Mets Morning News: “I’m good to go.”

Meet the Mets

The Mets were shut out 2-0 by Justin Verlander and the Astros, as they dropped their third straight game for the first time this season. Despite a fantastic start from Taijuan Walker, sparkling defensive work from Luis Guillorme, and a clutch performance by Edwin Díaz in the late innings of a scoreless game, the Mets were done in by a ninth inning home run by Jason Castro off Drew Smith.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue, Newsday, Daily News, NY Post, MLB.com, ESPN, Faith and Fear in Flushing

In a scary moment in yesterday’s game Yordan Alvarez and Jeremy Peña collided in shallow left field on a popup. Both players left the game and Alvarez was carted off the field. Both players are being evaluated for concussions.

Max Scherzer threw 4 ²⁄₃ innings and 80 pitches in his second rehab outing for Binghamton last night and feels ready to return from the injured list. “I felt good out there. I was able to work through some traffic,” Scherzer said. “I’m good to go.”

Meanwhile, Jacob deGrom threw 27 pitches in his third live BP session. “All these things he’s doing are setting him up to pitch in games,” Buck Showalter said.

Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reviewed potential options for the Mets at the trading deadline.

Keith Hernandez said the experience of watching a documentary about himself was “surreal.”

Luis Guillorme could continue to play more third base as long as Eduardo Escobar’s struggles with the bat continue, writes David Lennon of Newsday. Anthony DiComo expressed similar sentiments in a piece for MLB.com about Guillorme’s high value defensively.

Around the National League East

The Braves beat the Phillies 4-1 behind a strong start from Kyle Wright. Former No. 1 pick Mark Appel made his major league debut for the Phillies at age 30 after a long road back to the big leagues.

Bryce Harper had surgery yesterday to repair his fractured thumb and is expected to miss 6-8 weeks of action, though he hopes he’ll be back sooner than that.

The Phillies have called up Darick Hall from Triple-A.

Doug Gottlieb reported that agent Casey Close never told Freddie Freeman about the Braves’ final offer, which is why Freeman fired him. Close vehemently denies this report. “There is no truth whatsoever to what Doug Gottlieb recklessly tweeted, and I would testify to that under oath,” he wrote in a statement.

Sandy Alcantara threw a complete game in the Marlins’ 4-3 victory over the Cardinals.

The Miami Marlins have parted ways with Vice President of Player Development and Scouting Gary Denbo, reports Craig Mish. This puts Kim Ng fully in charge of the team.

Jazz Chisolm Jr. is expected to go on the injured list for the back issue he’s been dealing with recently.

The Nationals lost a back-and-forth affair to the Pirates 8-7. Among other unlikely happenings in this unique contest, Bryan Reynolds hit three home runs.

Around Major League Baseball

It is wrong for the league and the union to avoid addressing the complex issues involved when it comes to the potential impact of an international draft, writes Evan Drellich of The Athletic.

“Yeah, here’s the problem,” Commissioner Ron Manfred said in an interview with ESPN. “When you acknowledge there’s something wrong with the game, that turns you into a hater of baseball.” He talks about why he is trying to save baseball, not ruin it as many fans assert.

Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post wrote about Kelsie Whitmore—the first woman to play in the Atlantic League.

Seven-year-old Beau Dowling got to run the bases at Guaranteed Rate Field and got a special visit from colon cancer survivor Trey Mancini at Saturday’s “Home Run for Life” event at the game between the White Sox and Orioles.

Marc Normandin of Baseball Prospectus points to the NBA changing court dimensions as evidence that maybe the Orioles’ decision to push back the fences at Camden Yards was actually a good decision after all.

Shakeia Taylor of the Chicago Tribune wrote about Rockford’s celebration of the 30th anniversary of A League of Their Own.

Zack Greinke made his 500th career start yesterday.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Brian Salvatore represented Amazin’ Avenue at the premiere of He’s Keith Hernandez yesterday and wrote a review of the new SNY documentary.

On a new episode of A Pod of Their Own, we tried not to freak out about Max Scherzer’s rehab start being pushed back and chatted about All-Star voting.

This Date in Mets History

Johan Santana tossed eight shutout innings for the Mets in a 5-0 victory over the Dodgers on this date in 2012.