Mets Morning News: Players Weekend gets off to rough start for Mets

Meet the Mets

Coming off a sweep against a fringe postseason team, the Mets began a three-game home series against the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves last night. Jacob deGrom took the mound, and as has often been the case, the Mets offense could do nothing to support him, with their sole run coming off a homer that he himself hit. The incompetence of the rest of the bats lasted deep into the night, as the game lasted 14 innings before Atlanta managed to put another run on the board, and they walked away with a 2-1 victory to open the series.

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

It was another incredible performance from Jacob deGrom, as he accomplished the exceptionally rare feat of hitting a home run and striking out at least 13 batters in the same game for the second time this season. He is the first player to ever accomplish the feat twice in his career.

It was also a historic night for the Mets as a whole, as the pitching staff struck out 26 batters to tie an MLB record. Four other teams have recorded that many strikeouts in a single game. Alas, the Mets are only the second team in that group to lose in spite of getting that many swings and misses.

Adeiny Hechavarria got some revenge against his former team with a key double in the fourteenth inning, and afterwards he discussed the factors (namely, money) which he felt led to his release by the team.

Tomas Nido was removed from last night’s game after getting hit in the head on a backswing from Josh Donaldson in the sixth inning. He will be re-evaluated this morning, but the Mets have already taken precautions, as the Syracuse Mets removed catcher Rene Rivera from the game last night shortly after the Nido injury occurred.

There was happier injury-related news yesterday, as a number of Mets continued their rehab assignments. Jeff McNeil played for the Brooklyn Cyclones yesterday, getting reps at both third base and right field and going 1 for 4 at the plate. Meanwhile, Brandon Nimmo continued his rehab assignment for Syracuse, as he played in center and went hitless in the leadoff spot.

McNeil might well be back for the Mets very soon, and his return—along with the eventual returns of Nimmo and Jed Lowrie—will lead to questions about how the Mets will configure their lineup on a day-to-day basis.

Even with the return of their more established players, it’s possible that the Mets will continue to find ways to get Juan Lagares into the lineup following his recent uptick in production.

J.D. Davis provided an in-depth glimpse into what goes into his routine and preparation leading up to a game.

In addition to the nicknames they all got to choose for Players Weekend, the Mets also got to inject some personality into their bats for the series.

Every Mets fan knows that Tom Seaver is the one and only Tom Terrific. Some guy in New England foolishly thought he could change that, but he was officially shut down in that attempt by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Around the National League East

While the Braves offense struggled last night as well, Ronald Acuna Jr. did manage to make some history, becoming the second-youngest player to ever join the 30-30 club.

The Nationals bats stayed red hot and Anibal Sanchez pitched a gem as Washington secured a 9-3 victory in their series opener against the Chicago Cubs. Meanwhile, former Met Asdrubal Cabrera has been a very solid addition for the club so far.

It was quite the slugfest down in Miami, as the Phillies blew a 7-0 lead to the Marlins and ended up losing 19-11. Philadelphia will attempt to rebound from the embarrassing loss over the next couple days, but they will have to do so without Bryce Harper, who was placed on paternity leave in anticipation of the birth of his first child.

While it was mostly a fun night for the Marlins, it wasn’t all good news, as outfielder Brian Anderson suffered a broken finger when he was hit by a 96 MPH fastball from Vince Velazquez in last night’s game. The injury likely means that Anderson will miss the remainder of the season.

Around Major League Baseball

The Cardinals beat the Rockies 6-1 on the back of a strong pitching performance by starter Jack Flaherty. With the win and the Cubs loss earlier in the day, St. Louis climbed back into first place in the NL Central, leaving Chicago as the team currently holding the second wild card spot.

Brewers starter Jordan Lyles threw six hitless innings against the Diamondbacks. He didn’t get the chance to go the distance, as Craig Counsell pulled him at 99 pitches, but Milwaukee nevertheless secured a 6-1 victory. The Brew Crew is three games back in the wild card race, and just a game behind the Mets in the standings.

The Yankees socked five homers against the Dodgers last night en route to a 10-2 win. Three of those homers and seven of those runs came off Hyun-jin Ryu, whose recent struggles may allow other pitchers *cough* deGrom *cough* to leapfrog him in the Cy Young race.

Friday marked the opening of Players Weekend, which meant all of the clubs were wearing the solid black and white jerseys designed especially for the occasion. These jerseys were, uhh, not well-received by the fans.

Richard Justice at MLB.com compiled a list of eleven players who have picked up their production in a big way during the second half. A certain Mets shortstop may have been included amongst this illustrious group of players.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Vasilis Drimalitis previewed the series against the Braves, and he predicted that the Mets would manage to take two of three against their division rivals.

Steve Sypa provided an in-depth reminiscence of Brandon Moore’s no-hitter for the Brooklyn Cyclones ten years ago.

It’s been another good week for the Mets, which translates to another week of happy quotes from Mets players and coaches. Joe Sokolowski put them all together for your reading pleasure.

This Date in Mets History

On this date in 2005, Mets legend Mike Jacobs continued his remarkable rookie campaign—the one which the Mets would ultimately use to help them land Carlos Delgado from the Marlins—in his fourth major league game. The lefty first baseman slugged two homers against the Arizona Diamondbacks, making him the first player in MLB history to hit four homers in his first four games. He added two more hits in for good measure to help the Mets secure a decisive 18-4 victory.