Mets Morning News: “It is about caring enough to rage again”

Meet the Mets

The Mets dropped their fourth straight in decisive fashion, losing to the Braves 7-1. Though his Mets debut was strong, Michael Wacha struggled mightily in his second start, giving up five runs in his first two innings of work. Once again, the Mets failed to capitalize offensively, loading the bases twice without scoring a run either time. Franklyn Kilome made his Mets debut and soaked up four innings in relief, surrendering an additional two runs.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue short and long, Daily News, Newsday, North Jersey, Post, MLB.com, ESPN

The bright side about this awful stretch of Mets baseball for fans in the early going? “It is about caring enough to rage again,” writes Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post. In a way, it’s what normalcy as a Mets fan is all about.

“I’m still not there right now,” said Mets reliever Dellin Betances to Tim Britton of Newsday about getting back to his old self. But he says, “The more repetition I get, the better I’ll be able to get.”

Max Moroff was added to the Mets’ taxi squad for this road trip.

“It’s a great market. There’s a lot of upside,” Astros owner Jim Crane said to Alex Rodriguez when he reached out about advice on buying the Mets. “If you turn that team around, you could do as well as the Yankees, in my opinion.’’ However, Crane also claimed that the Astros “didn’t tank.”

Noah Syndergaard and Mets prospect J.T. Ginn have both begun throwing after having Tommy John surgery in March. They are rehabbing together in Florida.

“We trust the protocol,” Luis Rojas said in his pregame press conference in response to recent events around the league and how that is impacting the Mets.

Around the National League East

The Phillies got their coronavirus tests back yesterday and received no new positive results. The team was cleared to resume workouts at Citizen’s Bank Park in a staggered fashion. Their weekend series against the Blue Jays is postponed and they will resume play on Monday against the Yankees.

Meanwhile, the Marlins will resume play on Tuesday against the Orioles in Baltimore. The players and staff that remain in Philadelphia have been in quarantine since Sunday with the players and staff that tested positive sequestered back in Florida, having been transported there by bus.

“The failure to use masks, the players gathering in the hotel without masks, whether it’s in the hallway or people’s rooms — if you really want to know what could have been done better by the club, that’s really where it lies,” a source told The Athletic about what MLB suspects might be the cause of the Marlins COVID-19 outbreak, rather than players going out at night.

The Marlins acquired James Hoyt, who was designated for assignment by Cleveland on July 28, in exchange for cash.

After being away from the team for ten days due to a positive COVID-19 test, Juan Soto returned to the Nationals on Saturday and joined the team for a workout at Nats Park. “For me, in my mind, I think it was a [false] positive,” he said. “I’ve been working on it. I tested a bunch of times negative. Following the rules, being in the right spot. I think that’s why I think it’s a [false] positive because I’ve been following the rules. I’ve been really serious with this. It’s out there. But, for me, they can look at me however they want. I’m going to be the same guy.”

Around Major League Baseball

Craig Mish reported that “several” Cardinals players tested positive for coronavirus yesterday. Their weekend series against the Brewers has been postponed. The league is waiting on more test results before determining when the Cardinals will resume play.

Meanwhile, yesterday’s contest between the Reds and Tigers was postponed due to inclement weather. They will take advantage of the newly adopted allowance of seven-inning doubleheaders and play two seven-inning contests starting this afternoon.

Brewers outfielder Lorenzo Cain and Marlins second baseman Isan Diaz have both chosen to opt out of the remainder of the season after witnessing the recent MLB coronavirus outbreaks.

Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez, who is dealing with a heart problem related to COVID-19, will not pitch this year.

One manager pointed out that it is “not easy for players to stop and then go hard again,” especially pitchers. The Nationals, Phillies, Marlins, Blue Jays, Cardinals, and Brewers are all currently idle as their schedules have paused.

Joel Sherman outlines a few key questions baseball is facing as it tries to continue to move through the uncharted territory of playing during a pandemic.

Rob Manfred seems insistent on pushing forward with the season, despite everything that has already happened in the first week alone. “We are playing,” he said to ESPN. “The players need to be better, but I am not a quitter in general and there is no reason to quit now. We have had to be fluid, but it is manageable.”

Mike Trout announced the birth of his son, Beckham Aaron Trout.

The Padres have placed Eric Hosmer on the 10-day IL with gastritis.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Ken Lavin introduced us to new addition to the roster Franklyn Kilome.

Steve Sypa took a look at what the Mets have going on at the catching position in their farm system.

In a weekend edition of A Pod of Their Own, Linda Surovich and I discussed the first week of Mets baseball, the Marlins’ COVID-19 outbreak and failure of Rob Manfred’s leadership on containing coronavirus, our newly launched Dollars 4 Dingers campaign, and more.

This Date in Mets History

In the days of the universal DH, we wish a happy birthday to former Met Dae-Sung Koo, who had one of the best pitcher at-bats in franchise history.