Your Tuesday morning dose of Mets and Major League Baseball news, notes, and links.
Meet the Mets
A Monday matinee went the way of the good guys. Jon Niese went seven strong and the struggling Anthony Recker hit a three-run bomb in the seventh inning to lift the Mets to a 5-3 win, giving the Mets a series victory and a 4-3 record on their road trip.
Happy Recaps: AA (short, long), MLB.com, ESPN.com, Times, Post, Daily News, Newsday, Star-Ledger
In case you didn't know, Juan Lagares is a pretty good center fielder. Dominic Brown found that out the hard way in yesterday's game when Lagares threw him out at home plate in the bottom of the seventh.
Back with the Mets, Matt den Dekker is seizing his opportunity, writes Marc Carig. The outfielder is 3-for-8 with a double and an RBI in his return to the team.
Want to face former Mets pitchers John Franco or Doc Gooden? Well, here's your chance to do so.
Rafael Montero will indeed be getting the start for Jacob deGrom tonight, but the Post's Kevin Kernan thinks that it should have been Noah Syndergaard up instead.
Around the NL East
The Good Phight bemoans the fact that the Mets have had the Phillies' number at Citizens Bank Park.
Giancarlo Stanton continued his power streak, hitting two more homers—his 30th and 31st of the year—as the Marlinstopped the Cardinals 6-5. The Mets remain 1.5 games back of the Fish.
The struggles continue for the Braves. They've lost 10 of their last 12 and now stand at 8-15 since the break after dropping a 6-2 decision to the Dodgers.
The Nationals were off yesterday, but assistant GM Doug Harris swung by MLB Network Radio to talk about some of the club's minor league prospects, as well as Tanner Roark's strong play in D.C. The Nats also recalled outfielder Michael Taylor from Triple-A Syracuse.
Around the Majors
Injury news: first to Detroit, where the Tigers' Justin Verlander, who hadn't been pitching like the Verlander we've come to know, had to leave after the first inning against the Pirates last night due to shoulder soreness. And in Baltimore, the Orioles' Manny Machadotwisted his knee in the third against the Yankees and had to leave the game.
Guess who's leading the A.L. Central? Hint: it's not the Tigers or the Indians.
Check out this catch in Chicago, and no, it wasn't by a Cubs player.
Some Boston Red Stockings baseball memorabilia from the '70s (1870's, that is) fetched someone $1 million.
This Date In Mets History
In 2000, Benny Agbayani was nice enough to hand a baseball to a fan in the stands. Only problem: there were two outs in the inning.
Yesterday at Amazin' Avenue
As mentioned, it is Rafael Montero replacing Jacob deGrom in the rotation while the latter is on the 15-day DL. That sigh of relief you heard was Mets fans everywhere thankful that surgery won't be necessary for deGrom.
Zack Wheeler has been good lately, but his changeup could be better. If he can get that figured out, he could turn out to be great.
Jeremy Hefner has suffered another UCL tear and might need to go under the knife once more. To top it off, he also has a fractured forearm.
Jon Niese and Curtis Granderson both cleared waivers; the pair can now be traded if the Mets choose to do so.
Meter Avenue: hitters and pitchers.
Matt den Dekker's stance has changed.
We'd be remiss if we didn't offer our condolences once more to the great Robin Williams, who passed away yesterday at the age of 63. Eric Simon had a brief write-up last night.