Your Friday morning dose of New York Mets and Major League Baseball news, notes, and links.
Meet the Mets
Gregory Polanco hit a three-run homer in the fifth off of Daisuke Matsuzaka, and the Amazins scored just one run in seven innings of Vance Worley during a 5-2 loss in Pittsburgh on Thursday night.
Recap Parade: Amazin' Avenue short, long, MLB.com, ESPN NY, New York Times, Daily News, Newsday, Star-Ledger
Matsuzaka shook off catcher Travis d'Arnaud before throwing the pitch that ended up making the difference in the ballgame.
The recent demotion of Wilmer Flores means that Ruben Tejada will be playing shortstop every day. If something were to happen to him, Eric Campbell is the emergency option.
Now that all six of the Mets' outfielders are healthy, Terry Collins has some serious managing to do.
MLB Trade Rumors discusses what a Daniel Murphy contract extension might look like.
Around the NL East
Washington dropped a 5-3 decision to the Cubs on a very foggy night at Wrigley Field. Despite the setback, the Nats are playing well, and they could get Bryce Harper back very soon.
The Phillies played a very long game against the Marlins, with the home team finally triumphing when Chase Utley crushed a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 14th inning. Meanwhile, pitching prospect Jesse Biddle is going through what is hopefully just a rough patch for the young lefty.
The Braves fell to Houston 6-1 thanks to some splendid pitching by Jarred Cosart.
Around the Majors
Tyler Kepner profiles Polanco for the Times and writes about how the Pirates have gotten a big boost since his promotion.
Grant Brisbee analyzes Sports Illustrated's claim that the Astros will win the 2017 World Series.
The Padres held a memorial service honoring Tony Gwynn at Petco Park.
FanGraphs checks out the most extreme home runs of the season so far.
The introduction of instant replay has not helped umpires to avoid kicking players and managers out of games.
Curt Schilling says his cancer is in remission.
Justin Terranova of the New York Post sat down with SNY Mets analyst Ron Darling and asked him some questions about the Yankees for some reason.
Yesterday at AA
Episode 74 of Amazin' Avenue Audio is now available!
On this date in 1962, the Mets signed Ed Kranepool, who would go on to play 18 years for New York.