Mets Morning News: Don’t even Caratini bit

Meet the Mets

The Mets suffered a potentially fatal blow to their postseason chances last night, as they fell to the Cubs 4-1. The loss—their sixth straight—puts the team five games behind Chicago for the second wild card spot. The Amazins begin a three-game series with the Phillies tonight as they attempt to claw their way back into the race.

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

As has so often been the case for the past two seasons, the Mets offense did not show up for their ace last night.

It’s hard to believe at this point that the Mets have another run in them like the one that got them back into the race previously.

One of the few bright spots of last night’s game was that Wilson Ramos extended his hitting streak to 22 games, as the Mets catcher continued his second-half surge.

Jed Lowrie homered in his rehab game for Syracuse last night. He and Brandon Nimmo are both nearing their returns, which could give this team a much-needed boost.

Dominic Smith may be inching towards a return from the injured list, as he has been cleared to begin baseball activity.

Hitting coach Chili Davis opened up ever so slightly about his firing at the hands of the Cubs last year. He insisted that he doesn’t hold any grudges against his former club, which is good, because these past three games would have been particularly painful for him otherwise.

Noah Syndergaard has not been comfortable on the mound in recent times, and the frustrations are getting to him.

The Mets are saying goodbye to director of pro scouting Jim D’Aloia, who has been with the organization for the past eight seasons. He will be leaving his post when his contract expires at the end of October, and he won’t be alone, as pro scouts Tim Kissner, Tim Fortugno and Lee MacPhail are also being let go.

As impossible as it is to imagine the Mets’ radio broadcasts without the voice of Howie Rose, fifteen years ago that very nearly became our reality.

2019 draft picks Brett Baty and Matthew Allan have both been promoted to the Cyclones to finish out their debut season as Brooklyn fights to make the postseason.

Former Mets Octavio Dotel and Luis Castillo have been cleared of charges connecting them to a drug kingpin in the Dominican Republic in what is a solid contender for the weirdest Mets-related story of the 2019 season.

Around the National League East

The Marlins were the only other NL East club that played last night, and they had themselves an exciting one. Their series finale against the Reds lasted 12 innings before Harold Ramirez hit a walk-off solo homer to give Miami a 4-3 victory.

An unconfirmed report out of the Dominican Republic stated that the Nationals had offered Juan Soto a long-term contract extension that would net him $180 million. Whether the report is true or not, Mike Rizzo is certainly interested in locking the young star outfielder up.

Around Major League Baseball

Even though deGrom didn’t help his cause too much last night, the Cy Young race got even more open last night as Hyun-Jin Ryu once again struggled—this time surrending seven runs in 4.2 innings of work—as the Dodgers fell to the Diamondbacks 11-5.

Reds rookie made history last night, as he hit his 14th home run in the month of August to break Cody Bellinger’s record for most homers in one month by a rookie in the National League. Pete Alonso now has a new number to aim for in September.

MLB.com identified eight milestone stats that are within reach for certain players as we come closer to end of the regular season. Be warned that there may be a polar bear sighting within that article.

Former Met Matt Harvey has elected not to opt out of his minor league contract with the Oakland Athletics, and he is now willing to transition to a bullpen role in an attempt to make his way back to the majors.

It seems to be widely agreed upon that the league’s Players’ Weekend fiasco was not quite as successful as they might have hoped for.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Brian Salvatore welcomed Noah Syndergaard to Amazin’ Avenue in Conversation to discuss, amongst other topics, his partnership with Great Clips for their Back to School program.

This Date in Mets History

The best offensive performance in Mets history took place on this date in 1999, as Edgardo Alfonzo went 6-for-6 with a double, three homers, six runs scored, five RBI, and 16 total bases against the Houston Astros. As might be expected, the Mets won that day by a big margin: 17-1.