Mets Morning News: Walk Off

Meet the Mets

The Mets put an end to their six-game home losing streak by defeating the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4 on Friday. Michael Conforto set a new career high with his 29th home run to give his club a two-run lead, but the Phillies battled back to tie it with runs in the fifth and sixth. The Mets pushed two across in the eighth, but Edwin Diaz gave them both back by surrendering a two-run home run to J.T. Realmuto with one out in the ninth. After the first two Mets’ batters went down quietly in the bottom half of the frame, Juan Lagares and J.D. Davis put together back-to-back hits before Jeff McNeil was hit by a pitch and Pete Alonso won it with a walk-off walk. It was Alonso’s second walk off in his rookie season.

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

In last night’s victory, Todd Frazier recorded his 1000th career hit.

Diaz and Jeurys Familia have been a historically bad combo out of the pen this year, but the problem could linger beyond 2019. The team will look for answers as they likely remain a part of the team’s bullpen blueprint going forward.

Brandon Nimmo is starting to look like his old self again, and that’s very important for the team going forward. (paywall alert)

As part of his plea deal, former Mets’ ace Dwight Gooden can avoid jail time by completing a drug rehab program.

Mets’ left-handed pitching prospect Thomas Szapucki will not pitch in the Arizona Fall League after landing on the injured list towards the end of the Double-A season. According to a Mets’ official, he is “going to give his arm a rest for a little while”.

The Mets’ coaching staff will have some new members for the stretch run. Syracuse Mets manager Tony DeFrancesco and hitting coordinator Ryan Ellis will join the team for the remainder of the 2019 season.

The Brooklyn Cyclones advanced to the NY Penn League championship after coming back from down 1-0 in the series and defeating the Hudson Valley Renegades in three games. After blanking the Renegades 1-0 in game two, the Cyclones won game three 5-4 on a walk off. They will play the Lowell Spinners, the Boston Red Sox Class-A affiliate, in a best-of-3 series beginning on Sunday afternoon at LeLacheur Park.

Jed Lowrie was part of the Cyclones’ fun as he continues to rehab. He remains hopeful that he will join the Mets before the end of the season. Despite his recent progress, he is still not feeling well enough to join the team.

Around the National League East

The Atlanta Braves built a four-run lead over the first seven innings against the Washington Nationals and withstood a late rally to edge their opponent 4-3. With the win, Atlanta opened up a nine game lead in the division as their magic number shrunk to 13.

With the Chicago Cubs losing, the Nationals maintained their two game lead for the first Wild Card spot.

The Miami Marlins were blanked by the Kansas City Royals 3-0 in their series opener.

Bryce Harper exited Friday night’s game against the Mets with a “right arm contusion”. He suffered the injury in the third inning after getting hit by a Matz pitch.

Around Major League Baseball

Chris Duncan, a member of the 2006 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals, has passed away at the age of 38. Our thoughts are with his family.

MLB and the MLBPA are discussing potential changes to the drug policy following Tyler Skaggs’ passing earlier this year.

File this under “news that should not surprise anybody”: Tanking is largely to blame for the recent attendance decline in Major League Baseball from 2015-2018. In other words, fans like going to see teams that are trying to win.

Evan Drellich of The Athletic looks into how baseball’s CBA talks are seemingly producing groundwork for the 2021 season rather than for an early deal. (Paywall alert)

In a rather odd move, the San Jose Sharks (of the National Hockey League) have hired former Los Angeles Dodgers’ GM Ned Colletti to be a scout. The move is not unlike when the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League hired Paul DePodesta to work for their front office.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

On a very special Friday episode of A Pod of Their Own, Allison McCague, Linda Surovich, and Maggie Wiggin talk with The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler about all things baseball, books, and much more.

Join us on Saturday, September 21 at 2:00pm for the Dollars For Dingers Meetup and Raffle at Mikkeller Brewery to help support the National Domestic Violence Hotline!

I previewed the Mets’ home series against the Phillies, which got underway last night.

Joe Sokolowski got you caught up on the latest Mets quotes from the past week.

This Date in Mets History

On this date in 1973, Jerry Koosman saw his 31 ¹⁄₃ innings scoreless streak come to an end after letting up a run to the Montreal Expos in the third inning. It was the longest such streak in franchise history, but was eventually surpassed by R.A. Dickey in 2012.