the world. But it’s even harder to imagine the current iteration of the Mets pulling off a similar feat, writes Wallace Matthews of Yahoo Sports.

But the team can still try to draw inspiration from what the 1969 Mets managed to do and learn from it, writes George Willis of the New York Post.

As the Mets celebrated the 1969 team, they were not celebrating the Cano/Diaz trade, writes Anthony Rieber for Newsday.

Around the National League East

The Nationals fell to the Tigers 7-5, despite a homer and two RBIs from Anthony Rendon. Reliever Tanner Rainey had been pitching well, but he struggled in Saturday’s loss, which snapped a four-game winning streak for the Nationals.

Ryan Zimmerman has returned to the Nationals lineup for the first time since April and after his lengthy absence, he’s going to have to share playing time at first base.

The Marlins have the Phillies’ number this season, as the Fish beat the Phils again, this time by a score of 9-6. The Phillies were let down by their bullpen in their fifth straight loss. Meanwhile, the Marlins are 22-18 in their last 40 games. “If the guys in here don’t understand how talented we really are, it’s very obvious to me as a veteran player,” former Met Neil Walker said about his Marlins teammates.

Jay Bruce was scratched from Saturday’s game with a sore elbow.

Around Major League Baseball

Matthew Engel wrote a delightfully British piece for The Guardian about the history of England’s relationship to baseball to preview the London series.

Prince Harry and his fiancée, Meghan Markle were on hand for the two-game series between the Yankees and Red Sox. Markle shared a hug with Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts, who learned that the two are distantly related.

The result of the first game between the Yankees and the Red Sox was a 17-13 slugfest that exemplified for Londoners what baseball is like in the era of the juiced ball.

Talented French shortstop Melissa Mayeux came to the United States looking to play baseball. After impressing scouts at MLB’s international baseball development camps, she became the first female to be placed on the MLB registration list, which made it possible for her to be signed by any MLB team. But gender bias in the US has forced her to switch to softball, leading Charlotte Gibson and many others to wonder: when will the first female play in the major leagues?

Tempers flared in Cincinnati after Cubs reliever Pedro Strop hit Yasiel Puig with a pitch during a 6-0 Cubs victory in the eighth inning. After Puig took exception to being hit and came toward Strop on the mound, benches cleared, although no punches were thrown. After the incident, Strop said of Puig, “I mean, it’s not a secret he’s stupid. He’s stupid as [expletive]. I have nothing against him, but he’s stupid. There’s no doubt about it.”

The Orioles—yes, the 2019 Baltimore Orioles—shut out the Cleveland Indians yesterday 13-0 for the second straight day. It was the first time any team has scored 13 runs or more while shutting out their opponent in consecutive games since 1908.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Ken Lavin brought us the Daily Prospect Report.

This Date in Mets History

The Mets fell victim to Sandy Koufax’s first career no-hitter on this date in 1962.