Mets Morning News: Todd Frazier pitched. Don’t worry about the rest of it.

Meet the Mets

The Mets began a three-game series against the Braves at Citi Field last night. The team turned to Steven Matz in his first start since August 15th to begin this crucial homestead, and it went about as well as could be expected given how his season has gone. The formerly good starting pitcher gave up 6 runs in 2.2 innings, the bullpen (save for ace relief pitcher Todd Frazier and his 1-2-3 ninth inning) did not do any better upon replacing him, and the Mets were blown out 15-2.

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

On the bright side, Jacob deGrom threw a bullpen session yesterday and it apparently went okay.

Brodie Van Wagenen has not yet had the chance to speak to incoming Mets owner Steve Cohen, but as of right now he claims to be unconcerned about his job security.

Luis Guillorme—yes, the Luis Guillorme who had a .347/.431/.429 batting line this season—was optioned to the team’s alternate site before last night’s game to make room for Franklyn Kilome.

With five starts under his belt this season, it’s still hard to definitively say whether or not Seth Lugo has a future in the rotation.

Luis Rojas has provided both promising signs and areas to improve upon in his first season as a major league manager.

After pitching for the Cyclones last season, pitching prospect Matthew Allan is getting his second taste of Brooklyn during his time in the team’s alternate training site.

Former Mets reliever Roger McDowell shared his thoughts on the passing of Tom Seaver.

Around the National League East

The Phillies swept a doubleheader against the Blue Jays to increase their lead in the playoff race. Zach Eflin pitched a 7-inning shutout in a 7-0 win in game one, and they overcome two separate multi-run deficits to win 8-7 in game two.

The Phillies got one particularly surprising home run during one of yesterday’s games.

The Nationals and Marlins also played a doubleheader yesterday. Washington shut out the Marlins to win 5-0 in the first game, but Miami got their share of runs—led by three home runs by Brian Anderson—to make up for it in a 14-3 victory in the second game.

The Braves will make the postseason, but their chances for success once there remain something of a crapshoot.

Around Major League Baseball

The White Sox made 2020 first round pick Garrett Crochet the first player since Mike Leake in 2010 to reach the major leagues without playing in a single minor league game.

The Mets are unfortunately included in the list of major league teams that have not lived up to expectations this season.

Albert Pujols passed Willie Mays on the all-time home run list with the 661st bomb of his career last night.

Sports Illustrated provided power rankings for all MLB teams and added a haiku for each team for good measure.

Should the league keep the seven inning doubleheaders past the 2020 season?

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Kenneth Lavin looked back on the Mets’ 2014 draft haul, which included Michael Conforto and a whole lot of nothing else.

Joe Sokolowski provided us with the latest entry in This Week in Mets Quotes.

This Date in Mets History

Wes Westrum—the manager sandwiched between Casey Stengel and Gil Hodges in the early days of the franchise—resigned from his post on this date in 1967.