Mets Morning News: Devil-may-chair

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Coming into the game with tensions high after last night’s tough loss, things bubbled over after Jake Arietta hit two consecutive Mets batters in the fifth inning, resulting in the ejections of both Todd Frazier and Mickey Callaway. But the Mets pulled off the 6-5 victory, as Tomas Nido subsequently delivered with a bases-clearing double and the bullpen hung on to secure the win. Edwin Diaz rebounded from the previous night’s disaster with some help from his defense to notch his nineteenth save of the season. Steven Matz earned a hold in his first appearance out of the bullpen, as did Justin Wilson, Seth Lugo, and Robert Gsellman. Noah Syndergaard gave up four runs in just five innings of work, but the Mets bailed him out and earned him his sixth win of the season.

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

Following Friday’s ugly 7-2 loss, Brodie Van Wagenen reportedly lashed out and threw a chair during a meeting with team coaching staff. Part of his tirade included telling manager Mickey Callaway to go conduct his “f***ing press conference.” Callaway did just that, not indicating anything was wrong, and Van Wagenen declined to go into specifics when reached by phone. Callaway, meanwhile, when asked about Van Wagenen, said only, “We’re both passionate guys that want to win.”

Van Wagenen was not the only person whose temper flared during this series with the Phillies. In the aftermath of the two straight hit batsmen in the fifth inning and subsequent ejections, Phillies pitcher Jake Arietta said regarding Todd Frazier, “He can come see me. I’ll put a dent in his skull.”

“Yeah. I mean, going into today he is,” was Mickey Callaway’s answer ahead of yesterday’s game when asked if Edwin Diaz was still the Mets’ closer. He also cited Steven Matz as “an option.” Diaz went on to earn the save last night.

Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports wrote a fantastic profile of Jeff McNeil and how he became the hitter he is today.

Speaking of Jeff McNeil, he collected his 100th hit in last night’s game, in which he went 4-for-5. He ties Mike Piazza for the fastest Met to reach 100 hits in a season.

Joel Sherman assesses the Mets’ terrible defense.

After being released by the Mets four months ago because of his slow recovery from Tommy John surgery, T.J. Rivera will now play for the Long Island Ducks.

Around the National League East

The Nationals cruised to an easy 6-0 victory over the Royals and Max Scherzer was dominant in his first start back from paternity leave, striking out eleven batters. The Nationals also wore powder blue Montreal Expos throwback uniforms to honor the franchise’s history.

According to a MASN report, the Nationals and Anthony Rendon have renewed extension talks. The star third baseman is due to become a free agent at the end of the season.

The Marlins had a 5-4 comeback victory over the Braves in Caleb Smith’s first start back from the injured list. In the game, the Braves set a franchise record for number of home runs as a team before the All-Star Break.

Marlins minor league outfielder Monte Harrison will not be able to play in the Futures Game due to a wrist injury.

Around Major League Baseball

Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco revealed that he has leukemia. “I never thought I’d have something like this, because playing baseball, I’m super healthy, but you never know what’s going on inside your body,” Carrasco said in a video tweeted by the Indians’ Twitter account. “When I found out, it made me even stronger. I pushed myself to work through this. I have a lot of people behind me helping me, especially my teammates and family and a lot of people around me making me stronger every day.” He concluded the video by saying that, “This is going to make me stronger than I’ve ever been.”

Some All-Star Game replacements were announced yesterday. Masahiro Tanaka will replace Marcus Stroman. Felipe Vazquez and Brandon Woodruff will replace Zack Greinke and Josh Hader. Sonny Gray will replace Max Scherzer.

MLB.com’s William Boor, Jim Callis, and Jonathan Mayo give us scouting reports of all 50 players participating in tonight’s MLB Futures Game.

The Brewers are calling up shortstop prospect Mauricio Dubon.

Orioles outfielder Trey Mancini is drawing trade interest from several teams, according to Ken Rosenthal.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Ken Lavin brought us the Daily Prospect Report.

This Date in Mets History

On July 7, 1964, the Mets hosted the All-Star Game at Shea Stadium.